So, what do you think was the hit of the summer? Between the revengeful Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar and the inevitable disco air Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter, our hearts waver… but still lean towards the sweet chorus of the young singer-songwriter. A product of the Disney machine, she will have put out six albums in ten years of music before reaching true popular success. Her album comes out at the end of the season, as if to stretch it out: there is in Short n’ Sweet a multitude of pop flavors, like so many facets of his personality. Vintage pop-rock 1983 (Please Please Please), plus contemporary R&B (Good Graces), pop folk (Sharpest Tool, Coincidencethe pretty one Dumb & Poetic, Slim Pickins), etc. On a strictly musical level, there is nothing innovative in his songs, and that is the goal: to please everyone. The goal is achieved: Carpenter’s fine, but mischievous, voice, his pen full of humor, audacity, and directness, which speak of love in a way that is as slobbery as it is refreshing.
In concert at the Bell Centre on October 11.
Click here to see an excerpt.
Short n’Sweet
★★★ 1/2
Sabrina Carpenter, Island
To see in video