Currently the 7th biggest artist in the world on Spotify, Sabrina Carpenter’s music career has reached new heights this year due to her new album Short n’ Sweet – and short and sweet is exactly how one would describe it. Carpenter first gained recognition through her role on the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World; now she’s not only one of the most prolific artists in the world but also a trailblazer for a new generation of music.
Whether you’re a fan or not, the resounding success of her music makes Carpenter’s ability to create a catchy tune undeniable; her lyrics are the kind that creeps into your subconscious, dancing their way around your head until you’re forced to hit repeat. With an audience consisting primarily of young women, she appears to have captured her market perfectly through her playful lyricism and relatability – complemented by her vocal trills. Carpenter demonstrates a mastery of the Gen Z demographic as she appeals to us through her fun and unserious linguistic choices such as those found in “Espresso” and “Bed Chem”. She also has a penchant for the flirty and risqué, as encapsulated by her collection of adaptations to the “Nonsense” outro, which she would personalise to each place on tour. Her utilisation of social media is key in the modern music industry; Her songs are perfect for the characteristically short snippets used for TikTok sounds, meaning it’s inevitable they’ll be stuck in your head for weeks.
Through her style and aesthetic, Carpenter is creating a brand that extends beyond the music industry. She’s part of a new era of young, female artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, Tate McRae, and more, who are performers with a presence. As they themselves are so young, the experiences they’ve had align with those of their audience, meaning that when they sing about them with such frankness and vulnerability, it powerfully connects.
To begin with, Carpenter was at more of an advantage than most, being the niece of Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson on The Simpsons), however, her rise to success hasn’t been without its difficulties. In 2020, she was romantically linked to fellow actor and singer Joshua Bassett (the ex of Olivia Rodrigo), for which she was ambushed with a barrage of hate and conjecture online. This was an issue she addressed through songs like “because i liked a boy” in which she details the slut-shaming and misogyny she faced during this time – when the media repeatedly pitted these two successful women against each other. Both she and Rodrigo handled this issue in similar manners as they both subtly alluded to it within their lyrics whilst respectfully withholding comment on each other in real life.
As onlookers, we can never pass real judgement as to relations between these individuals, but we can praise them for not relinquishing to the toxicity of the media that aims to tear down powerful women by positioning them against each other. Within her music, Carpenter confronts the manipulation of narratives more generally as well as the struggles of stardom. Despite being so unjustly villainized, she continued her career with resilience and is now one of the biggest artists in the world, making her a commendable role model to all.
Ultimately, Sabrina Carpenter’s music seems to resonate profoundly with so many young women in the modern world. Her play on words is brilliant, as she sings about love, heartbreak, sexism, vulnerability, empowerment and so much more. Carpenter has mastered the fundamental magic of music: to appeal so universally whilst somehow feeling so deeply personal. Whether you want a cheeky and cheerful tune to listen to as you’re bopping around the kitchen or a song to cry to as you’re pondering the prominent events in your life that have left you incapable of intimacy… then Sabrina Carpenter’s for you! But next time you hear her on the radio, Please Please Please give a thought to what she stands for. Not just a fun-loving, Gen Z pop star, but an applaudable individual who has risen to the top, despite the never-ending battles that women have to fight.
“Sabrina Carpenter @ Wiltern 10 15 2022 (52526442648) (cropped)” by Justin Higuchi is licensed under CC BY 2.0.