Full creative control looks good on the pop star, who swings for the big leagues on her sharp and saucy sixth record In the past, it was sometimes hard to work out who Sabrina Carpenter was. Her early albums, like 2015’s ‘Eyes Wide Open’ and its 2016 follow-up ‘Evolution’, presented a young pop star trying to find her groove but instead getting lost in the trends of the time. It wasn’t until 2022’s ‘Emails I Can’t Send’ – Carpenter’s fifth album, but also the first where she had full creative control – that her pop personality started to crystallise, evident in the coy cheek of ‘Nonsense’ and the addictive strut of ‘Feather’.
READ MORE: Nieve Ella just wants to have fun In the two years since that record was released, Carpenter has finally become a bona fide pop icon in the making. Her explicit, viral ‘Nonsense’ outros , tailored to the city she was performing in, endeared her to hordes of new fans. ‘Espresso’, the quip-heavy first single from her latest record ‘Short n’ Sweet’, was inescapable this summer.
A supporting run on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour , a solid Coachella appearance and a headline-grabbing relationship have all boosted her profile even more. As ‘Short n’ Sweet’ arrives, then, it feels like the 25-year-old singer is at something of a turning point. Keep Carpenter’s musical calling cards, justify the hype, and she’ll soon be levelling up to major festival headliner – and this record largely gets the j.