Album Review: Sabrina Carpenter - emails i can't send

The fifth studio album of singer Sabrina Carpenter’s comes after the release of her two most recent singles ‘Fast Times’ and ‘Vicious’. It has been three years since the singer has released an album, this was Singular: Act II and the album surely delivered. The audience had high expectations for her next album and Carpenter truly flourished.

The album first begins with the introduction ‘emails i can’t send’ in which the singer shares her own memories from her past, from the perspective of a daughter who has found out her father has had an affair. She tells Spotify Storyline “The song that inspired the record. Someone I looked up to let me down and it changed the way I love and receive love.” The introduction sets the tone for the rest of the album, about the rollercoaster of emotions one encounters when growing up.

The introduction sets the tone for the rest of the album, about the rollercoaster of emotions one encounters when growing up.

‘Vicious’ begins the album with a feisty tune about a breakup. Carpenter sings in an angry way about the vicious person who manipulated her saying that he loved her when in fact he never did. The singer tells the audience how different the person was from how the public perceived them when he left her without any remorse. ‘One year, ten thousand bad moments / But it was dressed up in heated emotion’ the lyrics explain her feelings.

The second track, and my personal favourite, is ‘Read Your Mind’. The upbeat pop anthem is a rendition of ‘Looking At Me’ from Carpenter’s fourth album Singular: Act II but with a more mature outlook. The song tells of the singer’s frustrations about her partner’s indecisiveness and how she cannot easily read their mind.

However, there are some more slow, serene tracks on the album which show the singer’s emotions and where she stands in terms of the love triangle with former Disney Channel stars Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett. ‘Tornado Warnings’ showcases the singer’s vulnerability towards the red flags of her significant other and how she tries her best to see the good in everyone.

There are some songs where you feel like singing your heart out…but there are also some songs where the singer makes you ponder upon life and its true meaning whilst in the search of love.

‘Because I Liked A Boy’ also addresses the backlash and hate the singer endured due to the infamous love triangle. It deals with the perceptions and harsh assumptions that Carpenter faced after being turned into a villain due to the Disney love triangle. ‘We bonded over Black Eyed Peas / And complicated exes’ showcases that the singer is reminiscing her past relationship with Joshua Bassett and their bond through music, particularly because they were both songwriters themselves.

The singer tells PEOPLE about the “really special” creation process she took when writing the album. Carpenter tells of simply “writing letters” to herself the entire time throughout the process of creating the album. “I think the fact that it all came together is really, really surreal” she says.

Overall, I found the album to be a fun yet thought provoking listen. There are some songs where you feel like singing your heart out, such as ‘Fast Times’ and ‘bet u wanna’ but there are also some songs where the singer makes you ponder upon life and its true meaning whilst in the search of love.