emails i can't send, Sabrina Carpenter

If life wasn't bad enough for Joshua Bassett after Olivia Rodrigo released SOUR in 2021, the other girl in the love triangle, miss Sabrina Carpenter, clapped back at him again in her own poppy, unrelenting way. While SOUR was more an album of " how do I cope with this post-breakup heartache", emails i can't send takes the perspective of "I'm so over this immaturity and drama."

Stand-out tracks: "because i liked a boy" "skinny dipping"

My favorites: "Vicious" "bet u wanna" "Bad for Business"

Calling this album emails i can't send is a great way to describe the confessional nature of this collection of songs. From the sassy "you just run to whoever is winning" of "Vicious" to the insecurity of"I wonder how many things you think about before you get to me" in "how many things," all the emotions of leaving and moving on from something you realize isn't serving you anymore are on full display across this album.

"bet u wanna" might be one of my favorite I-know-I'm-the-one-who-got-away girl-power bops I've maybe ever come across-- it's sultry, confident, and fun. "Nonsense" is very Ariana Grande-esque with its high-octave notes, clever spoken parts, and bouncy-but-simple backing track.

I appreciate that Sabrina Carpenter has jammed a lot of specific lyrics into a 39-minute pop album. She does a better job of storytelling on emails i can't send than most pop albums of twice this length. Is this the best pop album that has come out of the last 5 years? Probably not. But, with emails i can't send, Sabrina Carpenter has put in a pretty good bid to stick around as an artist to watch going forward.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING:

KINDA OBSESSED

For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver

Considering three of my favorite albums of the past few years have pretty heavy early-Bon Iver influences (Folklore and Evermore by Taylor Swift and When Facing the Thing We Turn Away From by Luke Hemmings) it felt appropriate to choose the bands' first album For Emma, Forever Ago as my album on a "gray November" day (I couldn't pass up an Evermore reference, what can I say).

This album is hauntingly gorgeous and listening to it as a complete work is an immersive experience. If a fire in a cabin in the woods in the winter were an album, this would be it. Grab a cable knit blanket and an old record player and pray for some light rain and then you'd really have the right environment for taking in For Emma, Forever Ago.

Stand-out tracks: "For Emma"

My favorites: "Lump Sum" "Blindsided" "Re: Stacks"

It's hard to describe the individual tracks on this album because they do mostly run together, but in this case, it works beautifully to drop the listener into the indie world created by this collection of songs. Album-opener "Flume" is the most jaunty track (which still isn't saying much), which makes the more melancholy "Lump Sum" all the more impactful. Arguably the most well-known song from this album is "Skinny Love," but it blends right in to the rest of the album, though it does come across as darker than many of the other tracks. "Re: Stacks" is truly a sung poem paired with an acoustic guitar that illustrates the combination of frustration and hope of trying to get back on your feet.

For Emma, Forever Ago has only solidified my realization that I guess I really like indie music now.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING:

KINDA OBSESSED

…Baby One More Time, Britney Spears

It's hard to miss on an album that starts with a song as catchy and iconic as the title track "...Baby One More Time." Britney's debut album presents as the words of a teenager writing about her heartache and crushes on with a feathery gel pen wearing a Juicy Couture velour tracksuit. Every song is delightfully boppy-- almost to the point that I started having trouble telling one song from another.

Stand out track: "...Baby One More Time"

My favorites: "(You Drive Me) Crazy" "Deep In My Heart"

If you're not a fan of having songs stuck in your head, this isn't the album for you. I swear I have a Britney medley on repeat in my brain because pretty much every track is stuck in my head. "Born to Make You Happy" and "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" are teen heartbreak anthems at their finest, while "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and "Deep in My Heart" are dance-around-your-room, classic bubblegum pop. There are some definite fluff songs on this album, most notably "Soda Pop" and "The Beat Goes On" and Britney is far from a lyrical queen, but she sure knows how to romanticize the heck out of surface-level teenage romance, (see "I Will Be There", "Thinkin' About You" and "I'll Never Stop Loving You"). Ending this album with "Autumn Goodbye" is the exact tone Britney needed to leave listeners with to hit play again on their CD players.

...Baby One More Time isn't the best of the best from Britney Spears, but it does its job of being a debut album that would leave listeners wanting to come back for more 90s pop goodness from a pop princess.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING:

OBSESSED WITH SOME TRACKS