If you haven’t heard the name Sabrina Carpenter this summer or the song “Espresso,” you might be living under a rock. She was one of the female pop stars that came into the spotlight this summer thanks to her hits “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” which are on her newest album, “Short n’ Sweet,” which was released on August 23 of this year. “Short n’ Sweet” is on its second week on top of the Billboard 100.

Here is my honest review of Carpenter’s newest album. I think this album has put Carpenter in the much-needed spotlight and that her fame has been a long time coming. I’m happy she’s finally getting the recognition she deserves, but “Short n’ Sweet” isn’t topping her “emails I can’t send” album for me. I still listen to it a lot, and now that I’ve played it on repeat a few times since its release, it has grown on me. When I first listened to it, I wasn’t the biggest fan and thought a lot of the songs sounded the same.

The album opens with “Taste,” which is believed to be about Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes and Carpenter. Carpenter released an iconic music video to go with the opening song of her album, which starred Jenna Ortega and included numerous horror movie references, which Ortega is known to star in. Carpenter is known not to have a surviving male character in her music videos. I like “Taste,” but it’s not my favorite song on the album.

Now, I know I just said that Carpenter is known to not have surviving male characters in her music videos, but she surprised us all with both a hard launch of her and actor Barry Keoghan’s relationship and his character surviving in the “Please Please Please” video. “Please Please Please” became an instant fan favorite and viral TikTok sound. I like Carpenter’s voice in this song and applaud her use of marketing when promoting it.

Skipping down to track seven, the infamous “song of the summer,” “Espresso.” To be honest, it’s not a song I particularly like and I didn’t fully listen to it until “Please Please Please” came out. While it does have some iconic lyrics, which I used on my own Instagram post, I sometimes have to skip it.

Other ones I don’t practically consider on my favorites list include “Sharpest Tool,” “Dumb and Poetic” and “Juno.” They’re just not as catchy as some of her other songs, and I don’t find myself having them stuck in my head, which isn’t a bad thing, but I had to go back and listen to them because I couldn’t remember their lyrics.

My top three in order are; “Lie to Girls,” “Coincidence” and “Good Graces.” Lyrically speaking and the overall production of the songs is why I like these three the most. I also find myself having these three songs stuck in my head when I don’t have music playing. If you’re going to listen to just some of Carpenter’s songs, I would recommend these three off of this album.

Songs in the middle that aren’t my least favorite, but also aren’t my favorite are; “Bed Chem,” “Slim Pickins” and “Don’t Smile.” “Bed Chem” and “Slim Pickins” are fun and show off Carpenter’s playful and observant lyric writing, but I wouldn’t put these two on repeat by themselves. “Don’t Smile” closes out the album and I also don’t have this one ingrained in my brain like I do some of the other songs. The lyrics are clever, but I think it blends in with the other songs I don’t like.

In conclusion, I would still recommend “Short n’ Sweet,” but I would tell you that it’s not my favorite and that you should listen to “emails I can’t send” to enjoy more of Carpenter’s skills. I think she’s very talented and one of the best pop stars we have at the moment and the marketing for this album was phenomenal, but “Short n’ Sweet” kind of fell short for me, even though I still added it to my queue and bought it on vinyl.