Payje Davis
Staff Writer
Sabrina Carpenter has been climbing the ladder ever since the success of her singles “Feather,” “Nonsense”, and “ because i liked a boy,” off of her fourth album “Emails I Can’t Send.”
Carpenter released her lead single, “Espresso” this past April to her August album, “Short n Sweet.” Which became an instant smash hit. It is currently spending its 20th week on the Billboard Hot 100. Carpenter hasn’t seemed to slow down; playing festivals left and right and drawing in massive crowds, such as at NYC’s Gov Ball where she debuted her second single off the album, “Please, Please, Please.”
Now, the album is out and it has been charting extremely well, and airing everything out. Songs like “Bed Chem” and “Juno” are very blunt to put it lightly, with those songs said to be about current partner Berry Keoghan, who even starred as the love interest in her “Please, Please, Please” music video.
However, things get messy with songs like “Coincidence” and “Taste,” which are rumored to be about pop singers Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello. Carpenter had a fling with Mendes around a year after Mendes and Cabello ended their relationship of three years. But after the short-lived fling, Mendes and Cabello were back together a month later, showing lots of PDA at the 2023 Coachella, but they broke up shortly after. Lines such as “Oh wow, you just broke up again / What a coincidence!” and “I heard you’re back together and if that’s true / You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissing you,” are rumored to be about the pair.
These clapback songs come after Cabello released “June Gloom” off of her album “C, XOXO.” Which was rumored to be about Carpenter and Mendes’s short-lived fling.
Enough with the drama, deep cut songs like “Dumb and Poetic,” “Lie To Girls,” and “Don’t Smile” slid under the radar, despite lyrically being some of the best songs on the album.
“Don’t Smile” reminds me so much of “Saturn” by SZA. The dreamy, catchy feel of both songs makes them similar in my mind.
I also really liked the country twang vibe of “Slim Pickins.” It’s different from a lot of the songs in Carpenter’s discography but still matches her vibe incredibly well, and I personally love it so much. Despite Carpenter being a Quakertown, Pa. native, she encapsulated that country twang feel on this track perfectly.
However, my personal favorite is the feel-good, catchy jive “Good Graces” which just makes you want to get up and dance, even if you can’t dance to save your life. The whisper interlude following the chorus just adds so much more to the “funness” of the song.
I personally would call this a “no skip album” and would tell everyone who is thinking about giving it a listen, to absolutely do it. It is the perfect summer album and it makes sense why Carpenter has sold out nearly every show on her upcoming tour for the album.