After ruling the airwaves all summer season lengthy with “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” Sabrina Carpenter is capping off the season — and satiating our thirst for extra witty, glowing pop — along with her newly launched sixth album, Quick n’ Candy.
All through its speedy 12-track length, the 25-year-old wields confidence and authenticity prefer it’s a Marc Jacobs bag, truthfully referencing A-list relationships previous and current, and stretching the bounds of innuendo. Having had “full artistic management” over Quick n’ Candy and “being a full-fledged grownup” throughout its recording course of, Carpenter informed Selection that the file looks like her “second ‘large lady’ album.”
This freshly honed inventive id is entrance and heart on the opening monitor and third single “Style,” which arrived alongside a Dave Meyers-directed visible impressed by Dying Turns into Her and co-starring Jenna Ortega on Aug. 23. Co-written by Carpenter, Julia Michaels, Amy Allen, John Ryan, and Ian Kirkpatrick, the deceptively candy tune units the tone for the file’s typically sardonic and sensual viewpoint.
Don’t let its title idiot you — “Style” is just not aimed toward a lover however the different girl, aka his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Though the monitor seemingly finds Carpenter post-breakup, she will’t assist however emphasize the affect she made on her ex throughout a short-lived fling. “Oh, I depart fairly an impression / 5 toes to be precise,” its opening line states earlier than she makes her presence additional recognized: “You’re wonderin’ why half his garments went missin’ / My physique’s the place they’re at.”
Within the breezy and addictive refrain, she units her thesis: “I heard you’re again collectively and if that’s true / You’ll simply must style me when he’s kissin’ you.” Regardless of present standings, Carpenter explains that her time with this man and the sentiments he harbored for her can’t be erased. Within the second verse, she presents one other piece of proof: “He’s humorous, now all his jokes hit completely different / Guess who he discovered that from?”
Nonetheless, the bridge — delivered in a breathy stream of consciousness — hammers the purpose dwelling. After decreeing that when this lady “feels his lips, you’re feelin’ mine,” Carpenter begins to put down her weapons, resolving that “you possibly can have him in the event you like.” However simply if you suppose she’s finished, the singer points one other thwack through an allusion to what is perhaps the extremely publicized 2020 love triangle between her, Olivia Rodrigo, and Joshua Bassett. “I do know I’ve been recognized to share,” she sings with a wink.
However who’s the person on the sidelines of “Style?” The web is speculating that Carpenter’s rumored relationship with Shawn Mendes is perhaps the music’s inspiration. The 2 singers had been noticed collectively a number of instances in early 2023 earlier than issues rapidly fizzled out.
It’s a powerful principle, contemplating Carpenter lately informed Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that the album title wasn’t a reference to her “vertically challenged” peak. “I considered a few of these relationships and the way a few of them had been the shortest I’ve ever had, and so they affected me probably the most,” she stated. Quick and candy certainly.