10 Essential Pre-‘Short n Sweet’ Sabrina Carpenter Songs: Critic’s Picks

Sabrina Carpenter has unquestionably reached a new level of stardom over the past 12 months — thanks in part to her caffeinated summer smash “Espresso,” her Billboard Hot 100-topping follow-up single “Please Please Please,” her “Feather” music video (which ruffled feathers in the Catholic Church while the song took over pop radio) and her stint opening for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour, among other achievements.

Yet the pop singer/songwriter’s music career spanned nearly a decade prior to her recent breakthrough — as Carpenter notably started out as a Disney Channel star on Girl Meets World, and went on to release four albums under the Disney-owned Hollywood Records. Her Hollywood Records output is frequently associated with the image-conscious nature of the Disney machine in the 2010s, yet that doesn’t mean that those projects didn’t flash the promise of the adult artist we see today. And in 2022, Carpenter dropped Emails I Can’t Send, her first album with Island Records, and demonstrated what she was capable of as a new-school pop star.

In a recent interview with Variety, Carpenter claimed that Short n’ Sweet, due out this Friday (Aug. 23), feels like her sophomore album. “It’s my second ‘big girl’ album; it’s a companion [to Emails] but it’s not the same,” she explained. “When it comes to having full creative control and being a full-fledged adult, I would consider this a sophomore album.”

Fans of the still-rising star often bemoan the fact that Carpenter is mistaken for an overnight success, due to her recent hits becoming her first top 10 smashes. Yet before she was known for her razor-sharp melodies, tongue-in-cheek lyricism and vintage-styled music videos, Carpenter released plenty of top-notch tracks that hinted at the arena headliner she would be become in 2024.

Before Short n’ Sweet becomes available for streaming at midnight, here are 10 essential tracks from the older end of Carpenter’s discography.