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Writer's pictureBrianna Kline

Review: Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘emails i can’t send’ is the Epitome of a Breakthrough Therapy Session

Intimacy in all its most raw forms the singer-songwriter proves she is more than what she may be perceived in her fifth solo album


by Brianna Kline


Released in July, ‘email’s i can’t send,” is American singer and actress, Sabrina Carpenter’s 5th studio album. It offers a pop, r&b, jazz-inspired sound, which could simply be described as therapy in 39 minutes and 20 seconds.


The album opens with a display of pure raw emotion, as Carpenter expresses, “It's times like these, wish I had a time machine” as she brings up her experience of being let down by someone whom she adored, and now can’t look at. She brings up the subject of familial relationships, and how the actions of someone you think you know, may prove to be wrong. But beyond that, how the actions of now distant figures can distort vision and subsequently impact relationships you form with others. There's a clear air of self-reflection present in this album, from just the first track. Carpenter begins the album with an uninhibited vulnerability about the human experience. Openly putting personal experience on display, allowing for the rest of the album to follow suit and emulate a safe atmosphere. Quickly making room for a therapeutic listening experience as traumas are shared and healing begins.


Each track expresses the struggle of getting on with life and love and the imbalance of give and take. In ‘Read your Mind’ Sabrina brings about the frustration of wanting to be in a relationship with someone, but not feeling equal affection. Of being pushed away, yet tugged tighter. The utter confusion a person can be in in a relationship where communication lacks. Tracks like ‘because I liked a boy’ show the damage of public opinion on public figures and how easily a situation may be accidentally blown out of proportion. As well as how there are many sides to every story. The album is a reminder that what is mentioned in tabloids or by one individual does not tell a full tale. It raises a message against violence when spoken out of place and when all the information is lacking, and how though figures may be public, their personal affairs require respect and an air of privacy.


The songwriting in the album is unparallel to common writing. In previous albums, Carpenter has expressed her keen abilities to write both insightful, endearing, dreamy, and strikingly sensual and contemplative tracks. However, in this new release, her best writing and production yet is on full blast. She has created music for the ages, and in doing so has shown that authenticity is all she knows. Catchy, syncopated choruses and playful taglines alongside captivating scenery of pure dreams of letting go of inhibitions and negative ties. Moments of sorrow and moments of desired bliss. The struggle of wanting to forgive and forget, but finding yourself trapped between the two states of being.


‘emails I can’t send’ in the manner of storytelling, relates to that of Harry Styles’ album ‘Fine Line’ as the journey between the highs and lows of life is explored. While bringing out specificities that could be analyzed alongside that of Taylor Swift. As songs like ‘tornado warnings,’ ‘how many things,’ and ‘skinny dipping’ display lyrical intricacies few artists can truly master. Carpenter brings awareness to the value of every facet of human experience and the value of love even if it seems impossible.


Sabrina Carpenter proves she is genuine, and an artist to be reckoned with in this new album. Her expression of the distress she has dealt with in various situations, the yearning she feels as a hopeful romantic at heart, the ache brought on by someone else’s disloyalty, and the effects others have on individuals, ‘email’s I can’t send’ feels like renewal and the shedding of old skin. It's driving around to nowhere in particular, just trying to find or pave your way. It's finding a sense of self, chopping and dying hair, without the collateral damage and risk of doing a bad makeover. It's coming to being able to let go, all within 13 tracks. Each one serving as a remedy to the various gaps in a faulty spirit.


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