Album Review: Short n' Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter

It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s a pop bop! Ms. Carpenter, congrats, you’ve delivered a classic with Short n’ Sweet — a cheeky, fun, and ~definitely~ NSFW pop album that’s surely THE pop moment of 2024.

Following a successful yearlong run which included opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and headlining Coachella and other festivals, smash singles Espresso and Please Please Please kicked off the Short n’ Sweet era, both songs lighting up the Billboard charts all summer long (still Top 10). With Espresso came a very quintessential Sabrina-esque pop song — the playful, unserious ear worm you just can’t shake (she’s working late, she’s a singerrrr). Following the mainstream success of her previous singles Nonsense and Feather, Espresso was clearly the right choice for a new album’s lead single. The world ate it up. Then, with Please Please Please, Sabrina’s first number one (!!), we got a more twangy, sultry sound that both complimented Espresso and left many wondering how Short n’ Sweet was actually going to sound. Perfected executed, Sabrina bridged the singles beautifully — the exploration, experimentation, and influence of different sounds and genres is ever present throughout the whole album. Some of the songs follow Espresso’s lead, while others give off country, synthy Please Please Please vibes. At 36 minutes, Short n’ Sweet doesn’t miss a beat — it dazzles with a shining confidence and shows such artistic growth from Emails I Can’t Send (plus deluxe). Sabrina Carpenter, the pop star you are — pop starring in a way we haven’t seen a pop star pop in a long time. It’s refreshing!

I wish I could take you back to Friday release morning, me getting ready for work, listening to Short n’ Sweet for the first time. I was (literally) dancing around my bathroom, singing and enjoying life with a smile on my face, all before 8am. The adrenaline rush of hearing new music for the first time is an unmatched euphoric feeling, but when it hits just right, it tickles an itch. Short n’ Sweet tickled the itch. Repeat after me — Short n’ Sweet tickled the itch. The production, the lyrics, the whole thing. For right now, I proclaim my early favorites to be: Taste, Please Please Please, Good Graces, Bed Chem, Espresso, and Juno. But really, I love every song. A true no skip album — one that’s full of Sabrina’s vintage wit and charm.

And now for my favorite lyrics from each song on Short n’ Sweet. They’re sassy, sarcastic, and unhinged, full of wordplay, innuendos, and humor… I’m obsessed. Can’t wait to hear the album live in concert in October.

Taste

“Every time you close your eyes / And feel his lips, you're feelin' mine / And every time you breathe his air / Just know I was already there”

Please Please Please

“Well, I have a fun idea, babe, maybe just stay inside / I know you're cravin' some fresh air, but the ceiling fan is so nice / And we could live so happily if no one knows that you're with me / I'm just kidding, but really, really, really”

Good Graces

“When I love you, I'm sweet like an angel / Drawin' hearts 'round our names / And dreamin' of writing vows, rockin' cradles / Don't mistake my nice for naive”

Sharpest Tool

“We were goin' right, then you took a left / Left me with a lot of shit to second-guess / Guess I'll waste another year on wonderin' if / If that was casual, then I'm an idiot”

Coicidence

“What a surprise, your phone just died / Your car drove itself from L.A. to her thighs”

Bed Chem

“Come right on me, I mean camaraderie / Said you're not in my timezone, but you wanna be / Where art thou? Why not uponeth me? / See it in my mind, let's fulfill the prophecy”

Espresso

“I can't relate to desperation / My give-a-f*cks are on vacation”

Dumb & Poetic

“You're so dumb and poetic / It's just what I fall for, I like the aesthetic / Every self-help book, you've already read it / Cherry-pick lines like they're words you invented”

Slim Pickens

“Jesus, what's a girl to do? / This boy doesn't even know / The difference between "there," "their" and "they are" / Yet he's naked in my room / Missin' all the things he's missin’”

Juno

“Whole package, babe, I like the way you fit / God bless your dad's genetics”

Lie To Girls

“There's no need to pretend / I've never seen an ugly truth that I can't bend / To something that looks better / I'm stupid, but I'm clever / Yeah, I can make a shitshow look a whole lot like forever and ever”

Don’t Smile

“You think it's happy hour, for me it's not”

If you know the difference between “there”, “their”, and “they are”, let me know your thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet in the comments below. Did you like the Taste music video? It had me cracking up! Love that Jenna Ortega starred in it too. The Short n’ Sweet music videos have been unreal — Sabrina’s 3/3 up to now!

Enjoy!

JBW