Compared to many other major pop albums that have been released this year, I had large expectations for this most recent project from Sabrina Carpenter. Very much because of the two bombs of singles she dropped back to back in April and June of this year. Just from the streaming numbers alone, I was impressed. Espresso has reached over 1.25 billion streams in just over 5 months of being out. The second single, “Please Please Please”, has done better, passing the 750 million mark in only 3 months. Singles are meant to be promotion for the future album, so of course the artist will pick the more solid tracks off the record, but to have your only 2 be that massive is ridiculous.
I think that success is definitely warranted. These 2 songs sound good, production and writing wise, and are extremely catchy– pretty much all you can ask for when making a pop song. The disco-inspired production on Please Please Please from Jack Antonoff sounded really fresh and unique. Jack produced around a quarter of the songs on Short n’ Sweet, and all of them are a major step up from his previous work this year. The other 3 main producers on this album, Julian Bunetta, John Ryan, and Ian Kirpatrick, all did their job on the production work and I don’t think a single song missed production wise. There’s many great instrumentals, with influences from rock, folk, R&B, and even disco, as previously mentioned. I do think the R&B should have been utilized more. The song Don’t Smile used it really well, and the purely guitar based songs got kind of repetitive on the later half of the album.
The biggest strength of this album were the hooks and choruses on these songs. If you’re trying to make a big hit, this is probably the most key element to doing so. Almost every single one of these songs has a hook worthy of being a massive hit. Sabrina definitely has a really good voice, but something about the way they mix her vocals gives them a kind of weird sound. However, it really works for some of the tones she’s going for. When she sings “Please Please Please,” it’s sung and mixed in a way that makes the lyrics really pop out. She uses a good variety of pitches and delivery of vocals, ranging from high pitch Ariana Grande sounding lyrics (Bad Chem), to very light and slow ones (Don’t Smile). Lyrically, this album can be inconsistent at times. The majority of the songs are well written. I think there’s a lot of clever verses and the majority of lyrics flow well. There are some verses, though, that really feel like they could have used some more thought. A lot of the story telling is pretty one dimensional and feels quite general. A more clear basis on what or when a song is specifically written about could have really given some tracks more value.
OVERALL RATING: 8.3/10
Pros: Production, Hooks, Most Verses, Vocals
Cons: Some Lyrics, Song Topics
Best Song: Please Please Please
Worst Song: Lie To Girls
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