It’s no exaggeration to say that the past year has been massively successful for pop star Sabrina Carpenter. Between “Short n’ Sweet” earning Carpenter her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and the album producing three top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, Carpenter’s most recent body of work has seen unprecedented commercial success. More impressively, “Short n’ Sweet” has also achieved considerable critical success, receiving one of the most significant accolades in pop music and best pop vocal album, at the 67th Grammy Awards on Feb. 2.
To celebrate her Grammy wins, Carpenter announced that a deluxe version of the album would be released on Feb. 14.
In the announcement post, Carpenter revealed that the deluxe album would include five bonus tracks. Most notably, the deluxe tracks included “Please Please Please (feat. Dolly Parton),” a reworking of her chart-topping hit from last June, and “Busy Woman,” a bonus track from the former digital store exclusive “Short n’ Sweet(er)” released one week after the standard album.
Although the lyrics and messages of the deluxe tracks hint at their being written more recently than the rest of the album, the complete deluxe edition is just as cohesive as its original iteration. By working with the same team of writers and producers, including Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff, Julian Bunetta and Ian Kirkpatrick, Carpenter created a seamless sonic and lyrical extension of the original record.
A booming track with a larger-than-life guitar hook, “15 Minutes” opens the deluxe tracks on a perfect note. Fans of “Juno,” one of the more popular tracks from the album’s standard edition, will enjoy “15 Minutes” for its similar sound and lyrics riddled with double-entendres.
The 15 minutes metaphor closely ties into the 15 minutes of fame adage. The music behind Carpenter’s recent rise to mega-pop star status has been critiqued as mindless or crass; her success has been undermined with accusations of her being a nepo baby or an industry plant.
In “15 Minutes,” Carpenter combats her naysayers head-on, unflinchingly confronting them with the same magnetism that has built her mass appeal. As an added bonus, the 15-minute interval refers to the approximate amount of time added to the album by the five deluxe tracks. By saying that she “can do a lot with 15 minutes,” Carpenter promises that the deluxe tracks will make a big impact — and she certainly follows through with the next four songs.
Carpenter continues with a soulful ballad about her cripplingly relatable hesitation to accept romantic love: “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder.” While Carpenter showcased an admirable level of vulnerability in the album’s standard edition, none of the tracks come close to this one.
The tragic punchline of this song highlights Carpenter’s habit of self-sabotage — she couldn’t make it any more difficult to love her. Carpenter has reflected on the feeling of being tainted by love in songs like the title track of her 2022 album “emails i can’t send.” This time, there is a newfound sense that she has resigned herself to this state of unlovability. Carpenter even points out the irony that this feeling has emerged in tandem with her rise in fame, and hence her admirers.
The track delivers one of Carpenter’s most powerful vocal performances to date. The outro is based on a series of smooth, sorrowful vocal runs, making it one of her most emotional performances as well.
Avid fans of Carpenter or of classic musicals might recognize the melody from her cover of Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from Grease, which she performed while opening for the Australian leg of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in February 2024 and at her Dallas concert tour stop last October. Though Carpenter has not outright made the comparison, “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder” is likely a direct homage to Newton-John’s musical legacy — and a beautiful one at that.
Next on the deck is “Busy Woman,” another upbeat track about navigating modern love and dating. The lyrics double down on the borderline comical overt sexuality that defined fan-favorite standard edition tracks “Juno” and “Bed Chem.” Cheeky quips about tight openings in her calendar make the song an entertaining listen.
The “Busy Woman” metaphor is also a fun nod to the “9 to 5” singer she collaborated with on a remix of the original album’s second promotional single, “Please Please Please.”
“Short n’ Sweet” comes to a definitive end with the closing track “Bad Reviews.” The song seems to be an antithesis to “Please Please Please,” in which she insists on her good judgment and good taste. “Bad Reviews” fully backtracks on that sentiment, as Carpenter remarks that now she is “fresh out of any good judgment.”
Carpenter again blames herself for the demise of her relationship, despite the person she has fallen in love with having a bad reputation. The throughline of self-doubt in the deluxe tracks hits home hard in “Bad Reviews.” The oxymoronic combination of Carpenter’s self-assuredness and her faith in faithless love has caught up to her in a detrimental way.
Though the title of “Short n’ Sweet” would lead listeners to expect a happy ending to the album, the reality is far from that. While the standard edition finished on a relatively high note, Carpenter has redefined the album to portray herself as somewhat of an antihero. Despite her flaws, we end up loving and relating to her, and it’s not just because of the addictive synth melodies — though those are always appreciated. Carpenter seems to be closing the chapter of the “Short n’ Sweet” era with her deluxe album, and this bittersweet ending is not to be missed.
Camille Robinson is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at camilllr@uci.edu.
Edited by Lillian Dunn.