Everyone’s favorite 5-foot-tall pop princess, Sabrina Carpenter, released the highly anticipated Short n’ Sweet (Deluxe) on February 14. After bringing home Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards, Carpenter added five delicious tracks, breathing new life into the project. The romantic lipstick kiss aesthetic of the album perfectly matched the Valentine’s Day release.
The final words of the standard edition’s ultimate track, “Don’t Smile,” are “I want you to miss me,” which we listeners undoubtedly did.
Carpenter comes bursting through the speakers with the explosive first track on the deluxe, titled “15 Minutes.” The crunchy guitar chords and sparkling glissandos complement her smooth vocals. In classic Carpenter style, the lyrics are riddled with cheeky innuendos and clever wordplay. Carpenter cements her place in culture and assures listeners she will be around for much longer than the fabled ’15 minutes of fame,’ a criticism often thrown at artists when they reach global success.
Lyrics like “Where did all these parties come from? When did all you bitches get so nice?” explore how opportunities and attitudes change with fame, making it difficult to decipher who is genuine. She turns the concept on its head, singing, “I can do a lot with 15 minutes / Only gonna take two to make you finish,” as an evocative message to those questioning if she can get the job done and create a lasting career.
Carpenter has been collaborating with a slew of her musical icons and inspirations, including Christina Aguilera, Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, and now the queen of country herself, Dolly Parton, on “Please Please Please Please ft. Dolly Parton.” Producer Jack Antonoff adapted the instrumental to fit the country twang associated with the icon, stripping the layers back to feature an acoustic guitar. The minimal production highlighted their respective charms and revealed the harmonies Parton sang, adding an intimate quality to the track.
The duo created an even more iconic music video serving as a follow-up to the original. The two short singers packed a punch, acting as partners in crime, driving a getaway pickup truck from the authorities. Their on-screen chemistry enhanced the song as they giggled, shared glances, and smoked cigarettes in the back of the truck.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the video is when the camera pans away from the driver’s seat, where the viewer sees a man tied up in the truck bed with a bag over his head—a callback to the star of the original video, who ended that storyline dressed in the same outfit. Parton’s delicate vocals in the second verse added a level of sincerity to the song and reminds listeners of the lyrical parallels to her quintessential hit, “Jolene.”
Carpenter followed up this collaboration with an underrated fan favorite, “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder,” which pulled inspiration from “Hopelessly Devoted To You” sung by the character Sandy from Grease. Carpenter may have teased this concept earlier this year on her “Short n’ Sweet Tour” Halloween show, where she wore a Sandy costume during the set. Unlike what the title may suggest, the track is a vulnerable ballad track about how Carpenter feels hard to love.
She sings, “Oh, what I’d give to be / Meeting you as the glass-half-full version of me” and “And for the graveyard in my stomach / Filled with pivotal formative comments / Meanwhile, you’re just tryin’ to tell me I look nice,” as an exploration of how past negative experiences influence how she approaches interactions no matter how well-intentioned. This track thoughtfully examines what can happen when one becomes too guarded and feels as though they cannot form genuine connections. Carpenter doesn’t let the depth of the song stop her from creating an equally playful track, reminding audiences that pop songwriting is a true art. Word choices like “your eager heart is throbbing” and “But you don’t know how hard I can make it” masterfully double as evocative innuendos while still adding to the original storyline.
The penultimate track, “Busy Woman,” first appeared in August as a bonus track on a special digital edition of Short n’ Sweet. Fans immediately clung to the playful nature of the song, addicted to the Southern flare and sassy lyricism. During her tour, Carpenter added a spin the bottle segment where she played a surprise song based on where the bottle landed, meaning some lucky fans heard this song live before its official release. The song is a tongue-in-cheek exploration of rejection, dripping with sarcasm and laced with double entendres.
At its core, the track can be taken as a parody, examining what it’s like to yearn for acceptance and devotion from everyone. Lyrics like “I’m so mature, collected, and sensible / except when I get hit with rejection” and “If you don’t want me, I’ll just deem you gay” urge the listener to examine their own responses to getting turned down and not take these experiences so seriously.
Carpenter closes the deluxe run with “Bad Reviews,” a track about choosing to love someone with a reputation and ignoring their red flags. The swelling strings and plucked guitar instrumentals create an emotionally dynamic track with a country flare. Vulnerable lyricism like “And I’m fresh out of any good judgment / I’m intentionally careless, at least I got self-awareness” and “All the friends tryna save me, well, I, I cut them loose / ‘Cause I refuse to be wrong again” examine her candid honesty of the situation. She acknowledges that, while the relationship probably will not work, she loses herself in the sunk costs, deciding not to accept the warning signs.
Carpenter effortlessly blends depth and coquettish pop songwriting. Each title has a cheeky twist that one can interpret in many ways before listening to the song. She uses these hints to hook the listener and invite them to immerse themselves in the story she weaves throughout each track. Carpenter just announced 12 more shows in North America to celebrate the deluxe, revealing “It’s Even Sweeter.” Sign up for the presale here.
Cash App Card pre-sale for the new tour begins on March 4 at 10 a.m. local time followed by Team Sabrina presale at 12 p.m. local time. General sale begins March 7 at 10 a.m. local time.
Check out the tour dates below:
10.23.25 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
10.24.25 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
10.29.25 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
10.31.25 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
11.1.25 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
11.4.25 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
11.5.25 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
11.10.25 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
11.11.25 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
11.20.25 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
11.22.25 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
11.23.25 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
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