Sabrina Carpenter revealed that her hit ‘Espresso’ was almost not released due to doubts from her record label, Island Records.
One of Sabrina Carpenter‘s most famous songs almost didn’t see the light of day. In a new interview with Variety, the singer revealed that her record label was hesitant to release this year’s hit ‘Espresso’.
In the cover story, Carpenter explained that she was “completely alone in wanting to release ‘Espresso,’” the first single from her upcoming album, Short n’ Sweet. “Not so much my immediate team, but when it came to ‘the higher-ups,’” she said, using air quotes, “there were a lot of doubts about whether it made sense.” It seems that some at her label, Island Records, thought the world wasn’t ready for lyrics like “my give-a-f*cks are on vacation.” But Carpenter insisted and released the “little song” in April before her Coachella performance. “They trusted me in the end, and I’m glad I believed in myself at that moment,” she told the magazine.
‘Espresso’ became her first Top 3 hit and has remained in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 since its release. On August 5, it became the third fastest song to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, despite not hitting the top spot on the Hot 100. Now, Island Records acknowledges Carpenter’s vision. “It’s no coincidence that everything is coming together as she always wanted,” Imran Majid, co-CEO of Island Records, told Variety. “Sabrina’s instincts and creative vision are incredible. She’s always thinking ten steps ahead of the market.”
Short n’ Sweet, set to be fully released on August 23, has another hit: its second single, ‘Please Please Please,’ is another catchy pop tune that has earned a spot on many “best of the summer” lists.
Carpenter told Variety that the entire album was written before the success of its first two singles, for which she is very grateful. “It’s not that I think [the singles’ success] would have affected me, but I really think that sometimes you can’t help but write from a different perspective after experiencing certain life events,” she explained. “I’m trying to avoid calling this ‘my dream album,’ because I don’t think I could have imagined these songs a couple of years ago.”
