Short n’ Sweet review | Sabrina Carpenter’s highly anticipated album definitely reflects its title

In the world of pop, the 2024 summer soundtrack has been dominated by a handful of artists. Charli XCX led us into a “BRAT” summer, her ice-cold record showing no signs of slowing down ahead of her upcoming UK and US tours. Chappell Roan has similarly dominated, her surprise hit from her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” reaching the top spot in the UK earlier this month, supported by gigantic performances at music festivals and the killer “Good Luck, Babe!”.

And then there’s Sabrina Carpenter, currently on her way to pop superstardom. Her highly anticipated sixth album, Short n’ Sweet, arrives after just two mammoth years for the 25-year-old artist. Carpenter is no stranger to the music industry—she’s been releasing music since 2014, alongside a successful acting career launched by the Disney Channel—but her musical breakthrough came with her previous LP, Emails I Can’t Send (out in 2022). Featuring catchy singles like “Feather” and the raunchy, endlessly viral outros of “Nonsense,” the album grew Carpenter’s fanbase exponentially; a huge slot opening for Taylor Swift on the Eras tour and a dazzling performance at Coachella also helped.

Carpenter’s position as a pop star was then cemented with the two early singles from Short n’ Sweet. First came the groovy “Espresso” and then the country-tinged “Please Please Please” (complete with music video featuring Carpenter’s real-life boyfriend, actor Barry Keoghan). Both tracks are staples of endless summer playlists (and both tracks reached number one in the UK).

The rest of Short n’ Sweet lives up to its title: a collection of 12 delicious, three-minute pop songs that zoom by and exude Carpenter’s personality, with her humor and brutal honesty coming through time and time again: “Worship me/Hold me and explore me/I’m so damn horny” She sings breathlessly on “Juno,” a lascivious, Carly Rae Jepsen-esque song. Then there’s the half-spoken riff on “Bad Chem,” where she demands: “I said you’re not in my time zone, but you want to be there. Where are you? Why not with me?”

On the sun-drenched “Taste,” a seductive, slack-rock-inspired number, Carpenter winks: “I heard you guys are back together and if that’s true, you must taste me when he kisses you.”. And then there is the infamous eye roll in “Please, please, please”, where Carpenter exasperatedly warns a new admirer: “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego is another/I beg you, don’t embarrass me, asshole”.

These pithy one-liners are carried by the album’s pop timbre, which draws inspiration from country (‘Slim Pickins’, ‘Dumb & Poetic’), Laurel Canyon folk rock (‘Coincidence’), strutting ’80s synth-pop (‘Bad Chem’) and – on ‘Good Graces’ – even a (very slight) hint of UKG. Catchy choruses run throughout the album, Carpenter’s soaring vocals cut through the roof, delivering knock-offs and emotional digs. And nestled between the pop morsels is the brilliant, brutal ‘Sharpest Tool’. Its unusual song structure is accompanied by percolating guitar riffs that segue into gentle beats and supple guitar riffs, muted instrumentals underscore Carpenter’s candid reflections (“We had sex, I met your best friends/Then a bird flies by and you forget it”, “We went right, then you turned left/Left me with a lot of shit to question”).

It’s a reminder among megawatt moments that Carpenter can do more than just catchy choruses – there’s personality and charm that made her the pop star of the moment. And the fact that “Short n’ Sweet” more than lives up to its title? That’s the icing on the cake.