Sabrina Carpenter - Short n' Sweet (August 23, 2024) Album • Page 11

Great song btw.

 

I said I love the song, lol, I just think if you’re going to build an entire song around a movie reference, you can find a better analog for “excessively horny” than “movie about unplanned, unwanted teenage pregnancy and the complications it causes in a lot of lives.”

 

It could be that she’s just reeferencing the most famous pregnant character in any movie without overthinking it

or, she’s so horny she wants to have an unplanned unwanted pregnancy that dramatically complicates her life

 

Wasn’t Jason Bateman’s character horny? Maybe she’s speaking from his pov

 

It’s also possible that the dissonance with what the movie is actually about, is part of the joke?

 

Jennifer's Body is already a song by Hole so she had to scramble for another Diablo Cody movie

 

Any of this is possible (other than the song being from Jason Bateman’s POV; come the fuck on) but regardless of authorial intent, there are things about that concept that I bump against even while really enjoying the song. That’s it!

 

literal touch grass moment what are yall on about lol. jason bateman? be serious

 

Can't wait for her take on Lisa Frankenstein.

 

...also, pretty sure that (much like naming that song "Juno" itself) the Bateman comment was an obvious joke?

 

I thought that was gonna be Chappell

 

Do you think it being a “joke” shields the writing from criticism? Genuine question, because you keep using that line of defense.

 

I just think it's so not as deep as you're suggesting lol, it has nothing to do with the implications of the film, it's simply a tongue-in-cheek line in a horny pop song.

It's 100% open to criticism, I just think it's a strange thing to get hung up on

 

I didnt even think of the movie haha. I thought it was referencing the Goddess Juno.

 

I’m sure you’re right, and that she didn’t actually think much about the deeper implications of that line! Problem is, they’re still there. You don’t get to reference another work of art in your writing and then be surprised when people explore that beyond the shallowest possible interpretation. I think, in this case, two things can be true: it’s a lighthearted joke, but to me it calls to mind something that’s not really lighthearted at all, and it makes for a rather odd listening experience, where I love the sound and feel (and horniness!) of the song while still feeling like the writing is flawed because it’s romanticizing something while referencing a film that doesn’t romanticize that thing at all.

 

Anyway, I think this tweet captures my feelings on the matter:

 

No, it’s fair to say that the joke isn’t funny. (Which, it obviously isn’t for you, and I personally think it’s fine; not the best on the album.)

But, I do think the question of what it’s doing is pretty key in deciding how well it works. If you’re being playful, whether in a song or just conversationally, then a reference that doesn’t line up perfectly is fine. The goal isn’t commentary per se (though I could use my community college art degree to turn it into one, lol); the goal is having fun.

And, to your follow-up posts… maybe part of it is that, mileage varies on how irreverent one’s ok with being with a joke? Like, I don’t care about the movie, lol. So, I don’t take the next leap in my head to seeing it as disrespect to real life struggling pregnant teens.

 

Is she making a light hearted pop song or advertising her breeding kink and glamorizing suicide, we may never know

 

I love this for you, and I’m going to adopt this as my own stance on the song as well.

 

Need a Lisa Frankenstein remix

 

I am always going to stump for precision in writing, and I think there are a lot of funnier, more precise jokes on this album. I don’t care about the movie either, really, but I have seen it and it becomes pretty obvious in the song that that’s what she’s talking about. I’d love to ignore that implication and enjoy the song without it, but it’s just there in my head lol. And like, it’s still a top 2-3 song on the album for me, even with that. I just personally think it’s a weird choice and don’t really think the “joke” of it lands.

 

I'm sorry but that tweet is so insane to me lol I actually know how Craig feels because I similarly simply cannot put myself in a pair of shoes where that much analysis of a single joke makes that much sense. It feels like a mixture of fan theorizing or searching for something problematic, maybe even projection, but if more than one person is reading into it than I suppose it's not. Carry on!

 

It’s not really a “single joke.” It’s the load-bearing concept on which the entire song is built. If it was one line of the song, I think it would bump for me less than it does. As is, it’s pretty clearly the idea someone had to start the song with, and I think that idea is bad!

 

This is not to prolong the conversation, but I'm genuinely curious because you're a Taylor fan - how is this different from "Love Story" hinging on a tragic play where the protagonists kill themselves? Unless I'm misremembering, I don't think the implications of that work of art are ever dealt with further by the lyrics

I'm trying to think of something similar in pop music that bothers me like this and the closest I can get is "You're So Vain" paradoxically being about the men she's claiming will think the song is about themselves.

 

Love Story rewrites Shakespeare out of being a tragedy by the end and everything works out. Also never deals with Juliet being like 13.

maybe they’re just pop songs and don’t need to stick to the source material of whatever they reference 100%