It’s indisputably the year of the pop star with personality.

Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, and Tinashe have all enjoyed recent (and hard-won) virality for flirty, sexy summer anthems, but the one to kick it all off was “Espresso,” Sabrina Carpenter’s groovy, winking breakthrough.

“Espresso” is typical Sabrina Carpenter — though it was many’s first introduction to her — a silly, sharp lyricist with an angelic voice who never takes herself too seriously. It’s heralded by the nonsensical yet summer-defining lyric, “That’s that me espresso,” more fun to say than to decipher the meaning of, but “Espresso” is more than a chill, beachy jam — it represents the lopsided power dynamic Carpenter enjoys on so much of her latest album, Short n’ Sweet.

She shrugs at boys pining after her on “Espresso”’s now-common lines (“Say you can’t sleep, baby I know”), but on a track like “Good Graces,” her grip tightens. Don’t wrong her, or it’ll be over before you know it — “No one’s more amazing at turning loving into hatred,” she warns over a sleek beat you could imagine a Tinashe dance break to. “Taste” is a cutting dig at an ex’s partner — I’d expect no less from the person who penned the savage “Skin” at a then-eighteen-year old who called her pretty. The other woman is reaping the benefits of a transformed man, but Carpenter re-introduces herself to the couple: “Now all his jokes hit different / Guess who he learned that from?” And on “Juno,” she gets so ahead of herself she’s imagining fuzzy pink handcuffs, and later, a baby (“I’m so fucking horny!”). Even the sparkly “Please Please Please,” which, as you can guess, pleads, scolds as it does. “I beg you, don’t embarrass me, motherfucker,” is a lyric making the rounds, but a clearer stance lies at the end, when she says, “If you don’t wanna cry to my music, don’t make me hate you prolifically.” The choice, she’s letting him know, is all his.

Lest you think Carpenter spends the entirety of Short n’ Sweet wrapping boys around her finger, mesmerizing them with her beauty, there are spots where her charms don’t particularly work, and she comes down to earth. “Slim Pickins” is pretty see-through with its Dolly twang, but its search for a safe partner is relatable — “Since the good ones are deceased or taken, I’ll just keep on moaning and bitching,” she admits. “Sharpest Tool” has communication issues aplenty, and “Dumb & Poetic” gets some digs in at a guy who microdoses shrooms and idolizes Leonard Cohen, but the record’s dampest moment comes at the end, with the pillowy synths and airy vocals of “Don’t Smile.” It’s a gorgeous throwback where the tables are turned on Carpenter — she’s usually in the driver’s seat, but now, she’s begging a girlfriend to take her phone away to not text a man. The self-controlled, confident Sabrina receiving countless gifts from men is gone, and the comedown hurts even more.

Carpenter is a smart lyricist, poised for the modern era where a turn of phrase can catapult a career via virality — “Espresso” is 2024’s Exhibit A. You can tell there’s an effort to get some more cute lines that people can use in Instagram captions, from the title of “Dumb & Poetic” to the onslaught of sexual references on the “Espresso”-lite “Bed Chem.” “Come right on me, I mean camaraderie,” she says, wide-eyed, “Where art thou? Why not uponeth me?” It gets a little old quickly, particularly in the convoluted (but not invalid) dig at boys who don’t know the difference between “their” “there” and “they’re” on “Slim Pickins,” but thankfully these run out on the penultimate track, when she says (a derivative of internet self-deprecation) “I’m stupid but I’m clever.”

Contrary to the quote above, Carpenter is very smart — enough to know that to get by in 2024’s pop landscape, confidence, humor, and a good sound is key. Short n’ Sweet is an easy summer retreat, full of flirting, kissing, and relaxation, but it doesn’t skimp on the self-reflection either. The Summer of Sabrina is on its way to an effortless cooldown.

Order Short N Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter HERE