After a summer of hit singles, Sabrina Carpenter raises the bar for pop with a refreshingly fun album that’s cheeky, clever, and effortlessly executed.
Across music history, love has been compared to every drug imaginable. But in Sabrina Carpenter’s breakout hit of the summer, she claims she’s so irresistible that her allure causes insomnia. “Is it that sweet? I guess so,” she teases on “Espresso,” her voice dripping with coy charm. “Say you can’t sleep, baby I know, that’s that me espresso.” Her seductive pull melts syntax into something playfully nonsensical, with breezy nu-disco beats backing lyrics like, “Walked in and dream-came-trued it for ya” and “I know I Mountain Dew it for ya.” It’s cheeky, absurd, and might even be genius—like a Gen Z Betty Boop crooning atop sparkling pop.
“Espresso” and its follow-up single, “Please Please Please,” have launched the 25-year-old Carpenter into the pop stratosphere. It’s a well-earned rise. Known first for her role on the Boy Meets World spin-off and her early Disney-backed albums, she finally broke away from the tween star mold with her 2022 record Emails I Can’t Send, proving her maturity and range.
Now, on her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet, Carpenter gives us a 36-minute pop delight. The title fits: Carpenter, who is just under five feet tall, serves up an album that’s not only physically short but refreshingly light-hearted in a world of self-serious pop. Escapism is at the heart of this project. Though her previous album touched on personal struggles like breakups, family challenges, and a headline-grabbing love triangle, Short n’ Sweet is a declaration that she’s here for fun. As she asserts on the opening track, “Taste,” “Singin’ ’bout it don’t mean I care.”
The 12 tracks of Short n’ Sweet see Carpenter experimenting with different pop personas. There’s glittery pop-rock on “Taste,” a slightly tongue-in-cheek ode to sapphic desire. Country influences echo on tracks like “Slim Pickins” and “Sharpest Tool,” while she slips into an R&B groove on the sultry “Good Graces.” Even though “Coincidence” flirts with folk-pop singalong territory, Carpenter navigates these genre-bends effortlessly, supported by her powerhouse voice. With a who’s-who lineup of pop collaborators—including Amy Allen, Julia Michaels, John Ryan, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Jack Antonoff—it’s no wonder the production feels polished, especially on bangers like “Please Please Please.”
The sound of the album might vary, but Carpenter’s sharp sense of humor remains constant. She layers innuendo into nearly every line, transforming therapy speak and bawdy jokes into pop gold. On “Bed Chem,” she teases a not-so-subtle nod to her rumored romance with an Irish actor: “Come right on me, I mean camaraderie,” she quips over dreamy synths. And then there’s “Juno,” where she recasts the plot of the 2007 indie film as playful shorthand for seduction: “I might let you make me Juno.” In case listeners miss the point, she lays it bare: “I’m so fuckin’ horny.”
While Short n’ Sweet is filled with playful flirtations, it also captures the frustrations of modern dating. Carpenter pokes fun at clueless boys, like one who doesn’t know the difference between “there,” “their,” and “they are,” finding humor in the heartbreak. The album might as well come with the subtitle: Men Are Stupid…But So Am I. On “Please Please Please,” Carpenter jokes about her questionable taste: “I know I have good judgment… It’s funny and it’s ironic that only I feel that way.”
The moments where Carpenter allows herself to be vulnerable are equally compelling. On the ballad “Dumb & Poetic,” she takes aim at men who think their spiritual practices absolve their bad behavior, even dragging Leonard Cohen’s name into the mess. The emotional crux of the album, however, comes with “Lie to Girls,” where she confronts the cruel self-deception in relationships. “You don’t have to lie to girls / If they like you, they’ll just lie to themselves,” she laments. It’s a moment of clarity in an otherwise mischievous album—proof that beneath all the jokes and wordplay, Carpenter’s insight into relationships cuts deep.
Short n’ Sweet may be playful on the surface, but its emotional depth and humor make it much more than a sugar rush. Sabrina Carpenter has delivered a perfect pop album that feels light, fun, and, most importantly, smart.
