Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album “Emails I Can’t Send” took the world by storm when it was released last summer. The album has 13 tracks and is Sabrina’s biggest album yet.
“Emails I Can’t Send” has a playful and mischievous tone, with underlying feelings of frustration and heartbreak. The most popular song by a longshot is “Nonsense” – the playful and flirty love anthem, with over 166,000,000 streams on Spotify. My favorite, however, is “Because I Liked a Boy.”
In this song, she addresses the past drama with fellow singers/actors Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett. Bassett dated Rodrigo before Carpenter, causing Rodrigo’s fans to lash out against Carpenter. She sings “I’m a hot topic on your tongue, I’m a rebound getting ‘round, stealing from the young. Tell me who I am, ‘cause I don’t have a choice, all because I liked a boy.”
I also love the song “Vicious.” Carpenter perfectly captures the feeling of having your heart broken by someone who doesn’t care. “Why you gotta be so vicious? You don’t feel remorse, you don’t feel the effects, you don’t think you hurt me if you wish me the best,” Carpenter sings in the bridge.
Carpenter just released the deluxe version of the album, “Emails I Can’t Send Fwd:,” with an additional four songs. Fans of indie pop will love this album, with its catchy and quick-paced rhymes and rhythms. The album has a conversational and occasionally comedic tone that displays the angst of growing up and facing heartbreak in a world where everything is made public on the internet.
Carpenter came to Big Night Live in Boston on Oct. 3, 2022. As the audience filled in and bought merch, the pre-show playlist boomed throughout the venue. The lights dimmed as Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” played on the speakers and the audience sang along. The openers for the Boston show were Girlhouse, a smaller band with a punk pop/alt sound.
After Girlhouse’s set, the streamers at the back parted and the former Disney Channel star walked onstage wearing a black corset-style top and an edgy patterned skirt with dripping in chains. She took her seat in the center of the heart and the title track, “Emails I Can’t Send,” began.
Her setlist tied in both her old and new music (she sang some old favorites like “Sue Me” and “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying,” from her Disney era) and elements of nostalgia (she covered Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”). This nostalgic feeling was bolstered by the prom feel of the stage design, with a wall of streamers in the back and a glowing marquee-style light-up heart framing the center of the stage.
Carpenter threw in an element of surprise with her song “Nonsense,” adding a different improvised outro ending for each city. In Boston, she sang “You’re so hot I must proceed with caution, it’s wicked awesome to be here in Boston, if your ex wants you back it’s gonna cost him.”
The first round of her tour was so successful she’s doing it again – catch her at Roadrunner this May – you won’t want to miss it.