For a 12 months that has featured a mind-boggling variety of main album releases, from Taylor Swift to Beyoncé to Billie Eilish to Ariana Grande, pop music in 2024 has, surprisingly sufficient, been extra clearly outlined by smaller artists rising to satisfy their respective moments. We’ve seen it play out with Charli xcx over the course of Brat Summer season, Chappell Roan as her audiences have ballooned to look at her seize pageant levels, and Tinashe whereas “match my freak” has develop into widespread parlance.
And now, after Sabrina Carpenter joined pop’s A-list due to the back-to-back explosions of “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” new album Brief n’ Candy is a second that’s completely timed, extremely anticipated, and entrusted with lofty expectations.
Loads of indicators existed that Carpenter, a Disney Channel veteran who launched 4 studio albums on Disney-owned Hollywood Information, was a particular expertise previous to “Espresso” turning into her first prime 10 hit in April. Her 2022 album Emails I Can’t Ship demonstrated a pure understanding of pop songwriting and vocal nuance, and was one among that 12 months’s strongest pop tasks. But Brief n’ Candy comfortably surpasses its predecessor by concurrently increasing Carpenter’s sound and drilling down on the qualities that make her such a singular prime 40 expertise.
Carpenter tosses out shimmery hooks that stick in your mind and cheeky phrases that you simply’ll need to share with your mates — prepare for “mattress chem” and “Juno” to show into slang — however as her sexuality has develop into an even bigger a part of her musical id, her romantic topics have additionally develop into extra fleshed-out, and her self-examinations extra poignant. In the meantime, the bubblegum riffs on Emails have deepened into explorations of nation, rock, folks and R&B in ways in which converse to an inherent curiosity but by no means stray too far-off from what Carpenter does greatest.
She has extra radio-ready darts to throw, with the dazzling “Style” showing to be subsequent up — however the finger-picked woe of “Slim Pickins” and the rhythmic bounce of “Good Graces” push Carpenter into daring new territory, and make for a extra complete full-length. Working with studio vets like Jack Antonoff, Amy Allen, Julia Michaels and Julian Bunetta, Carpenter has assembled a workforce of confidantes that know the best way to navigate an unfamiliar shade and maximize a chorus — and at 12 songs, Brief n’ Candy breezes by, a well-oiled machine with no uneven monitor within the bunch.
We will see what number of extra hits Carpenter scores off of Brief n’ Candy, after already accumulating two off of its monitor checklist. No matter which songs go viral or cross over to radio, although, the singer has unveiled probably the most achieved pop albums of the 12 months, making good on years of potential with a definitive assertion. Contemplate the second met.
We’re nonetheless digging into the Brief n’ Candy monitor checklist, however here’s a breakdown and preliminary rating of all 12 songs on Sabrina Carpenter’s newest:
