“Thinkin’ ‘bout me every night, oh / Is it that sweet? I guess so”
Even if whoever Sabrina Carpenter was talking about in her song “Espresso,” is not thinking about her, I sure am. Carpenter’s songs pop up in my music listening almost daily. I cannot read or hear the word “espresso” without thinking about her. But Carpenter’s music is so much more than catchy lyrics. It is hard to pinpoint one thing that draws me to her music, but I think her honesty and relatability are most compelling. Her album, “Short n’ Sweet,” contains the range of dramatic emotions that come with relationships, from the highs to the lows. Carpenter’s songs take you from one stage to the next on her romantic journey, creating relatable music for listeners at any stage.
Stage one: There is no one out there for me
In this part of the romance cycle, Carpenter finds herself resigned to the fact that no one will love her, either because she makes it too hard for them, there is no one for her or there is no relationship potential in her situationships. These feelings are relatable when your love life feels stale; you are sick and tired of being single, but you see no way out of it. This vibe is brought out in Carpenter’s songs “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder” and “Slim Pickins.”
These songs do not mince words when describing how frustrating this stage can be. She describes feeling unlovable and jaded in the line “I was easier than I am now” in “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder.” This song has a close and personal sound, as if you are in an intimate space with an old-timey showgirl singing a ballad about her love woes.
Carpenter proposes another potential reason for her singleness on “Slim Pickins,” deciding that the problem is a lack of candidates. This song humorously highlights the low bar that lonely hearts sometimes have. “A boy who’s nice that breathes” should not be all that one is looking for, but sometimes it feels like you would take even the bare minimum.
Stage Two: Crushing hard and imagining the potential
Some of Carpenter’s biggest hits fall into this category, including, you guessed it, “Espresso.” Espresso is a classic pop song. The bubbly lyrics, the pleasing patterns and the easy-to-sing-along sing-songiness make this the earworm it is. Carpenter brings in semi-subliminal messaging when she repeats the word “yes” in the build-up to the chorus, making you want to keep listening as the song reaches its peak. Who cannot relate to having someone on their mind so much they can not fall asleep?
Carpenter imagines how the guy is obsessing about her, in some ways downplaying her appeal, “Is it that sweet? I guess so,” only to say, “Baby, I know,” implying that she knows how desirable she is. She details all the ways she is amazing: being caring, smelling sweet and making the world brand new. Her lyrics’ specificity makes them memorable.
Carpenter’s imagination runs wild in “Bed Chem,” where she describes, not so subtly and with a fair helping of innuendo, how much she is attracted to “the cute boy with the white jacket / And the thick accent.” This fun and silly song embodies the highs of having an exciting new crush and feels like a confession between friends.
Nonetheless, Carpenter’s honesty about her sexuality is compelling. During her Tiny Desk Concert, she stated, “Some people know me for I guess being explicitly horny,” going on to say that her lyrics are not so simple as that. Her choice to say these seemingly outrageous things is courageous, as this is not something pop culture is particularly comfortable with women expressing. While most of this is unserious for the sake of shock value, it is a big step forward for public conversations about sex positivity for women.
To round off this stage is “Juno.” Again, Carpenter leans into expressing her sexuality and desires, imagining flirtatious, intimate moments between her and her potential partner. Carpenter even expresses this by suggesting, “One of me is cute, but two, though?” implying she would want to have a baby with her crush. These songs embody the butterflies that crushes create, making them fun for anyone with hearts in their eyes.
Stage Three: Don’t mess this up
This is the anxious, hopeful stage of dating when you worry about opening yourself up to being hurt. She opens “Good Graces” by talking about all of the sweet intentions present in the last stage while making it clear that this treatment can end if he wrongs her. This song is fast, fun and silly while revealing the anxieties that new relationships bring, making it quite complex.
“Please Please Please” is the slightly more pleading version of this sentiment. This was my third most-played song in 2024, and for good reason. The ridiculousness of some of the lines in this song makes it fun, like playing up the appeal of the ceiling fan, contrasting Carpenter’s earnest, forceful requests to be treated right. I would highly recommend this podcast episode where Carpenter and her co-writers break down the making of this song. On her deluxe version of the album, Carpenter switches this song to more of a country vibe as she softens some of the words and sings along with Dolly Parton.
Stage Four: Stupid stupid boys
The guy in “Dumb and Poetic” is a recognizable stereotype. The allure of a dark academia, mysterious, even angsty guy is a classic romantic cliché. Unfortunately, there is nothing behind those eyes. This song is Carpenter’s realization of this disappointment, and all the excitement and anticipation of earlier stages is lost. The specificity of Carpenter’s lyrics again makes this so compelling; descriptions of self-help books and Leonard Cohen’s lyrics make the guy in this song feel even more real. This is the ballad of the brooding, mysterious guy that you should have known better about.
“Sharpest Tool” brings to mind a different flavor of a hopeless, dumb guy. The song shifts from soft questioning to a confused and frustrated fadeout. This song shines in how the rolling lyrics fit neatly together, ending a sentence and then starting the next with the same word (employing a rhetorical device called anadiplosis), as in the turn of phrase: “We were going right, then you took a left / Left me with a lot of shit to second guess.” The heartbreak of falling in love with a not-so-sharp tool is that you cannot even really talk about what happened.
Stage Five: How everything fell apart
Carpenter laments how the relationship fell apart with her classic tongue-in-cheek wittiness. In “Coincidence,” Carpenter describes how the relationship was doomed from the start as the guy she was with was still tied up with his ex. This song feels intimate, as if you are listening to someone tell you their troubles with a guitar in their lap. The “happenstance moments” she describes are frustrating but snarkily told, such as “Your car drove itself from LA to her thighs” and “Holding space for her tongue in your mouth.”
Carpenter’s way of communicating heartbreak makes you empathize with the lack of control she has. This song is a reckoning of how things slowly unraveled, which is relatable to anyone who goes through a slow breakup that had red flags from the beginning.
In “Lie To Girls,” Carpenter admonishes the boy for even bothering with all the lies. She says, “You don’t have to lie to girls / If they like you, they’ll just lie to themselves.” Carpenter accepts some of the blame for putting up with these kinds of guys in the first place, but when you know the context of all of Carpenter’s options through the songs above, you cannot blame her for taking what she can get.
She states the delusions poignantly: “We love to read the cold hard facts and swear they’re incorrect / We love to mistake butterflies for cardiac arrest.” In the same way that the bar is on the floor, Carpenter and all the other unlucky, hopeless romantics will take any chance they can get at love. Unfortunately, sometimes this means ending up with boys that just lie to you. This inevitably leads to heartbreak.
Stage Six: Heartbreak
I love how dramatic the line “Don’t smile because it happened, baby, cry because it’s over” is (featured in “Don’t Smile”). When you feel things as intensely as Carpenter and I seem to, sometimes the only thing that makes it feel okay is knowing that someone else feels this way, too. It is helpful to focus on the bright side, see silver linings and think about everything you learn from bad experiences. But sometimes, it is helpful to wallow. To just feel things. To cry because it is over. I catch myself dramatizing mundane things by belting these lyrics and I think Carpenter would appreciate her music being used like that.
“Taste” also mourns the end of a relationship in Carpenter’s own, “what is a girl to do about it” way. This song is a bit different because it is addressed not to the boy, but to his next girlfriend. This song depicts Carpenter in a state of wondering what her ex is like with a new girlfriend. This is almost graphically captured in the notion that the new girlfriend can taste Carpenter on the lips of the boy. It is a reminder of all the impacts that past loves can have on a current relationship and even acts as Carpenter’s reclamation of the relationship that was and how she contributed to it. This song is bitter, but cheeky and hits the note of getting over a relationship head-on.
Stage Seven: Return to resigned singleness
We end right back where we started, single and not too happy about it, but hey, life is too busy to be worried about that. In “Busy Woman” and “15 Minutes” Carpenter describes how she does not have time for any of this nonsense, but also she would totally get back together if he just texted her. It is the lingering of a guy you just cannot get over, even if you have moved on. If you are helplessly single, you will take even flickers of romance.
This likely resonates a lot with people in the era of situationships, where the lines are blurry. We are too busy for relationships, but we are still lonely (and sexually charged) people at the end of the day. The fleetingness of these interactions shows the lack of emotion and buy-in she has, a stark contrast to the unable-to-sleep obsession with real crushes.
Finally, in “Bad Reviews,” Carpenter knows she is not getting into a healthy relationship, even closing her eyes to red flags, turning them blue through self-deception. Carpenter leaves her deluxe version of her album on this sad, short note. She has been through the wringer in matters of the heart, so she decides to keep what she has, even if it is toxic.
I hope Carpenter has more luck in love than where the cycle of romance leaves us in “Short n’ Sweet,” but I also hope she keeps finding inspiration for her songwriting. Her honesty and detail fill my imagination and give audiences in all stages of romance something to relate to. This depth and songwriting elevate Carpenter above just the latest pop girly and cements her as a force in the music industry.
If you have not listened to this album yet, I highly recommend doing so. She has a song for you, no matter what stage of love you find yourself in. I, for one, will keep drinking the Sabrina Carpenter espresso.