Short n’ Sweet review | Sabrina Carpenter’s highly anticipated record definitely echoes its title

On this planet of pop, 2024’s summer time soundtrack has been dominated by a handful of artists. Charli XCX ushered us right into a ‘BRAT’ summer time, her stone-cold smash of a report displaying no indicators of slowing down forward of her incoming UK and US excursions. Chappell Roan has equally dominated, her sleeper hit of a debut album ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ hitting the highest spot within the UK earlier this month, aided by mammoth music competition performances and the killer ‘Good Luck, Babe!’.

After which there’s Sabrina Carpenter, who’s now on a fast-track to pop superstardom. Her anticipated sixth report ‘Quick n’ Candy’ comes after a mammoth two years for the 25-year-old artist. No stranger to the music trade – alongside a profitable, Disney Channel-kick-started appearing profession Carpenter’s been releasing music since 2014 – it was with Carpenter’s earlier LP, ‘Emails I Can’t Ship’ (launched in 2022), that she had her megawatt musical breakout second. With earworm singles like ‘Feather’, and the innuendo-fueled, endlessly-viral outros of ‘Nonsense’, the album noticed Carpenter’s fanbase develop exponentially; additionally aided by an enormous slot supporting Taylor Swift on the Eras tour, and a buzzy efficiency at Coachella.

Carpenter’s place as popstar was then cemented with the 2 early singles taken from ‘Quick n’ Candy’. First got here the groovy ‘Espresso’, after which the country-laced ‘Please Please Please’ (full with its music video that options Carpenter’s IRL boyfriend, actor Barry Keoghan), each tracks mainstays of infinite summer time playlists (and each tracks hitting primary within the UK).

The remainder of ‘Quick n’ Candy’ lives as much as its title: a set of 12 moreish, three(ish) minute pop tunes that rocket by and are dripping in Carpenter’s character. All through her humour and brutal honesty shine via: “Adore me/Maintain me and discover me/I’m so fucking attractive” she sings breathlessly on ‘Juno’, a lascivious, Carly Rae Jepsen-evoking minimize. Then there’s the half-spoken riff throughout ‘Unhealthy Chem’, the place she calls for: “Stated you’re not in my timezone, however you wanna be/The place artwork thou? Why not uponeth me?”

Sunshine drenched ‘Style’, a slinky, slack-rock infused quantity, sees Carpenter wink: “I heard you’re again collectively and if that’s true/You’ll need to style me when he’s kissin’ you”. And there’s the notorious eyeroll of ‘Please Please Please’ the place Carpenter exasperatedly warns a brand new beau: “Heartbreak is one factor, my ego’s one other/I encourage you, don’t embarrass me, motherfucker”.

These pithy one-liners are buoyed by the album’s pop-rooted sonics that draw on nation (‘Slim Pickins’, ‘Dumb & Poetic’), Laurel Canyon people rock (‘Coincidence’), strutting 80s synth-pop (‘Unhealthy Chem’) and – on ‘Good Graces’ – even a (very mild) contact of UKG. Catchy choruses permeate all through, Carpenter’s floating vocals reducing throughout the highest, delivering kiss-offs and emotional excavations. And nestled among the many morsels of pop sparkle is the good, brutal ‘Sharpest Device’. Its uncommon tune construction is accompanied by percolating guitar licks that launch into mushy beats and lithe guitar licks, subdued instrumentals scoring Carpenter’s candid reflections (“We had intercourse, I met your finest pals/Then a fowl flies by and also you neglect”, “We had been going proper, you then took a left/Left me with a whole lot of shit to second guess”).

It’s a reminder among the many megawatt moments that Carpenter is extra than simply catchy choruses – there’s character and appeal which have propelled her to pop-star of the second. And the truth that ‘Quick n’ Candy’ greater than lives as much as its title? That’s the cherry on high.