Though I found myself reluctant to admit my attachment to mainstream pop, my favourite album over the summer of 2024 would have to be Short N’ Sweet—given the unhealthy playing repeats of a few of its singles. Here are two reviews explaining why it might just be the biggest hit of 2024:
Vinyl cover of Short N’ Sweet. Original full-size picture available here—I mean, look at this remarkable visual presentation of the album’s aesthetic concept: the nostalgic pastel setup, the vivavious blush and hair, and the goofy face.
pitchfork
Her [Sabrina Carpenter’s] allure is so piping hot that it melts grammar down into something deliciously dumb and maybe genius.
Sabrina repeatedly dethroned herself on the Billboard charts with her sequence of promotional singles—“Espresso” dominated first, followed by “Please Please Please” and then “Taste,” each capturing the top spot upon, some even upon the first week of their release (note: Billboard chart refresh weekly). The album’s full drop on August 23rd ignited the final heat wave of summer, adding a touch of nostalgia to its appeal.
So here we are at Carpenter’s sixth album, Short n’ Sweet, a tee-hee title for a 36-minute album by a singer who stands just under five feet tall. In a pop landscape recently plagued by self-seriousness and a tiresome obsession with authenticity, Short n’ Sweet is a refreshing glass of escapism.
And it’s mostly about dating.
Short n’ Sweet’s casually goofy sex positivity is essential to its charm.
…
Unfortunately it’s dry out there, and Carpenter spends most of Short n’ Sweet reporting from the miserable front lines of modern dating. That boy who didn’t know the difference between “there,” “their,” and “they are”? At least he makes for a good laugh. And who can blame a girl for getting her kicks where she can? Sometimes you have to sit on a face to shut a guy up! Carpenter doesn’t pretend like her own dating history isn’t full of himbos—if Short n’ Sweet had a subtitle it might be: Men Are Stupid…But So Am I. “I know I have good judgment, I know I have good taste,” she sings on “Please Please Please” before calling this judgment into question: “It’s funny and it’s ironic that only I feel that way.”
…
Carpenter emerges from a relationship having learned a hard truth, that emotional abuse can be self-perpetuated. “You don’t have to lie to girls/If they like you, they’ll just lie to themselves,” she sings. “Like you, they’ll just lie to themselves.” Anyone is capable of breaking a heart and sometimes, you’re cruelest with your own. But Carpenter has a simple request: If you’re gonna break hers, please, do it gently. A good dick joke can’t hurt either.
douban
And here’s another pretty sharp comment that points out the uniqueness of this album, in the middle of the pop music industry:
[translated from Chinese, original here by user on Douban]
In an era where pop music is relentlessly bound to personal narratives and social commentaries, Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album, ‘Short N’ Sweet,’ emerges as a refreshing anomaly. While the industry’s heavyweights dive deep into their private emotions or sociocultural roots — be it Beyoncé reviving dance floor culture and Black dedication to country music, Taylor Swift unpacking the cosmos of her personal angst, or Billie Eilish painting introspective portraits of Gen Z bedroom pop — Carpenter opts for a lighter touch. Her music is an unapologetic return to pop’s pleasurable roots, free from the trappings of overt personalization or heavy-handed themes.
Where others see the need to cloak their work in “artistry” to claim depth, Carpenter’s approach is disarmingly straightforward. Her tunes are light, catchy, and devoid of pretense, aiming solely to delight. In ‘Short N’ Sweet’, she takes up the mantle of pop’s past icons like Britney Spears, filling a niche in today’s pop landscape that many have either overlooked or deemed too frivolous to tackle.
Critics may argue that Carpenter lacks an “artistic persona,” but in truth, she doesn’t need one. By delivering pop music that’s charming, catchy, and succinctly delightful — living up to the album’s title — she accomplishes what many of today’s mainstream female musicians either can’t or won’t. Carpenter’s music doesn’t ask for a backstory, a lesson, or a deep dive into personal trials; it simply exists to entertain, making her an irreplaceable figure in the current pop ecosystem.
reference
MaNanbo Jake (2024) Music Comment on Short N’ Sweet. https://music.douban.com/review/16149551/#comments
Quinn Moreland (2024) Review on Short N’ Sweet. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sabrina-carpenter-short-n-sweet/