Album Review: emails i can’t send — Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter is speaking her truth on “emails i can’t send”
While Sabrina Carpenter is seasoned in the music industry, there’s no doubt that Emails I Can’t Send is bound to change her career. The Girl Meets World (2014) star has released four albums previously and has starred in several different movies, such as Tall Girl and The Hate U Give, since GMW ended. With a few hits here and there, Sabrina has mostly kept it pretty lowkey (but still successful). Things changed when she became the subject of online drama and media attention due to being roped into the Olivia Rodrigo x Joshua Bassett drama after the release of Rodrigo’s hit single, Driver’s License. She became the victim of widespread social media hate and many people associated her name with this drama during the year of 2021. Sabrina proves that she’s risen above everything that’s happened and reclaims her name as something that should be known in the industry for her talent in the incredible pop album, Emails I Can’t Send.
The main standout song of the album is the single, “Because I Liked A Boy”. Written by her, Julia Michaels, and JP Saxe, the song makes a powerful stand and shares Sabrina’s side of everything that’s happened in the past year. In the song, she sings:
“Now I’m a homewrecker, I’m a slut
I got death threats filling up semi trucks
Tell me who I am, guess I don’t have a choice
All because I liked
I’m a hot topic on your tongue
I’m a rebound gettin’ ‘round stealin’ from the young
Tell me who I am, guess I don’t have a choice
All because I liked a boy”
This chorus is a direct response to the ridiculous amount of hate she received in the past. Because of the content in Olivia Rodrigo’s music, many fans and listeners were drawn to believe that Sabrina Carpenter is a homewrecker, a slut, etc. The negative media attention was ultimately unjustifiable and it is amazing to hear Sabrina stand up for herself. The verses feel very quiet and stripped back, but during the chorus, the instrumentals really swell up and make it feel all the more moving. The music video depicts her as part of a circus. It starts off fun and shows off a good performance, and by the end of it, she has been brutally attacked and stands alone.
My personal favorite on this album is the 9th track, Nonsense. It’s a fun, upbeat, R&B-Pop song. It feels very separate from the rest of the “singer-songwriter” type tracks on the record, which makes sense as it’s one of the only ones not written by Julia Michaels. From the smooth vocals to the sexually-charged lyrics, it sounds exactly like something that would show up on Ariana Grande’s Positions, with Sabrina’s own twist on it. Many of the songs on the album are very emotional and it’s nice to have this as a breather in the middle of the tracklist.
My favorite song on the album, outside of Nonsense, is Tornado Warnings. On first listen, the lyrics to this song really sank in and made me go back and relisten a few times. Thematically, the song is about Sabrina lying to her therapist about an unhealthy relationship she’s in, trying to convince herself that if her therapist doesn’t know about what she’s doing, then she’s not really doing it.
I keep saying things like, “I never saw him and we never kissed”
Now I think somehow in my mind
If I could convince him, if he doesn’t see it, then maybe it doesn’t exist
I think he’s onto me every time I say I’m over that son of a bitch
I’m lying to my therapist
I’m obsessed with the production on this track and it feels very unique compared to songs on Sabrina’s previous albums.
I’ve been a casual fan of Sabrina Carpenter since I was in middle school (I was obsessed with Girl Meets World, unfortunately). I’m familiar with a lot of her music but I’ve never listened to any of her albums all the way through and I’m glad this was the one I decided to commit to. Even though there are skip-tracks or ones that aren’t for me, I was thoroughly impressed by it and it’s definitely a solid pop record.
