2024’s breakout pop sensation is back! After releasing chart-topping singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” Sabrina Carpenter continues her monumental 2024 run with the release of her 6th studio album “Short n’ Sweet”.

The full story of this album dates all the way back to July of 2023, where following a series of teasers from Carpenter including tweets about her height being displayed in Times Square, A video was released of her walking up to the camera and placing a kiss on the screen, the album was confirmed and the cover art was released. 

Over a year later on August 23rd, 2024, the record finally got released. 

3 singles were released as a part of the hype for the album’s release. First up, Espresso.

Espresso’s release came off the tails of Carpenter’s performance at Coachella, where the song officially made its performance debut. Post-Coachella, the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 charts, with it climbing upto number one by the week of June 22nd. Currently, the song sits at number three on the charts, behind ‘Die with a Smile’ and ‘Birds of a Feather’. 

Her second single release was the ever-catchy “Please Please Please”. Following even more teases from the artist, Carpenter dropped the song on June 6th and paired the release with a music video. The song took off upon release, topping the billboard charts and actually dethroning ‘Espresso’ by week 2 on the charts. 

The third and final single “Taste” came paired with a music video featuring Jenna Ortega as well as the release of the album. 

Short n’ Sweet takes a deep dive into Carpenter’s love life, including some of her relationships from the 2020s. The title itself can be understood as a triple entendre, one reference being Carpenter’s relationships that impacted her the most emotionally, her physical stature as she stands at five feet tall, as well as the album’s relatively short run time of 36 minutes. 

Musically, the album is a pop record, with elements of R&B, Rock, and Country music also being featured within the tracks. subtle elements of varying acoustic guitars, funk, and disco are also present in the album. Many have observed influences from Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Kacey Musgraves, and Arianna Grande.

This entire album, from top to bottom, is catchy. The sounds are versatile yet cohesive, the lyricism is confident, and it very clearly appeals to the mainstream trend that Carpenter herself has been a contributor to.

Another trait that in my eyes defines the album is the wit, a testament to the sense of humor the Carpenter displayed. Like fellow Disney Channel alumni, Olivia Rodrigo (who has made a name for herself in the pop music scene), Carpenter has been able to find comfort and humor in her romance gone wrong. 

A perfect example is how In ‘Dumb and Poetic’ she destroys a fake sensitive guy, giving him “A gold star for highbrow manipulation.” The best part of the lyric? She says it over an acoustic guitar walz that sensitive guys may favor! 

Unlike many 21st-century pop artists, Carpenter shows no loyalty to an era or a style of music. “Short n’ Sweet” uses 21st-century studio technology to jumble its allusions to disco, Janet Jackson, quiet-storm R&B, Laurel Canyon folk-pop, 1990s grunge, and indie-rock.

‘Coincidence’ features hearty guitar strumming, harmonies, and leaping melody lines that hail all the way back to artists like Joni Mitchell. ‘Slim Pickins’ goes the opposite direction, using string-band country to complain about how she has to settle for second-rate men because “the good ones are deceased or taken.”

‘Taste’ is the album’s opener, which starts off the listening experience with an indie rock, high-paced, brash litany of electric guitar riffs behind lyrics of Carpenter bashing someone who has returned to an ex. Instead of attacking the guy, she attacks the girl saying ‘You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissing you.’ 

The versatility in the songs is just a testament to the musical talent of Carpenter, and what I predict to be the future success and replayability of ‘Short n’ Sweet’

Overall I’d say this album has a lot more positives than negatives. Despite critics believing it’s a fairly ‘safe’ release compared to the more flamboyant music from her peers such as Charli XCX’s ‘brat’ and Chappell Roan’s ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’, I’d say this album is a success.