Sabrina Carpenter on her Emails I Can’t Send tour. Image from instagram.com
Sabrina Carpenter launched her career on Disney Channel in 2014 with “Girl Meets World” and later with a leading role in the Disney Channel Original Movie “Adventures in Babysitting.” Since her Disney days, the pop star has taken on more serious roles in films surrounding discrimination and racial disparities, such as “The Hate U Give” (2018) and “Emergency” (2022.) The star recently wrapped up her sold-out North American tour at the Regency Ballroom, and fans got to sing along to their favorite tracks and witness new ab-libs and fun wardrobe choices.
The release of her debut single, “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying,” launched Carpenter’s music career, with fans taking notice of her soft melodies and relatable lyricism. Despite having four albums under her sleeve Carpenter’s personal life was put in the limelight after the release of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License.”
Rodrigo speaks of an ex who moved onto an older “blonde girl,” and listeners quickly built this narrative between her and co-star Joshua Bassett, previously linked to Sabrina. “emails i can’t send” allows Carpenter to take back the narrative after being publicly referred to as a “rebound” and “homewrecker” while also delving into what it feels like to be infatuated, hopeless, and finding herself amidst the chaos.
The title track, “emails i can’t send,” opens the album by noting feelings of betrayal and disgust that ultimately have impacted how she deals with love. She addresses her father’s affair, saying she can’t look at the man she once looked up to.
She follows the theme of deception and betrayal with “Vicious,” stating that others would feel how she does about her ex if they only saw him for how he truly is, how “everyone thinks you’re an angel,” yet Carpenter’s left with a broken image and a crushed heart. “Read your Mind” shifts from the past to the present, with her struggling to understand her love interest’s mind and their inconsistencies, asking, “why the fuss if you say you just wanna be mine?”
In “Tornado Warnings,” Carpenter reminisces on a past relationship. Despite telling her therapist how she ideally wants to feel, she knows deep inside that the therapist is onto her lies, and the only person she is trying to fool is herself. Carpenter then addresses the assumptions made about her from the public disputes of her relationship with Basset and Rodrigo, with SNL even weighing in on the success of “Driver’s License” during its peak.
Tracks such as “bet u wanna,” “Fast Times,” and “Nonsense” showcase a flirtier side of her that is navigating through possible romances and living in the moment. “Nonsense” is a fun combination of synth beats and whimsical wordplay, emulating the style of Victoria Monet and Ariana Grande’s “Monopoly.”
Songs like “Already Over” and “Bad for Business” contain a fast-paced beat with a campfire guitar that expresses the liberation and wonder of not knowing what is best or what the future will bring. Following the more somber and melancholy tones of “how many things” and “skinny dipping,” the album’s final track, “decode,” depicts a version of Carpenter trying to embrace what is thrown her way without the need to over-analyze the possible aches to come.
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