Ranking Emails I Can't Send

By Simone Gonzalez

Before Sabrina Carpenter’s highly anticipated Short n’ Sweet album, I wanted to revisit her latest album, emails I can’t send by ranking these songs. It’s actually extremely difficult to do because it is a very strong project and cohesive album. The structure and lyrics of the songs especially make sense when I take into account what Sabrina’s emails I can’t send era was like.

I’m not sure I can best explain the message of the album and era was so I’ll let Sabrina do that:

Sabrina Carpenter on the Radical Honesty of Her New Album, Emails I Can’t Send

I would hope that if someone had never listened to my music before, and they listened to this album, they would leave it feeling like they know me better as a person

When I wrote the actual title track, I was [using] one of the emails that I had written to myself, and I just said out loud: “That’s the name of the album!” Then every song kind of came from that place. Every song came from those emails or messages or whatever my way of coping was at the time. I think it captures a really important time in my life.

I think that the whole thing behind this album was really to do with me writing those emails. I was never writing emails to myself and thinking about actually sending them, or thinking about what other people would think about them, because I really was just doing it for myself, and it was a way to cope. So I kind of tried to stick with that through the album and just write songs thinking, I can say whatever I want, because no one’s ever gonna hear this. And then, yeah, I’ll just have to throw my phone in the ocean when the album comes out. [Laughs.]

Let’s begin:

1. Decode:

   I believe that, while I am ranking the “fwd:” version of Emails I Can’t Send, Decode really sticks out to me. After first hearing the song, I kept listening over and over. I rewinded the small part at the end where Sabrina declares her and another person will make a video to their future selves. This song is proof of growth in Sabrina’s songwriting and personal growth. There is nothing left to decode from the situations Sabrina was in because she’s already learned all she could from it.

Sabrina describes Decode best here in an article with Rolling Stone:

This one took the longest to get right. At this age, it’s really, really hard to accept anything that’s out of your control. At least for me. To be like, “Why can’t it just be the way that I want it to be in my head?” Being hard on myself and blaming myself for the entirety of the situation that I was going through.

It’s so funny listening to this song now. I’m literally gonna cry. [She starts tearing up.] I hope for the rest of my life, I can use this song as a compass to guide me: “You are past the point of asking questions and asking Whys and asking Hows. It just is what it is.” Sometimes you need to just accept that statement. There’s a lot of power in being like, “I’m not going to look back anymore. I’m not going to question and I’m not going to wonder why. I’m just gonna allow it to be what it was and know that it was meant to happen.”

2. things i wish you said

   I was FLOORED when I first this song. Who has not thought about things you wish someone said to you but they never did? The same person you are pondering about is the same person who gets your jokes when no one else does. Whenever I listen to this song, I also think about how Sabrina’s songwriting has evolved on this album. She creates a story on this song by revealing the person she’s missing is seeing someone else and how she even hopes they care about her sister who’s got in an accident. I think for anyone who has lingering questions or unresolved feelings about a relationship…this song is for you.

3. opposite

   Opposite has become a really popular Sabrina Carpenter song, as it should. Sometimes someone dates the exact opposite of you. You wonder if there’s anything you could have done to change what happened. No matter what, they were always going to be with that person. They would still end up with them anyway, were they holding out to find the opposite of you?

A few months after opposite came out, I started to see girls on Tik Tok use the song. I wondered if I missed out on a trend that was going on. Yet, the girls were using opposite to describe what it is like to be dating right now and be a person of color. Did the person they wanted to be with intentionally date the opposite of them? It broke my heart to see that so many girls had related to this song in that way. At the same time, it speaks volumes on how Sabrina’s songs can bring girls together to talk openly about a genuinely heartbreaking experience.

4. Lonesome

Sabrina’s lyricism in this one stood out to me. To If I fall in love with all my problems will they leave me too to you can’t spell lonesome without me. You must admit, that is a clever one. In opposite, we were dealing with someone who chose the opposite of us. In Lonesome, Sabrina reveals she’s questioning this person’s intentions because this person has lied to her. I found this song to be so interesting because even though the other person seems to be at fault here, Sabrina blames herself. After every lyric of confrontation like “Did you think about her face with your hands around my waist?” and “Well maybe I believed in all your lies cause I believed in you?”, she still ends with the statement you can’t spell lonesome without me.

5. Bad for Business

Bad for Business is actually my favorite Sabrina Carpenter song ever. I am being so bias but something about this song is a whole experience and one of Sabrina’s life experiences I can understand completely. He’s good for my heart but he’s bad for business. He makes me happy and understands me like no one else but my friends don’t see it. I would choose to spend all my time with him but then I’ll be late for work. I will admit, sometimes it can be tiring to hear someone dwell on this person that is bad for them but they always go back to them. After listening to Sabrina, I learned that you go back to them for a reason. You go back because of the way they make you feel and how they understand you. It is up to you if they also treat you the way you feel you would be treated and if that is…bad for business (haha).

6. emails i can’t send

This song started off with a viral video of Sabrina at a piano singing it. Sabrina is the kind of artist that keeps some of her life quite personal. Her songs are extremely relatable but we do not know the exact details of what Sabrina has gone through. However, in this song we find out. Sabrina uses her bold and vulnerable voice in this song to tell us her dad is the reason she can not love right. In Emails I Can’t Send, the opening track to this album Sabrina states she will never find forgiveness as fast as her mom did because her dad cheated. I have to rank this song high simply for Sabrina’s openness in this track. It is incredibly brave of her to share such a heartbreaking experience like this with her fans.

7. Read your Mind

Many fans of Sabrina that post on Tik Tok and Twitter believe this song deserves the same credit Sabrina’s Espresso and Feather has received. I completely agree. Throughout the whole song, Sabrina tells a story but a simple one. This person can not make up their mind so how can she read theirs?

I’ve seen Sabrina live twice, this song had an electric energy to it live. I am of course, being biased again but this song is one of my favorites by Sabrina. As Sabrina showcases her vocals, she hits every mark a true pop song has.

8. how many things

As I mentioned, I’ve seen Sabrina live which impacts my ranking greatly. I will never forget when Sabrina was singing this song on her birthday then all of a sudden, I (and the entire crowd) had to sing happy birthday to her! Let me explain. Sabrina has a unique relationship with her fans. She uses her humor to connect with them especially on events like her birthday. I attended her birthday show in New York, knowing Sabrina would have surprises up her sleeve. She got on stage and told us whenever she hits the birthday button, we’d have to sing happy birthday to her. Of course, Sabrina chooses to interrupt all of us singing how many things to make it time to sing happy birthday to her (no hard feelings at all Sabrina but I was crying). The experience made the show all the more memorable, with tears on my face and a smile on my face all at the same time.

To someone who is critical of Sabrina, this song just covers a breakup. However, in my opinion, this covers a specific part of a breakup. Is this person thinking about me as much as I think about them? How many things do you think of before you think of me? Is it alright that I still make excuses for you?

9. because i liked a boy

Oh my. What can I say about this song? I think if you take the time to listen to it, you’ll understand why it’s high on my ranking. If you remember, for quite a while, Sabrina Carpenter’s comments (and probably dms) on every social media platform were filling up every day. The things people were writing were not positive. People went from not knowing who Sabrina was to calling her a homewrecker, whore and…many other things. Truly, people just ran with whatever drama was being created by the media or people’s own minds based on the dating triangle everyone swore they knew about,s going on between Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter.

I wasn’t sure what Sabrina would do about the backlash after a while. After Sabrina released Skin, people took even more offense and pretended to back up Olivia Rodrigo by bashing Sabrina. Then, this song came out. I was actually having a sleepover that night with a friend. We were anxiously waiting for the music video and we were unaware Sabrina would even bring up what was going on. Sabrina had hinted in different ways to her fans that her album would be on the more vulnerable side so I was shocked hearing this song. It was the opposite. This song. “because i liked a boy’ was vulnerable in the boldest way and became one of the best parts of her tour show. She states that the world views her as a homewrecker all for simply liking a boy. She doesn’t have a choice to tell you who she is because you already assume who she is by seeing her out with a boy.

10. Feather

One of the best Sabrina Carpenter hits! I adore this song not only because it really put Sabrina on the pop star map but because of the universal experience this song shares with everyone. Honestly, how terrible of a presence and personality someone must have to have the experience of being without them feel…lighter than a feather? We all have had that experience.

11. Fast Times

This song was the start of an ERA. I also believe the release of this song was the first time I saw Sabrina Carpenter’s talent being compared to Britney spears. It’s common knowledge (I hope) that comparing women to each other in the music industry only causes chaos. In Fast Times case, Sabrina’s fans were praising the choreography and style of the Fast Times music video by saying it was all something Britney would have done. This song is only ranked low because I do gravitate more towards Sabrina’s super vulnerable tracks but this song will always remind me of the start of the Emails I Can’t Send era.

12. Tornado Warnings

I have never had an experience where a song was so devastating I can not go back and listen to it. Well, that changed after I listened to this song. On tour, Sabrina would pause and tell her fans the story behind this song. She was with someone she shouldn’t have been with and they were in the park (despite the fact that Sabrina would have to lie to her therapist about it). All of a sudden, she got a tornado warning on her phone. She literally needed to get out of the situation. On the other hand, it’s never easy to leave someone or break things off with them. A personal philosophy of mine is to never let anyone ruin music for you. If you love a song, it should be yours. At the same time, I am taken back to the person I was and situation I was in when this song came out. This song was my reasoning for my bad decisions but also called me out on what I was doing wrong. I don’t think artists realize they do that for their fans sometimes (which is why this song should be ranked higher but sorry Sabrina has too many good ones).

13. Already Over

A lot of people believe Sabrina is entering her country era with Short n’ Sweet. If you’ve listened to this song, you know Sabrina explores country on here. Sabrina uses country strings you can square dance to express her confusion in a situation where she needs closure with someone. Sabrina’s only response to the situation is to ponder on why they are already over at her house…which is a very real thing of her to do and why I love this song.

14. Vicious

I must admit…I like it when artists are petty. Well, not petty per say but when they confront situations boldly in their music. It gives you the passion you need to do the same. In Vicious, fans believe Sabrina is coming after fans of hers who sided against her while she was being torn apart on the internet. I am no one to say if that is true or not but regardless, Vicious is definitely the song you need when you are done with someone’s behavior. Sabrina’s passion and lyricism in this song was compared to Billie Eilish’s Happier than Ever which received global support if you can remember. Sabrina’s fans were anxious for Sabrina to explore rock at all and they got a taste of it here. As Sabrina said:

I wanted to write a song that felt super-personal and kinda take you through all these emotions that you feel when you separate from someone that you were really close to. They don’t feel like someone you know anymore, and they become kind of like a stranger.

15. Nonsense

All I can think about right now is Sabrina performing this song live on Jimmy Kimmel. What can I say?

Anyway, when compared to all of Emails I Can’t Send I love Sabrina’s more emotional tracks like I said. Nevertheless, this song had gotten a very high amount of streams on Spotify from me. Sabrina’s cleverness and humor is shown through her outro of this song which, her nonsense outros became viral on tour since she changed them every night. I will never forget that Sabrina Carpenter called me a bad bitch when she performed this song for the first time in New York on her tour. What is else is there left to say?

16. bet u wanna

This song has the sexy sultry sound you’re looking for. Sabrina tells the listener they bet they want her now after they did her wrong. In my opinion, this song is definitely a confidence booster. You will definitely need this when someone comes back to you knowing…you will not take them back.

17. Skinny Dipping

It’s quite full circle to end on Skinny Dipping. A part of being a music lover is waiting for a music video to release on Youtube. You stay up waiting and see the countdown, it’s an exciting experience. I felt especially excited when Sabrina was going to release the Skinny Dipping music video because she went live on Youtube a few minutes before. I felt her excitement through the screen and was hopeful that I would love Skinny Dipping.

Skinny Dipping caused a bit of commotion cause a part of the song where Sabrina talks or talk-sings was deemed cringe. I would argue that people talk or sing talk in their songs more than ever. Despite it all, this song is in my belongs in a movie playlist simply because it does belong in coming of age movie.

Until Short N’ Sweet guys!!