Grammy Award-winning pop princess Sabrina Carpenter delighted fans with “Short n’ Sweet (Deluxe),” an extension of her beloved album that was released Feb. 14, which builds her discography with songs that further solidify her place in the pop music scene.
With five new tracks, one of which has country music icon Dolly Parton featured on it, the deluxe version was highly anticipated—and overall, it didn’t disappoint.
The new tracks begin with “15 Minutes,” an addicting and seductive song with an upbeat instrumental. Kicking off with this song perfectly bridges the original album with the deluxe tracks. The sound varies slightly from tracks like “Espresso” and “Taste” off the initial album, however, it wonderfully brings together the fun that is to be expected from the next few tracks.
The chorus is catchy and danceable with lyrics like, “But I can do a lot with fifteen minutes / Lot of pretty boys, lot of funny business / Take a couple bucks, turn ’em into millions.”
This is easily one of the standout tracks, not just from the selection of deluxe songs, but from the album entirely. This is the kind of sound that is needed in the pop scene as it is the perfect balance of clever lyrics and strong instrumentals.
Carpenter then continues the deluxe tracks with “Please Please Please feat. Dolly Parton.” Many fans were shocked that this highly-anticipated collaboration landed on the pop ballad “Please Please Please” rather than Carpenter’s country-sound hit “Slim Pickins.”
The song was coupled with a music video starring the two of them and was a simple 60s-style aesthetic where Parton and Carpenter are hiding the body of a man who wronged Carpenter. The music video presumably shades Carpenter’s ex-boyfriend Barry Keoghan, as the faceless man in the back of the pickup truck is wearing the same outfit Keoghan did in the original “Please Please Please” music video.
Despite the playful music video and the presence of Parton, this is the one song on the deluxe tracklist that fell short. Parton’s voice would’ve excelled better on “Slim Pickens,” a song intended to have a country sound, rather than a pop song, whose instrumentals were altered to sound like a country song.
The song is not bad, but at times, certain vocals did not blend seamlessly together and felt AI-generated.
It wouldn’t be a Carpenter music selection without a heart-wrenching slow ballad. The song, “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder,” beautifully resembles the classic “Grease” song “Hopelessly Devoted To You” sung by Olivia Newton-John. Not only do the soft guitar instrumentals sound similar to the track, but the strikingly raw and powerful lyrics beg the same emotions as the beloved Newton-John song.
This heartbreaking song is one of Carpenter’s best. It features some beautiful lyrics and the song consistently builds and builds in anticipation for a large climax, but mellows out and then builds again— a killer metaphor for the type of relationship she is singing about.
“Well, you can thank them for why I’m so goddamn reactionary / And for the graveyard in my stomach / Filled with pivotal formative comments,” sings Carpenter.
The fourth track “Busy Woman” was released August 2024 along with the initial album, as a digital exclusive on her website, so only a few Carpenter fans heard it prior to the deluxe edition. Much like many of her songs, the addictive chorus is fun to sing along to and her airy and light vocals on the songs feel like dancing on a cloud.
The song follows a similar theme to her song “Good Graces” of telling a man to follow her rules and she’ll be the perfect woman for him and make time for him, but otherwise, she is a busy woman.
“But if you need my love / My clothes are off, I’m comin’ over to your place / And if you don’t need (If you don’t need) my love / Well, I didn’t want your little bitch-ass anyway.”
She concludes the deluxe album beautifully with the song “Bad Reviews,” another song that plays lightly with a country sound. In this song, she sings about a common feeling many young women feel in relationships— hearing a bad review about the boy they’re with but staying with him anyway.
Carpenter’s vocals shine on this track, some of her best on the album. And while this track is the shortest of them all, it is just as sweet as the others.
The lyrics are painfully honest and feel like a peek into Carpenter’s diary.
“I’m intentionally careless, least I got self-awareness / Just want someone to love me who doesn’t,” sings Carpenter in the bridge.
Overall, these tracks shouldn’t have been left out of the original “Short n’ Sweet” tracklist, as these songs are some of Carpenter’s strongest and are a necessary addition to the album and her discography.
