Emails I Can't Send
Emails I Can't Send is the fifth studio album by American singer Sabrina Carpenter. It was released on July 15, 2022, through Island Records. It is primarily a pop record in the styles of bedroom pop and folk-pop with synth-pop production and elements of alternative pop, electropop, and storytelling. The album is themed around emails and messages she intended to send to others, but instead kept private.
The album was accompanied by five singles"Skinny Dipping", "Fast Times", "Vicious", "Because I Liked a Boy" and "Nonsense". To promote the album, Carpenter embarked on the Emails I Can't Send Tour in September 2022. A deluxe edition, Emails I Can't Send Fwd, was released in 2023, and included the single "Feather". The album charted within the top 30 in Argentina, Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States. It received generally favorable reviews from music critics and ranked on Rolling Stone and Billboard lists of the best albums of 2022.
Background
In June 2019, while promoting her fourth studio album Singular: Act II, Carpenter revealed to Marie Claire magazine that she had begun work on a fifth studio album. In 2020, she released the stand-alone single "Honeymoon Fades" and lent her vocals for the Clouds soundtrack.In January 2021, after four albums with Hollywood Records, it was reported that Carpenter had signed to Island Records. She noted that it was "the perfect place for to start the next chapter of music career and evolution as an artist". Her first release came at the end of the month with "Skin".
In September that year, Carpenter reported to Teen Vogue that many of the album's songs were written from emails she wrote to herself, such as a song she had previously shared on August 7 with the description as "Intro", later revealed as the title track of the album. She also revealed that she finished the album's recording in New York City with Julia Michaels, JP Saxe, John Ryan and Leroy Clampitt, after she moved to Manhattan's Financial District in June of that year.
Release
Carpenter appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where she confirmed that the album would be released in 2022 and that the title was hidden in work released the year before. The album's name clue was in the music video for "Skinny Dipping" in a shot where the name appears in a Scrabble game.The album was released on July 15, 2022. On March 17, 2023, Carpenter released a deluxe edition of the album.
Composition
Genres and themes
Emails I Can't Send is primarily a pop record in the styles of bedroom pop and folk-pop, with synth-pop production, and elements of alternative pop, electropop, and storytelling. The album also uses piano ballads and light-guitar instrumentals to showcase a sound where Carpenter benefited from less instrumentation. Some critics found the album was reminiscent to Carpenter's previous albums but "with fresher feelings and a closeness to the audience that did not feel as airy-fairy as before". The Strand Magazine writer Siraaj Khan agreed that the album differed from Carpenter's previous work which fell more into the contemporary R&B genre. Variety writer Julia MacCary also found that the album marked a departure from Carpenter's "previous four pop-heavy albums, experimenting with new genres, slower songs and using personal emails for lyrics". On the album, Carpenter noted:
For me, was really a time capsule of a special time in my life when I dealt with many things for the first time. I feel like I came out of that with a much greater perspective, and all these songs are based on real nights or experiences and reflecting and foreshadowing.
The album was described as a "break-up album" and an "unapologetic collection of her inner thoughts, with a sense of heartache over unrequited love present throughout". Julianna Rezza of The Mud Mag called the album a "compilation of delicately told stories and new sounds".
Music and lyrics
The album begins with the title track intro which was inspired by a strained family relationship. The song deals with "trust, disappointment and infidelity". The end of the intro references the 1975 musical Chicago and smoothly transitions into "Vicious" which has a guitar-driven beat and ends in a "rock-esque vibe". "Read Your Mind" was described as a dance-pop "jump-up-and-down and dance-through-the-house" song in which Carpenter sings about the lack of communication between her and a partner. This is followed by "Tornado Warnings" which was described as a poem where Carpenter chooses to ignore her significant other's red flags. Young Hollywood writer Skylar Zachian noted that "the lyrics reveal a perfect balance of literal and metaphorical storytelling to really get us thinking about the intricacies of relationships and decision-making"."Because I Liked a Boy" is about Carpenter's efforts to navigate public scrutiny. "Introspective, ironic, and quick-witted lyrics" are used throughout the song. Carpenter called the song "therapeutic" noting that the "song came from a really real place in life". This is followed by "Already Over" and "How Many Things" which marked the end of the record's first half. The former was compared to Dolly Parton and Kacey Musgraves's work, with Carpenter singing about "the fragility of a relationship that should have ended long ago". The opening line of "How Many Things": "You used a fork once / It turns out forks are fucking everywhere" sparked a Twitter meme among Carpenter's fans.
"Bet U Wanna" has a "subdued but tense arrangement that complements its hushed vocals" and received comparisons to Carpenter's Singular era. With "dreamy instrumentals and sultry vocals", the song was named a stand-out on the album. This is followed by "Nonsense" who some felt it was Ariana Grande-inspired and "captures the feeling of liking someone so much that you completely lose your cool". The song uses "sexual innuendos, catchy soundscapes, and raspy-to-silky smooth vocals that attest to the extreme versatility". "Fast Times" is a soft rock and "slinky bossa nova track" about being "impulsive and embracing the 'fast times and fast nights' of youth". "Skinny Dipping" takes a "detour from the radio-friendly songwriting" and uses spoken words in its verses, which "resembles an awkward encounter with an ex-partner, which further adds to the project's conceptual undertone". Carpenter's vocals were described as "ethereal" and used "jazzy instrumentals to add to the song's innocent, carefree feel".
"Bad for Business" was described as "happy, romantic, and wistful" and embodies one of the most dangerous aspects of love: fixation. The album ends with "Decode" which was described as a "sombre but hopeful conclusion" to the album where "Carpenter shines as a songwriter". The song's heartwarming ambience is "produced by string instruments" and is about "overanalysing a relationship to the point where it's more detrimental than helpful".
The deluxe version of the album opens with "Opposite", which sees Carpenter looking back on a relationship, "wondering if she was never her ex's ideal type in the first place". This is followed by the upbeat "Feather", which was described as a break-up anthem. "Lonesome" is a Western-vibed song and was called "somber" and had "a kind of raw and stripped tune". The deluxe version ends with "Things I Wish You Said" which ends on a "reflective and nostalgic note".
Promotion
On August 15, 2022, Carpenter announced that she would embark on her fourth concert tour in support of Emails I Can't Send. The first leg of the tour began on September 29, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia and concluded on October 20, 2022, in Orlando, Florida. On December 12, 2022, Carpenter announced a second North American leg of the tour for the spring of 2023. South America, Europe, and Asia dates followed. Carpenter also served as an opener for Taylor Swift at The Eras Tour where she performed several songs off the album.Singles and music videos
"Skinny Dipping" was released as the album's lead single on September 9, 2021. Carpenter performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. A music video was released upon the song's release and featured Carpenter writing letters to herself, putting them in a box labeled "this too shall pass" and after dancing barefoot in a green dress on the streets of New York City, she throws the letters into the air."Fast Times" was released as the album's second single on February 18, 2022. It was released alongside a music video which acted a sequel to the video for "Skinny Dipping". The video was inspired by Charlie's Angels.
"Vicious" was released as the third single on July 1, 2022, along with the album's pre-order. The song reached 26 in New Zealand. Upon the album's release, Carpenter performed the song alongside others from the album at Samsung and Billboard's Summer of Galaxy annual event.
"Because I Liked a Boy" was issued as the album's fourth single concurrently with the album release, along with its music video. The video showcased Carpenter channeling "old Hollywood glamour aesthetic" and drew comparisons to Christina Aguilera's "Hurt" music video. Carpenter performed the song on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
"Nonsense" was released as the album's fifth single on November 14, 2022, alongside a music video. Before its release, Carpenter performed the song on her Emails I Can't Send Tour with a new alternate ending of the song every night which went viral on TikTok. The song received critical acclaim, reaching 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 32 on the UK Singles Chart. Carpenter also performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! A remix featuring Coi Leray was released alongside a sped-version and a Christmas remix.
After the release of the deluxe edition, a music video for "Feather" was released on October 31, 2023. Carpenter performed the song and "Nonsense" at the pre-show of the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The video received polarised reviews for its depiction of Carpenter at the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn with Bishop Robert Brennan stating that the "parish did not follow diocesan policy regarding the filming on church property".