After Sabrina Carpenter’s summer season takeover with “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” the anticipation for Brief n’ Candy was at an all-time excessive. On her sixth album, the pop singer retains the surprises coming as she delivers a masterclass in intelligent songwriting and hops between R&B and folk-pop with ease. Carpenter writes concerning the frustration of modern-day romance, all of the whereas cementing herself as a pop traditional. Right here’s all the pieces we gathered from the brand new mission.
Please Please Please Don’t Underestimate Her Humor
Carpenter gave us a glimpse of her humor on singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” — she’s working late as a result of she’s a singer; ceiling followers are a reasonably nice invention! However nobody might have guessed how downright hilarious she is on Brief n’ Candy, delivering sugary quips like “The Lord forgot my homosexual awakenin’” (“Slim Pickins”) and “How’s the climate in your mom’s basement?” (“Pointless to Say”). She’s additionally adorably nerdy, fretting about grammar (“This boy doesn’t even know/The distinction between ‘there,’ ‘their’ and ‘they’re!’”) and getting Shakespearian (“The place artwork thou? Why not uponeth me?”). On “Juno,” she even takes a topic as critical as being pregnant and twists it into an enthralling popular culture reference for the ages: “In case you love me proper, then who is aware of?/I’d allow you to make me Juno.” It’s official: Don’t underestimate Ms. Carpenter’s pen. — A.M.
She’s Caught in One other Love Triangle
On her sixth album, Carpenter in some way finds herself in the course of yet one more love triangle. She’s no stranger to this, having penned “Pores and skin” and “Obsessed” in response to the teenager saga that Olivia Rodrigo sang about on Bitter. However on Brief ‘n Candy, the songs are extra express, the celebs are larger, and the stakes are even increased. The flighty dude who “discovered God at [his] ex’s home” on “Sharpest Software” is presumably Shawn Mendes, and the ex to who Carpenter directs the tongue-in-cheek “Style” at seems to be Camila Cabello. She could also be writing about A-Checklist singers, however Carpenter stays fearless.“I write songs about precisely how I really feel, so I assume I can’t be so stunned that individuals are all in favour of who and what these songs are about,” she instructed Rolling Stone in Could. “That’s one thing that comes with the territory.” — M.G.
Carpenter Goes Nation
Carpenter has all the time been a Tay-daughter (a musical daughter of Taylor Swift), however she appears to be taking notes from different nation pop stars and legends like Kacey Musgraves and Dolly Parton. The foolish “Slim Pickins” veers into nation territory probably the most; her vocal trills channel each Musgraves and Parton with unimaginable precision. “The little vocal runs she does are so weird and distinctive — they’re doing this actually odd, traditional, nearly yodel-y nation factor,” producer Jack Antonoff instructed Rolling Stone earlier this 12 months. Sonically, Brief ‘n Candy finds Carpenter leaning into plucky acoustic guitars all through the document. In two years time, she simply would possibly pivot into full twang.— M.G.
Leonard Cohen, Pop’s Hottest Muse
It wasn’t too way back that boygenius put out a tune about Leonard Cohen, who was casually “at a Buddhist monastery writing sexy poetry.” Carpenter takes a observe from the boys on “Dumb & Poetic,” a two-minute acoustic ballad the place she bids farewell to a person of wellness, the terrible variety who steals quotes from self-help books. She delivers some nice burns right here — “Save all of your breath on your ground meditation,” “I promise the mushrooms aren’t altering your life” — however nothing is extra biting than a reference to the late songwriter who had a means with the women. “Attempt to come off such as you’re comfortable and well-spoken/Jack off to lyrics by Leonard Cohen,” she sings — and that’s simply the primary verse. Cohen died eight years in the past, and one can solely think about his response to being pop’s hottest muse. — A.M.
Retro Energy
For extra primary pop artists, “Eighties retro” typically means throwing some New Wave synths in your tune and calling it a day. However in terms of retro-pop recombinations, Sabrina Carpenter has a singular mild contact and a scholar’s consideration to element. Brief ‘n Candy kicks off with the superb single “Style,” a mega-catchy kiss-off to an ex’s new accomplice with a melody that lovingly and movingly calls again to Kim Carnes’ traditional “Bette Davis Eyes,” which spent 9 weeks on the high of the charts in 1981 and received a Grammy for Tune of the 12 months and Report of the 12 months. Carpenter completely makes that classic reference her personal, simply as she did on her earlier summer season smashes “Please Please Please” and “Espresso.” — J.D.