Written by: Milo Dao
Album score: 8.2
Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter’s new album, emails i can't send, utilizes its 13 tracks as 13 opportunities to carefully unravel an untold narrative, creating one of Sabrina's most honest and personal albums so far. emails I can’t send convincingly captures the details of the ups and downs of being in your 20s. Carpenter’s songwriting on this album grasps concepts widely shared but rarely faced, making emails i can’t send the perfect project to play during some alone time, connecting to the listener by bringing their internal struggles into a musical light.
The title song and intro, “email I can’t send,” is a surprisingly short track that only last 1:44 minutes — and it actually looks like “a draft email”. However, this track is one of the most personal ones that deeply cut through audiences’ feelings with brutally honest lyrics telling a confession that she can’t say directly in person.
Driven by a guitar-based production, “vicious” marks one of the best songs on the album. Saturated with upbeat synthesizers and Sabrina's catchy vocal, the record still brings up a surprise climax at the end by changing the production to be rock-oriented. The guitar-bass and the heavy but enthusiastic synthesizers maximize the song's energy as Sabrina sings her heart off: ”You don’t feel remorse /You don’t feel the effects /‘Cause you don’t think you hurt me If you wish me the best /I should have known all along /I was only the next one /To take your love songs as a promise”
Of course, “vicious” is not the only upbeat pop anthem of the album; “Read your mind,” “Bad for business,” and “nonsense” will keep you singing along with their vibrant energy. Filled with addictive guitar chords and catchy melodies, these two songs are perfect to be on top of your driving playlist.
“Tornado Warning,” on the other hand, is a moody, slow, but calming song. The record is a combination of dreamy synthesizers and slow drum riffs, which carefully help fill the music with full of melancholy sadness. Throughout the lyrics, tornado Warning thoughtfully describes how Sabrina tends to ignore the red flags in a relationship.
“Because I liked a boy” — the newest single of the album — actually pushes back the narrative by covering Sabrina’s perspective on the “Driver License” love triangle. The song emotionally breaks down all the emotional damages and what she had to go through in the aftermath of the drama “I’m the hot topic on your tongue, I’m a rebound gettin’ ‘round stealin’ from the young/ Tell me who I am, guess I don’t have a choice/ All I because I liked a boy.”
Written in a happier context, “Skinny dipping” is maybe the most beautifully written song from Sabrina. Flow just like a monologue, the track carefully embraces the message of being present with warm melodies that sound like a fresh spring morning! Nostalgic but soulful, Sabrina has perfectly captured the beauty of small little things through the lyrics: “We've been swimming on the edge of a cliff/I'm resistant, but going down with the ship/It'd be so nice, right? Right?/If we could take it all off and just exist/And skinny dip in water under the bridge”
moreover, “Bet you wanna” and “past time” are filled with fierce confidence. These two songs will quickly make you feel like the main character with a catchy and upbeat production style. However, “How many things” and “already over” bear a different vibe when Sabrina gets her unspoken thoughts off her chest with a soothing vocal.
The last song, “decode,” does a nice job tightening the album together. Although driven by guitar and the singer’s sweet yet honest voice, the song ends the 1-hour album with a series of string instrument melodies.
Overall, “email I can’t send” is a beautiful, nostalgic album that shows Sabrina Carpenter’s intimacy and vulnerability. Listening to her songs truly is a therapeutic experience that is worth spending time for all music fans; as she shared on Instagram: "this feels really surreal; I kind of had to unlearn myself and learn myself again in order to make this album. it’s the one I’m most proud of thus far in my life. it’s the one I hope you listen to and feel like we were hanging and confiding in each other for an hour".
