Illustration by Cia Castro
Sabrina Carpenter’s album “Short n’ Sweet” is the equivalent of summer. It can be filled with excitement and some uncertainty, but it makes us reflect at the end.
“Short n’ Sweet” was released on Friday and features 12 tracks including chart-topping singles, like “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.”
I am not an avid Carpenter music listener nor am I very attuned to her background, but I was first introduced to these two songs while scrolling on TikTok, which slowly became a larger and larger presence on my “for you” page as the summer progressed.
I became even more hooked when she announced her relationship with Irish actor Barry Keoghan, who was later featured in the “Please Please Please” music video that premiered on June 6.
The pop album highlights heartbreak, infidelity, falling in love with the wrong person and overall problems when looking for the perfect partner.
The first track, “Taste”, starts the album off with a catchy and cheery beat in which Carpenter warns her ex’s new partner not to get comfortable because she will always be lingering in the back of her ex’s head.
Carpenter knows she is unforgettable and brings attention to her confident personality with lyrics like, “Every time you close your eyes / And feel his lips, you’re feelin’ mine.”
“Please Please Please” highlights the potential of looking stupid when one falls in love.
With the same confidence, Carpenter displays in “Taste,” she begs her partner not to embarrass her.
“Heartbreak is one thing / My egos another / I beg you don’t embarrass me.”
“Good Graces” differs from the previous two songs because of its slower and smoother beat of the bass and its combination of her mellow vocals.
In this song, there is no doubt that Carpenter knows she is “that girl” and gives simple advice to her lover: stay in her good graces.
“Sharpest Tool” peels back the layers behind Carpenter’s confidence that listeners heard from previous songs making her insecurities take over.
The verse, “I know you’re not / the sharpest tool in the shed” reiterates Carpenter’s message that stupid love can be easy to fall into.
What is an album centered around love without some sensuality. That is exactly what “Bed Chem” and “Juno” bring to the table.
Both songs feature the fun and excitement of having chemistry in more than just the obvious ways.
The album shortly switches from its somber theme of infidelity and returns to the confidence she initially exuded at the beginning of “Short n’ Sweet.”
“Espresso” is similar to “Taste” because Carpenter describes herself as having an addiction to her partner.
In the second verse, Carpenter knows the hold she has on her partner, causing him to lie awake because she is like espresso coffee.
The theme of infidelity is also present in this album and easily apparent in “Coincidence” which explores a woman’s so-called sixth sense when someone wrongs her and how these so-called coincidences are never truly just that.
Both “Lie to Girls” and “Don’t Smile” conclude the album with Carpenter singing about girls lying to themselves to fall for a guy and giving them more chances than they deserve.
The chorus, “Don’t Smile because it happened, baby / Cry because it’s over” focuses on the emotions that can occur when a relationship comes to an end.
The lyrics, “I want you to miss me” are clever because similar to her wishes for a past lover, listeners can relate to missing her after they reach the end of the album.
Carpenter’s latest album is a hit and I found her lyrics to be easily relatable. It can be easy to fall in love with the wrong person and her lyrics portray the exact feeling of both excitement and regret.