In my research for this post, I was brought to a J-14 page and that’s how you know this is going to be good. #iykyk
I have generally enjoyed Sabrina Carpenter’s music since one of her songs popped up on a Spotify radio playlist in 2019. She has a couple tracks that have really stood out to me (listen to Sue Me and Looking At Me) but she’s mostly been a one-hit wonder in my personal playlists.
Her new album titled “emails i can’t send” was released on July 15, 2022 and is her fifth studio album. I love the cover.
Sabrina grew up in Pennsylvania, where her father built her a purple studio in their home to encourage her to play music and she was uploading song covers on Youtube at the age of 10. Her big break came at the age of 12 when she starred as Maya Hart on the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World, a spin-off of one of my favorite shows growing up, Boy Meets World.
Since then, she has starred in some Netflix movies, released 4 full albums with Hollywood Records, and even made her Broadway debut as Cady Heron in Mean Girls in March 2020. She got 2 performances in before it was shut down for the pandemic, and in early 2021 they announced it would not return to broadway. Either way, a pretty iconic role for her first and Broadway fans were supportive in the decision to cast her after her many years in the industry and always proving to be quite the talent.
but enough about her acting career
Sabrina says that a career in music is the only career that could be 100% her. She has released 2 EPs and 4 full studio albums since 2014 (she was 14 years old when her first EP dropped!). emails is her first with her new label, Island Records, which she announced she had signed with in early 2021 after the release of her single Skin.
And this is how I found myself on the J-14 website
THE LOVE TRIANGLE!
I made it pretty far before having to bring it up, but alas, here we go:
Skin was rumored to be a response to the very popular track Driver’s License by Olivia Rodgrigo. Nothing about this love triangle is confirmed, so it’s ALL rumors.
Both female parties of this triangle have gone on to say that they would like their “feud” to end, and that songs like Olivia’s Drivers License and Sabrina’s Skin are not about each other.
The love triangle is unconfirmed but above all that, I simply don’t care. I am happy to listen to more female artists through whatever means – even unconfirmed teen drama..
back to the music
She’s been open about how she has naturally wanted more creative control over her music and career, stating that many of the songs she believed in most did not make the cut for singles in the past. It’s not surprising to learn that most Disney stars may feel there are “too many cooks in the kitchen” when it comes to their careers, especially as they get older and start figuring out who they are or who they want to be – Miley Cyrus being the most obvious representation of this narrative.
We also need to remember that these younger artists are maturing with every release, and existing in this world as a woman – the life experience is showing and it’s not always pretty.
New stories, new perspectives; we get to know Carpenter in the most honest way thus far as she was finally able to carefully choose her own collaborators – whom she says feel more like friends and peers, no longer having to share her life story with a stranger in order to write a ‘genuine’ song.
Most exciting to me, is her collaboration with Julia Michaels! Michaels is easily one of my favorite songwriters right now and I love hearing her musical and storytelling influence on this album.
Carpenter has made comments in the past about how she “wants some of what Adele’s drinking.” Adele – the queen of expressing heartbreak in the most stunning of ways – has always been a huge musical inspiration to Sabrina and she wanted to understand the perspective. It seems she may have gotten her wish. Poor girl.
The album starts with the title track emails i can’t send. I can’t figure out why she would start with a song like this – which seems to tell the whole story. Maybe she just wanted to rip the bandaid off.
It sounds like a sad ballad over soft piano but then it builds and becomes less sad and more aggressive as it goes on. It’s clear and raw and you really get a sense of how breakups can be such emotional rollercoasters. We’re sad, we’re angry, we’re one with mother earth – we’re all three at the same time!
The first time I listened to Vicious on speakers, I was in my backyard with my dog. I stopped my boyfriend like, are you listening to this?? Do you hear this? Right when you think it’s going to take off, it drops and the second verse starts and ugh. I love this song. Listen to it.
Read Your Mind is by far my favorite track on the album – it gives latin influence. Very fun and energetic. It sounds like she’s putting someone in their place for being unreliable and indecisive.
Skinny Dipping was one of the singles she released before the album, in September 2021. She sings like that guy on TikTok that tells stories with the autotune voice filter. You know the guy.
The album as a whole feels borderline petty. She is clearly upset to be letting go of a love that meant so much, but then also reminding us (and maybe herself) that she is so much more than who she loves. Lines like “You’re not my friend and baby, you never were” shoves the finality of this chapter in our faces.
Lyrically, there is very little on this album that I can personally relate to. But musically it is just so fun – I can definitely see myself listening to it again and again (maybe in the background while I’m cleaning or driving).
“North America” tour (read: america + 1 Canadian show..)
we don’t get anything we want up here in Canada so cool cool coooooolll…
Let me know what you think!
Bye!