Review: Sabrina Carpenter Almost Made a No-Skip Album With Short n' Sweet

In this op-ed, social media manager Jillian Selzer reviews the buzzy Short n' Sweet, the latest studio album by pop star Sabrina Carpenter, ranking, rating, and unpacking the impact and longevity of what Selzer calls an “almost no-skip album."

Short n' Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter is almost a no-skip album. Almost.

The quality of Sabrina Carpenter's second album with Island Records seems to confirm that the two are in a mutually beneficial relationship. Carpenter's Hollywood Records albums are far from low-quality, but they belonged to a different chapter of her career, one dictated by The Mouse Disney. On those records, until Emails I Can't Send, her individuality was clouded by chaotic groupings of collaborators and little cohesion. Now, on Short n’ Sweet, the singer is doubling down on who she is as an artist.

This album's shining achievement is its dedication to eviscerating men and being horny on main. Despite being betrothed myself, Short n' Sweet made me nostalgic for the whirlwind thrill and inevitable snuff of a new flame.

Carpenter's straightforward vulnerability in her lyrics can be too blunt for some, but her songwriting on this record is an expert balance of her signature brash, unapologetic sexuality and heartbreaking introspection and observation.

While Carpenter herself has speculated that the public and non-loyal listeners may perceive her as “obnoxiously horny” due to her suggestive lyrics, I find her incredibly empowering. She does not hide who she is.

Courtesy of Island Records

On Short n' Sweet, Carpenter talks about sex and is sexual without being vapid or self-deprecating; she made me feel sexy and confident while listening. This album is simultaneously a strong self-introduction to newer fans and a masterful reveal of even more of her personality, humor, and growth as a woman to her OG fans.

As a fan since 2019's Singular: Act II, Carpenter's fourth studio album with Hollywood Records, (Sidebar: Have I known her since the Girl Meets World days? No. Was I absolutely sat the first time I heard “In My Bed”? Yes. Bandwagoner, I am not.) I find that Carpenter tends to struggle with yearning ballads and downtempo songs. Where I believe she truly thrives are the songs in which she showcases her humor, self-confidence, and general IDGAF attitude.

Apart from Short n' Sweet's “Don't Smile,” (Recommendation: after listening to this track, immediately queue up “Diet Pepsi” by Addison Rae, trust me) it's difficult to find a ballad with equal or more poignancy in Carpenter's discography. While lyrics on tracks like “Lie to Girls” are particularly brutal and heavy, the music lends itself to lackluster emotion; Carpenter struggles to convey sadness or loneliness as strongly as she does anger or passion, with the exception of the fantastic, emotional title track of Emails I Can't Send.

When it comes to her two breakout singles from the project, “Please Please Please” and “Espresso," the latter earworm fails to mesh when placed within the context of the album. Even the aforementioned ballads feel more in sync, thematically and tonally, lyrically, and sonically.

While we may never be privy to the order in which the songs were created, it does feel like both singles were made specifically with radio and TikTok in mind — which ends up making “Espresso” feel like a jarring record scratch on the track list as you listen in sequential order. It feels emptier, where at least “Please Please Please” matches the lyrical cleverness of her other songs in a way that is unmistakably so Sabrina.

It’s possible that the virality and subsequent omnipresence of both singles has skewed my perception of their quality — but while it feels like anyone could sing “Espresso,” (Doja Cat during the Planet Her era?) only Carpenter could embody songs like “Taste” and “Coincidence.”

And, of course, there's the Jack Antonoff of it all. The Antonoff-produced songs — "Slim Pickins," “Lie to Girls,” “Please Please Please,” and “Sharpest Tool" — didn't feel as memorable to me. While the themes and lyrics are on brand, the effect felt more trendy, running with the current appreciation for pop-country sounds and the ongoing infatuation with '80s synths. The songs written and/or produced by John Ryan and Ian Kirkpatrick, on the other hand, felt more true sonically to who Carpenter is becoming as an artist.

Overall, this is one of my favorite albums of the year. I listened to it repeatedly on a solo 8-hour roadtrip from Maine to Brooklyn and am still cycling through it, days later. What else could we want from music, than to move us and make us feel like we can do whatever the f*ck we want?

Every song on Short n' Sweet, ranked

1. Juno
2. Bed Chem
3. Don’t Smile
4. Taste
5. Good Graces
6. Coincidence
7. Slim Pickins
8. Please Please Please
9. Espresso
10. Lie to Girls*
11. Dumb & Poetic*
12. Sharpest Tool*

* I have found myself continually skipping tracks 10-12 on my ranking.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Deductions: Ballads are lackluster. Too much Jack Antonoff.

Tour setlist predictions:

“PPP,” “Espresso,” “Taste,” “Juno” (I have a feeling the “I’m so f*cking horny” line will be a major audience moment!), “Slim Pickins,” “Dumb & Poetic,” “Sharpest Tool,” and maybe “Coincidence” and “Good Graces.”