“Short n’ Sweet,” Sabrina Carpenter’s long-anticipated summer album has arrived. It’s fluffy, cheeky but does not live up to my expectations.
Carpenter’s first four albums lacked identity. Coming out of her Disney Channel days, a majority of the songs were regurgitated Disney Channel pop. Carpenter herself has distanced herself from those works. Her fifth album, “emails i can’t send,” brought her to stardom. It helped solidify her identity as one of the up-and-coming pop girls.
This summer, singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” dominated the charts. Many, including myself, looked forward to seeing “Short n’ Sweet” as one of the dominating albums of the summer.
While this album has many immediate hits including “Taste” and “Juno,” a lot of the song’s subjects felt repetitive and uninteresting. With Taylor Swift as one of Carpenter’s closest friends, Carpenter attempts to replicate what makes Swift’s albums so good– well done variation.
While Carpenter has some strong tracks, she hasn’t been able to encapsulate the formula that comes naturally to Swift. Truly, there was no song I thought was actually bad. But still, some songs are lacking a hit factor, sound wilted and the entire album is without variety.
The album opens up with “Taste,” a fast-paced song that throws you right back into summer. Carpenter delivers every line with such perfection, it’s almost impossible not to sing along. “Taste” takes a dig at her past love triangle. The hook “You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissing you!” is nothing short of spectacular.
“Juno” gives us an 80s-synth-pop-esque track with lyrics that make you blush. Carpenter’s chorus, “I know you want my touch for life / If you love me right, then who knows / I might let you make me Juno” is effortless pop perfection and, in my opinion, one of the best songs in Carpenter’s discography.
But, these two standouts don’t make up for the shortcomings on the rest of the album. “Short n’ Sweet” tackles songs in country, rock, R&B and more and because of that, it sounds all over the place.
“Slim Pickins” is a slower, country-esque backing track that talks about the lack of ‘good’ men in the world. This song is honestly nothing special. It’s cute, but nothing more than generic. The country aspects feel forced and tacky.
Track 5, “Coincidence,” has some country elements as well and features a catchy, upbeat bridge. Track 6, “Bad Chem,” is completely different from the prior. Carpenter’s humor is witty, and unmatched; similar to a lot of other lyrics on the album. “Come right on me / I mean camaraderie / Said that you’re not in my time zone but you want to be” shows that she can still joke around like many of her infamous “Nonsense” outros.
The track “Good Graces,” surprised me. It was completely contrasting from any other song in her discography. This dancey, rhythmic track sounds very similar to Canadian artist Tate McRae’s art and style.
With the breakthrough of Tate McRae, R&B has become more and more popular in the pop genre. I think Carpenter tried to replicate this. The song is good but it sounds like she’s putting on a caricature. It’s not natural and flawless like some of the other more brighter, pop-y tracks Carpenter is used to singing on.
The summer slows down with “Lie To Girls” and “Don’t Smile” as the closing songs. In “Don’t Smile,” Carpenter’s vocals really stand out. I think this was the perfect song to end “Short n’ Sweet,” and it really encapsulates the feeling when summer is fleeting.
“Short n’ Sweet” was definitely short but Carpenter’s growth as an artist is not masked. The fluff, vocals and lyrics show she is now more comfortable with her artistry than ever before. There wasn’t a single song I thought was truly bad or inauthentic. Though I think songs such as “Lie To Girls” and “Slim Pickins” could use some improvement, there was nothing that was actually inadequate or unexpected from Carpenter.
What fails to make this album flawless for me is the countless different genres Carpenter tries to incorporate into “Short n’ Sweet.” It all sounds summery, but the pieces do not fit together. Overall, I give this album a 7.5/10. Carpenter has definitely improved since “emails i can’t send” but clearly more room for growth is still present.
