There’s a lot to love on Sabrina Carpenter's Short n’ Sweet, and a lot of the record falls into place beautifully.

Carefully moving between distinct moods, the balance of the record is damn near perfect. There’s the goofy wittiness of Espresso, the vulnerability of Dumb & Poetic and the almost melodramatic romance show that’s on full display on cuts like Taste and Please Please Please. Carpenter expertly navigates the vibes, adjusting her energy and delivery to keep the record moving.

The stellar production work (courtesy of John Ryan, Ian Kirkpatrick, Julian Bunetta and Jack Antonoff) lets Carpenter's beautiful songwriting (assisted by Amy Allen and Julia Michaels) shine without taking over, simultaneously leaving ample room for her airy and vivid vocals. Everything’s in its right place on key moments like Bed Chem, Don't Smile and Juno, which were notably worked on with different co-writers and producers. It would not be uncommon for an album to sound uneven and sloppily thrown together when there's this many people involved. That's not the case here, though: Short n' Sweet has a distinct sound from start to finish. While it's stylistically a far cry from some of Carpenter's previous works, it's also distinctly her.

With a monster like Espresso on board, there was some cause for concern as to how the rest will compare. Disregarding a lone misfire, Short n’ Sweet stands out as one of the best pop albums of the year. It also continues the long-running tradition of Julia Michaels and Ian Kirkpatrick always being behind the best song on the record.