Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet album review
- Album composition
For the production of this album, Sabrina Carpenter hired Taylor Swift's loyal music producer Jack Antonoff to compose some of the songs from the album, including "Please Please Please" and "Slim Pickins". The reason of why Carpenter hired Antonoff is because of her (Carpenter) opened for Swift's Eras Tour concerts in Latin America and Australasia legs. Thanks to Antonoff's composition, some of Carpenter's songs on Short N' Sweet album are a bit of Swift-esque. Carpenter also carried Julian Bunetta and Amy Allen who have worked with her since signed with Island label in 2021 to contribute the album's (Short N' Sweet) production and composition.
- Singles
"Espresso" is the album's first single, released on April 11. Carpenter debuted the song at Coachella the next day. The single became an instant success, topping the UK and Australian charts while peaking at no. 2 in U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The music video of this single is directed by Dave Meyers, who previously directed Coldplay music videos including "My Universe" and "Hymn For the Weekend". The most popular lyrical parts of this song are "I can't relate to desperation, my give of f*** is on vacation" and "I'm working late, cause I'm a singer".
The second single for this album is "Please Please Please", which garnered more success, topping the music charts both in the UK and for the first time in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The music video stars Carpenter and her boyfriend Barry Keoghan in the blockbuster concept as the sequel from "Espresso" music video.
The album's third single is "Taste", which lyrically a dramatic song about intercepting someone else's love interest as depicted in the music video which stars Carpenter and her fellow Disney Channel star Jenna Ortega. The music video for "Taste" would be suggested as a crossover episode for two of the hit Disney Channel family comedy series in mid 2010s Girl Meets World and Stuck In the Middle, whereas Carpenter starred as Maya Hart in Girl Meets World, and Ortega played Harley Diaz in Stuck In the Middle.
The album's promotional single "Slim Pickins" is a country-influenced ballad, in which she expresses regret over the scarcity of suitable men to date. In the chorus, Carpenter resigns herself to settling for someone less ideal to satisfy her needs, lamenting that good suitors are either unavailable or already taken, vowing to continue voicing her dissatisfaction. She goes on to point out that her boyfriend lacks basic grammatical knowledge about the difference between the words "their," "there," and "they are"; oblivious to what he is lacking in life and clearly not living up to his potential, he is sexually involved with Carpenter. In the outro, she jokes that since good men tend to drunkenly call their exes and she never had a "gay awakening", she will continue to be stuck in a kitchen while complaining: "Then I'll just be here in the kitchen / Serving up some moanin' and bitchin'."
- Promotion and tour
To promote the album, Carpenter will embark on the Short N' Sweet Tour, the first arena tour of her career, in September 2024. The tour started with her North American leg (U.S. and Canada) from September to November 2024, followed by the European leg in March 2025. Get your tickets here!
OUT NOW 💋 https://t.co/XHt02i8e0e https://t.co/lFXAwwPakD
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) August 23, 2024
- Tracklisting (all songs co-written by Sabrina Carpenter; bold indicates lead singles from the album, italic indicates promotional singles from the album)
1. Taste
2. Please Please Please
3. Good Graces
4. Sharpest Tool
5. Coincidence
6. Bed Chem
7. Espresso
8. Dumb & Poetic
9. Slim Pickins
10. Juno
11. Lie To Girls
12. Don't Smile
13. Needless To Say (vinyl limited only bonus track)
Get the album now on sabrinacarpenter.lnk.to/shortnsweet
