The summer of 2024 was for the pop girls. With the release of Charli XCX’s “Brat” and the growing popularity of Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” there was no shortage of songs to blast in the car or live performances to obsess over.
It only makes sense that everyone’s favorite pint-sized popstar, Sabrina Carpenter, ended the summer by releasing her sixth studio album “Short n’ Sweet.” I may not be exactly sure what “that me espresso” is, but I do know this album perfectly conveys how pop music doesn’t have to be serious to be genuinely great.
Many artists who rise to popularity quickly get slandered online with “industry plant” allegations, especially female artists. However, despite what internet haters say, Carpenter has been releasing music since 2014, when she came out with her debut single “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying.”
Regardless, it is undeniable that, over the past year, Carpenter has experienced a meteoric rise. A huge factor in that rise has been her song “Nonsense” from her album “emails i can’t send.” Honestly, thank goodness for the Carpenter Renaissance, because this album is criminally underrated and is finally getting some of the recognition it deserves (go listen to the title track — you’ll thank me later).
Back to “Nonsense,” though. In each live performance of the song, Carpenter changes the outro to reference the city or circumstance in which she is performing. All of these outros are cheeky, raunchy and so unserious that they cross over into a type of genius. I think part of what makes “Short n’ Sweet” so successful is the way Carpenter has leaned into this campy aura of hilarious lyrics.
No song exemplifies this more than “Bed Chem,” where Carpenter tries her hand at being a modern-day Shakespeare with lyrics like “Where art thou? Why not uponeth me?” The song also has a fun, conversational tone where she repeatedly addresses the listener. The whole song is filled with unapologetically lusty lyrics and wordplay that is coupled with a soft beat and angelic vocals.
This combo seems to be a go-to for Carpenter on this album, appearing in the more country-inspired “Slim Pickins,” where she laments, “A boy who’s nice that breathes / I swear he’s nowhere to be seen.” I have never seen someone diss the entire male population while sounding so nice. Or, take one of my favorite lyrics from the entire album: “Jesus, what’s a girl to do? / This boy doesn’t even know the difference between ‘there,’ ‘their’ and ‘they are.’” Sabrina Carpenter, English majors everywhere thank you.
Carpenter continues with the scathing lyrics in “Good Graces,” where she threatens, “Break my heart, and I swear I’m movin’ on / with your favorite athlete,” and in “Taste,” where she claims that her ex’s new girl will “just have to taste me when he’s kissing you.” Carpenter still sneaks in plenty of sweetness in her lyrics, like the absurd “If you love me right then, who knows / I might let you make me ‘Juno.’”
However, nestled in the silly pop masterpieces are more reflective songs like “Sharpest Tool” and “Lie to Girls.” “Sharpest Tool” details communication problems and feeling like an idiot after an unclear relationship. In “Lie to Girls,” Carpenter details the phenomenon of how women “love to mistake butterflies for cardiac arrest” and romanticize their interactions with men, even after they act anything but romantic.
While these two songs perfectly detail the foolishness that comes not only with a relationship but any type of attraction, the most emotional song on the album comes in the form of “Dumb and Poetic,” a heartbreaking song where Carpenter details falling for a man who faked being highbrow and well spoken. Whether it’s accusing the song’s subject of cherry-picking lines from self-help books or messing with her head “like it’s some kind of fetish,” it’s safe to say Carpenter is much more poetic than any man she writes about.
As she told us in “Espresso,” Carpenter is working late ‘cause she’s a singer. I guess all those late nights in the studio paid off, because “Short n’ Sweet” is a confection of a pop album whose hilarious, blistering and heart-wrenching lyrics will not leave my head anytime soon.
