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Just a few hours after the release of her new album Short & Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter dropped the music video to “Taste” Friday (Aug. 23) — but there’s nothing sweet about the Death Becomes Her-inspired bloodbath that ensues in the visual, unless you count the unlikely friendship she forms at the end.
The video opens with Carpenter singing a creepy lullaby: “Rock-a-bye baby, snug in your bed/ Right now you are sleeping, and soon you’ll be dead.”
She then sneaks into her ex-boyfriend’s house to hack his new girlfriend — played by Jenna Ortega — to bits with a machete, before realizing that the Wednesday actress had set up a decoy in the bed. Ortega jumps out from hiding and starts shooting Carpenter with a rifle, sending her falling out the second-story window, with the singer impaled on the fence below.
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Such begins a gory cat fight between the two ladies who keep coming back from the dead — à la the 1992 Oscar-winning film starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn — involving weaponized hospital defibrillators, voodoo dolls and Ortega chopping off Carpenter’s arm after the latter bursts in on the former and her nameless beau in the shower. It all culminates with the “Nonsense” singer and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star having a steamy makeout sesh by the pool, before Ortega mistakenly murders their shared boy toy with a chainsaw.
“I heard you’re back together and if that’s true/ You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you,” Carpenter sings. “If you want forever, I bet you do/ Just know you’ll taste me too.”
At the funeral for their late love, the girls realize they’re better off as friends than as enemies. “Very insecure,” Ortega complains of her lover-turned-murder-victim, to which Carpenter responds, cackling, “Very insecure! You kill me.”
The Dave Meyers-directed project marks the third music video in Carpenter’s Short & Sweet era, following visuals for smash hit “Espresso” and Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Please Please Please,” which starred her boyfriend, actor Barry Keoghan. The new album marks the musician’s sixth studio album, following 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send, which reached No. 23 on the Billboard 200.
Watch the “Taste” music video above.
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Sabrina Carpenter releases her new full-but-not-too-full-length, Lainey Wilson captures two years’ worth of career hubbub on her latest LP, Coldplay leads a global All-Star prayer circle and much more.
Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet
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The wait is over: Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet is here, on the backs of the consecutive smashes “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” with 10 additional pop confections. Those range from the delectable obvious third single “Taste” to the rollicking acoustic betrayal of “Coincidence” to the frisky soft ’80s pop-funk of “Bed Chem.” For fans hoping for a coherent mix of the hooky confidence and slinky seductiveness of Carpenter’s latest singles with the clever detail and revealing lyrics of Emails I Can’t Send should have no complaints about Short n’ Sweet — outside of the brevity, anyway.
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Lainey Wilson, Whirlwind
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“Whirlwind” is the too-appropriate title to summarize Lainey Wilson’s career since 2022 breakthrough LP Bell Bottom Country, with the past two years being a blur of hits, gigs, cameos and accolades for the always-rising singer-songwriter. The mania has most recently led to her fourth studio album, in which she sounds more self-assured than ever on tracks like the strutting victory lap “Country’s Cool Again,” the Jerry Reed-inspired kiss-off “Ring Finger” and the rip-roaring lead single “Hang Tight Honey.” But she allows she probably won’t be able to do it forever, pleading “I can’t keep trying to keep up with Jones” on the album’s George Jones-referencing opening track.
Coldplay, Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyana & TINI, “We Pray”
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Few would expect Chris Martin & Co. to lead off a New Music Friday single featuring an All-Star global cast of singers and rappers — but Coldplay have extended their pop-rock superstardom into its third decade largely due to their willingness to embrace younger artists and new sounds. So it’s not exactly shocking — and decently rousing — to hear Martin belting “We’ll be singing, Baraye!” over a booming Max Martin-co-produced beat as voices from around the world support him in hoping for simpler and safer times. “We Pray” will be featured on the band’s upcoming Mood Music album, due in October.
Central Cee, “Billion Streams Freestyle” & “Bolide Noir”
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“Said that my b–ch was gay, got a billion streams,” U.K. rapper Central Cee boasts about his breakthrough hit “Doja” apparently passing the 10-digit mark in online plays. The hitmaking MC, whose takeover continues to make its way across the pond, releases two new songs this week to celebrate his achievement, both the gleeful “Freestyle” and the more downbeat “Bolide Noir,” featuring Paris rapper JRK 19, in which a bleary-eyed Cench raps, “When you’ve been through all the things that I have/ Everything else is a walk in the park.” Another rewarding release from one of the decade’s most exciting new rappers.
Mk.gee, “Lonely Fight”
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In a year of major pop breakthroughs, bubbling up below the surface has been singer/songwriter Mk.gee, whose acclaimed debut album of emotional, intimate guitar ballads Two Star & The Dream Police has already earned him a fairly devoted cult following. That album only came out half a year ago, but the artist born Mike Gordon is already back with a new song: the gorgeous “Lonely Fight,” another transmission of aching guitar and warm fretless bass tied together by Gordon’s evocative but open-ended crooning. If you haven’t gotten on the bandwagon yet, be sure to hop on before LP2.
New Radicals, “Murder on the Dancefloor” & “Lost Stars”
The New Radicals hadn’t released any new music since their cult classic 1998 debut LP Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too spawned one of the most enduring pop-rock gems of its era, the recently DNC-featured “You Get What You Give.” Last night, however, they debuted two quasi-new songs, along with an open letter to Kamala Harris’ “super fan” husband Doug Emhoff, and a stated hope “to rally the cause of democracy and encourage all artists to get out the vote.” The “quasi” is due to both of the songs being covers of originals already penned by frontman Gregg Alexander — Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Saltburn-revived “Murder on the Dancefloor” and “Lost Stars” from the 2013 film Begin Again — so not quite enough to raise hopes for any kind of full Brainwashed sequel, but long-Radicalized fans will still undoubtedly be very grateful for the new releases.
Sabrina Carpenter contains multitudes. The former Disney Channel star showed off her child actress chops, and then some, on Thursday night (August 22) on The Tonight Show when she performed a jazzy version of her inescapable Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Please Please Please” after joining Jimmy Fallon and fellow guest Zoë Kravitz in the basement for the host’s very silly signature “EW!” bit.
Channeling Michelle Pfeiffer’s iconic sultry piano-top performance from 1989’s The Fabulous Baker Boys, Carpenter kicked-off her performance of the strong contender for song of the summer seated atop a white grand piano. Looking over her left shoulder while singing into a bejeweled microphone, the singer revamped the pop bop into a swoony torch song with the help of three back-up singers, as well as a string and horn section.
Barefoot in a glittering black gown with a daringly plunging neckline, Carpenter crawled, then stood on the piano while emoting her way through the song with the NSFW chorus that she thankfully amended for NBC censors. The performance came on the night Carpenter dropped the anticipated follow-up to 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send, Short n’ Sweet, which in addition to chart-topper “Please” also gave the singer her first top 10 hit in April, the equally inescapable “Espresso.”
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Carpenter also showed up earlier in the episode alongside actress and Blink Twice director Zoë Kravitz for a trip to the basement for Fallon’s long-running sketch “EW!” Joining brace-face Sara on the couch, Kravitz and Carpenter, as Lucy and Hailey, bounded down the steps in colorful outfits bursting with cute as Kravitz — chomping on a gigantic wad of gum like her life depended on it — lamented being “so not ready” for school to start.
The summer camp chums also showed off their friendship bracelets, which the pals noted were, ahem, “very mindful, very demure,” to shouts of approval from the studio audience who clearly are on board with the viral phrase’s creator, TikToker Jools Lebron. Kravitz’s read “nightowl” because she stayed up “sooooo late,” while Carpenter’s was “Sweetie Pie,” because she ate “soooo much candy” and Fallon’s read “Splash,” because, she shouted, “I’m like a mermaid!”
As usual, the guests could barely contain their laughter at Fallon’s over-the-top ridiculousness, especially when they jumped up to do their “Espresso” dance, only to be interrupted, ugh, by Sara’s super annoying, dorky step dad, Gary. He then ruined the fun by busting out the most cringey version of the only song of the summer he acknowledges, “Kumbaya.”
The bit ended with the obligatory EW! speed round. In short: mullets (EW!), PopSockets (EW!), Hokas (EW!), Love Island (EW!), Stanley Tucci (cute) and pink drink (love!).
Watch Carpenter on The Tonight Show below.
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For a year that has featured a mind-boggling number of major album releases, from Taylor Swift to Beyoncé to Billie Eilish to Ariana Grande, pop music in 2024 has, surprisingly enough, been more clearly defined by smaller artists rising to meet their respective moments. We’ve seen it play out with Charli xcx over the course of Brat Summer, Chappell Roan as her audiences have ballooned to watch her seize festival stages, and Tinashe while “match my freak” has become common parlance.
And now, after Sabrina Carpenter joined pop’s A-list thanks to the back-to-back explosions of “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” new album Short n’ Sweet is a moment that’s perfectly timed, highly anticipated, and entrusted with lofty expectations.
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Plenty of signs existed that Carpenter, a Disney Channel veteran who released four studio albums on Disney-owned Hollywood Records, was a special talent prior to “Espresso” becoming her first top 10 hit in April. Her 2022 album Emails I Can’t Send demonstrated a natural understanding of pop songwriting and vocal nuance, and was one of that year’s strongest pop projects. Yet Short n’ Sweet comfortably surpasses its predecessor by simultaneously expanding Carpenter’s sound and drilling down on the qualities that make her such a singular top 40 talent.
Carpenter tosses out shimmery hooks that stick in your brain and cheeky phrases that you’ll want to share with your friends — get ready for “bed chem” and “Juno” to turn into slang — but as her sexuality has become a bigger part of her musical identity, her romantic subjects have also become more fleshed-out, and her self-examinations more poignant. Meanwhile, the bubblegum riffs on Emails have deepened into explorations of country, rock, folk and R&B in ways that speak to an inherent curiosity yet never stray too far away from what Carpenter does best.
She has more radio-ready darts to throw, with the dazzling “Taste” appearing to be next up — but the finger-picked woe of “Slim Pickins” and the rhythmic bounce of “Good Graces” push Carpenter into bold new territory, and make for a more comprehensive full-length. Working with studio vets like Jack Antonoff, Amy Allen, Julia Michaels and Julian Bunetta, Carpenter has assembled a team of confidantes that know how to navigate an unfamiliar shade and maximize a refrain — and at 12 songs, Short n’ Sweet breezes by, a well-oiled machine without a uneven track in the bunch.
We shall see how many more hits Carpenter scores off of Short n’ Sweet, after already collecting two off of its track list. Regardless of which songs go viral or cross over to radio, though, the singer has unveiled one of the most accomplished pop albums of the year, making good on years of potential with a definitive statement. Consider the moment met.
We’re still digging into the Short n’ Sweet track list, but here is a breakdown and preliminary ranking of all 12 songs on Sabrina Carpenter’s latest:
“Slim Pickins”
Sabrina Carpenter is keeping it Short n’ Sweet with her sixth studio album, which officially arrived on Friday (Aug. 23). The album features previously released singles “Espresso” and her Billboard Hot 100 chart topper “Please Please Please.” Along with the album release, Carpenter also dropped the thriller-inspired music video for “Taste,” starring Wednesday actress Jenna […]
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Don’t expect Sabrina Carpenter to order an espresso any time soon.
The 25-year-old pop star sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to discuss her album Short n’ Sweet, which arrives on Friday (Aug. 23). The project features the catchy, instantly viral single “Espresso” that Carpenter released in the spring and was written between tours. When Lowe admitted that he no longer drinks the coffee beverage, Carpenter joked, “I didn’t invent espresso. The Italians are so mad.”
She continued, “What’s so crazy, this is the part of me that feels like an idiot. Every time I see a cafe, there’s just a sign that says espresso, and I’m like, ‘Yes.’ Nothing to do with me,” to which Lowe playfully replied, “You’re a monster.”
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“I do have to question ordering [espressos] a lot now,” she added. “They’re just waiting for me to say it and I’m like, ‘Tea.’”
Of her upcoming sixth studio album, Carpenter explained, “I called it Short n’ Sweet for multiple reasons. It was not because I’m vertically challenged. It was really like I thought about some of these relationships and how some of them were the shortest I’ve ever had and they affected me the most.”
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The pop star added, “I think about the way that I respond to situations, and sometimes it is very nice and sometimes it’s not very nice. And again, the thing about albums, projects, writing songs, it’s all moments. So harder for other people to understand that when they’re listening to something that’s going to take them through maybe a lot of years, hopefully a lot of years, is that I’m not the same person that I was when I wrote that.”
Watch the full interview below.
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Lana Del Rey has been teasing for months that her next album Lasso will be a country record, but if you’re wary about yet another superstar going the rootsier route, fear not — the alt-pop star promises it won’t be all that much different from her past work. In a new interview with Vogue ahead […]
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Before the recently minted pop star releases her much-anticipated new album this Friday, a look back at the songs that helped her get to this point.
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