After over a decade of singing, songwriting, and acting, Sabrina Carpenter has finally achieved a seemingly swift soar to the spotlight, further propelled by her album Short n’ Sweet.
Like the name suggests, the 12-track record by Carpenter spans roughly 36 minutes covering intricacies of her life with emphasis on irony, self-assurance, awareness, intimacy, and tragedy. Blending her typical pop style with influences from country, rock, disco, and R&B, Carpenter has an album that continues the summer vibes from her hit singles, “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” which enchanted millions across the globe.
But this success wasn’t handed to Carpenter. She started her career with a guest role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2011, and was eventually cast in Disney Channel series Girl Meets World as one of the main characters in 2013. The singer also signed a five-album deal with Hollywood Records, owned by Disney Music Group, that would prove to be more troublesome than successful in the future.
Former stars from Disney Channel productions often struggle to gain a foothold in the acting sphere after their contracts with Disney end. Not being able to escape the stain of being a child star or actor catering to children, these celebrities rarely manage to succeed in the mainstream. Despite that, Carpenter managed to escape this fate.
Her debut single, “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying,” was released in 2014 when she was just 14 years old. For years, she continued acting for Disney and releasing albums, but none of these were able to achieve the popularity she sought. She stopped acting for Disney in 2018 and her musical contract with them ended in 2020. This was the catalyst for Carpenter signing with Island Records under Universal Music Group, home to Drake, Selena Gomez, BTS, Lana Del Rey, and many more.
Her newfound record label plus a romantic scandal almost brought Carpenter fully into the spotlight in 2021, when fellow former Disney star Olivia Rodrigo sang about a blonde homewrecker in her relationship, and fans were quick to connect the dots and suspect Carpenter’s involvement. Any publicity is good publicity, unless you are Sabrina Carpenter, who was now the target of malicious rumors and, as she mentions in her song “because i liked a boy,” “semi-trucks” of death threats. Her name was finally known worldwide, but only as the “other girl” in Rodrigo’s relationship.
Still, Carpenter persisted. She released music detailing her struggles with the increase in fame resulting from her infamy, as well as remaining unbothered as she continued to dissect her love life in her first Disney-free album, emails i can’t send. Success was on the horizon as Carpenter embarked on a tour, with the creative outros for “Nonsense” constantly going viral across the web further bolstering her popularity.
But her role as an opener for the record-breaking Eras Tour by Taylor Swift truly gave Sabrina Carpenter a worldwide fanbase. Performing at 26 shows, “Swifties” and “Carpenters” united to support their idols. Carpenter strategically released another hit single, “Feather,” from emails over half a year after the album’s release during her time as an opener for Swift. As a result of the song’s success, she gained 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify within two months, continuing her path to the mainstream.
A few months later, the Internet was itching to declare a song of the summer. Carpenter delivered, and released the pop-disco single “Espresso” along with a beach-themed music video. As of now, less than a year since its release, it has almost two billion streams on Spotify and peaked at third on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks.
Following that success, Carpenter released another single, “Please Please Please,” paired with a dramatic music video alongside Irish Saltburn star and Carpenter’s boyfriend at the time, Barry Keoghan. The video masterfully blends the personal with the public in a seamless way through Keoghan’s role, with the lyrics continuing the focus on the uniqueness of a public relationship: “Heartbreak is one thing / My ego’s another / I beg you don’t embarrass me / Mother f*****.”
The use of her highly-publicized relationship with Keoghan furthered Carpenter’s success, resulting in “Please Please Please” becoming her first number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With two songs charting simultaneously, Carpenter was paving the way for further success.
At the end of the summer, Short n’ Sweet was released, along with a third single, “Taste.” In another show-stopping music video, Carpenter stars alongside Jenna Ortega, one of the most prominent rising actors in Hollywood and star of Netflix series Wednesday. Their two characters violently fight over a man until he ends up dead and they bond over their shared experiences with him. It debuted with 12.78 million views on YouTube within 24 hours, a record for Carpenter’s career.
The whole album explores a plethora of concepts, but most obviously it channels ironic lyricism regarding love through upbeat songs like “Coincidence,” where Carpenter plays with the idea of her lover’s unfaithfulness and his mistress always coincidentally being nearby to swoop in. The sarcastic descriptions of her ex’s lack of accountability define the satirical nature of the album and Carpenter’s public persona.
Carpenter reflects her self-assured attitude through “Good Graces,” where she playfully commands her romantic interest to stay on her good side. She jokingly remarks that she is more valuable than whoever she is with, bragging about how easily she can find someone else.
Despite her persona’s display of an inflated ego, Carpenter remains aware of herself. Through slow songs like “Lie to Girls,” she admits to how she is naive when it comes to love and she has “never seen an ugly truth that I can’t bend.” Accepting her flaws publicly through her songwriting demonstrates a maturity that flows throughout the entire album as she examines her recent life.
In a handful of songs, Carpenter also explores more intimate thoughts through songs like “Juno,” where she humorously details how she is willing to give her everything to a man, including bearing his child, a reference to the 2007 movie Juno.
Contrastingly, tragedy is also a core aspect of Carpenter’s album, with the melancholy “Dumb & Poetic” reflecting the failed lovers she has endured. She angrily recounts the misfortunes of her previous relationships in a heartbreaking reflection that she weaved into this album.
Short n’ Sweet was accompanied by a sold out tour across the US, Canada, and Europe, which Carpenter embarked on in Columbus, Ohio on Sept 23, and is arguably a testament to how far she has come.
At the 2025 Grammy Awards, Carpenter received awards for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance, along with four other nominations in major categories.
Shortly after that, she released the deluxe version of Short n’ Sweet, expanding on the existing album’s sarcastic themes and adding a new version of “Please Please Please” featuring the legendary Dolly Parton.
Carpenter has spent over a decade cementing herself in the music industry in spite of the mold that former Disney stars typically follow. If these past few years are any indication, Carpenter is well-equipped with the tools to keep her relevant in an ever-changing industry.
