On Valentine’s Day, Sabrina Carpenter released the deluxe edition of her Grammy-winning album, “Short n’ Sweet.”

While the original album goes for 36 minutes, the deluxe has a run time of 51 minutes. So, there is an additional 15 minutes on the new edition, a subtle nod to the first bonus track, “15 Minutes.”

In my prediction of the album, I thought the song would be more inappropriate, and I was kind of right. The song is actually about her “15 minutes of fame,” and she explains that she can get a lot done in that time. 

“But I can do a lot with fifteen minutes (I can) / Lot of pretty boys, lot of funny business (Tell me I’m wrong) / Take a couple bucks, turn ’em into millions.”

And like any Sabrina song, there, of course, is a dirty joke in the song.

“You, you, you know I / I can do a lot with fifteen minutes (Sure can) / Only gonna take two to make you finish (No).”

The second bonus song is from the original track list but features the country queen herself, Dolly Parton, on “Please Please Please.”

After my first listen, I wasn’t sure about how I felt about it. I just didn’t think “Please Please Please” was the best track for Dolly to be on, like “Slim Pickins” was right there.

Someone on TikTok said, “It sounds like Dolly is creeping up on me.” 

I cannot help but agree with that statement at some moments in the song. I didn’t like how, at certain parts, Dolly went higher than Sabrina. It sounded better to me when they matched or Dolly went lower, like she did in the later chorus. 

The more I listen to the album, the more the feature grows on me. I also loved the music video they did, which had a call back to the original song’s video, starring Barry Keoghan. The new music video featured the pair driving away with a tied-up body in the back of the truck, looking eerily like Keoghan.

In Dolly, we trust.

For the third, it is a more emotionally vulnerable song named, “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder.”

This song hits close to home for me, as Sabrina shares how she knows she makes it hard for anyone to love her. 

“But I couldn’t make it / Any harder to love me / Your arms are reachin’ / And your eager heart is throbbin’ / I know you’re frustrated / ‘Cause I will not let you touch me / You say you can take it / But you don’t know how hard I can make it.”

This song was instantly added to my sad music playlist. 

The fourth song is one of my favorites on the album, that being “Busy Woman.” I already knew I was going to love the song, given that it was already leaked. 

There is one line in particular that makes me laugh and makes me love the song all the more. 

“If you don’t want me, I’ll just deem you gay.”

That is one of the realest lines for me, because, as a straight woman, I can’t decide if I want to be Sabrina or be with her. She’s just everything, with her looks and personality. 

The fifth and final song of the album is “Bad Reviews.” This is also a more vulnerable song on the track list, with her sharing that she knows she’s had some gut feelings about someone she’s in a relationship with but will ignore it because she doesn’t want to be wrong again.

“I’ve heard all the bad news and the bad reviews / All the friends tryna save me, well, I, I cut them loose / ‘Cause I refuse to be wrong again / And I can’t lose another boy that’s not even my boyfriend.”

Honestly, she ate me up with this. I know I, among many other women, am sometimes too embarrassed to tell my friends the truth about the badness of a relationship, because we know our friends will say we can do better and that we should know better.

It is a hard-hitting song that deserves to be in my sad playlist as well.

Overall, I still consider “Short n’ Sweet (Deluxe)” a “no-skip” album and one of my favorites. Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift are going to be dominating my Apple Music Replay at the end of the year. 

Boggess can be reached at boggestm7197@uwec.edu.