The Meaning Behind Sabrina Carpenter’s Hit "Espresso"

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...She's not really singing about coffee, is she?
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It’s fresh, it’s frothy, it’s catchy, it’s that me espresso. ☕ Sabrina Carpenter’s pop hit “Espresso,” the lead single off her new album Short n’ Sweet , is a summer bop. And for good reason: the vaguely disco-funk tune is breezy, flirty, and one heck of an ear worm. If you’re as much a Sabrina stan (a.k.a. a carpenter) as we are, keep reading! We took a deep dive into the song’s lyrics and music video to get a better sense of why “Espresso”—and Carpenter herself—has us so addicted.

“Espresso” Lyrics Quick Guide

Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” is about being confident and about “seeing femininity as your superpower,” as Carpenter says. But it’s also about the feeling of someone being hooked on you, with espresso being a metaphor for how addictive, energizing, and hot Carpenter is to the song’s unnamed romantic interest.

Section 1 of 6:

“Espresso” Song Meaning

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    “The song is kind of about seeing femininity as your superpower, and embracing the confidence of being that b*tch,” she told Vogue . [1] Carpenter’s joy and faith in herself and her seductive abilities are evident throughout the song in the energetic, totally danceable nu-funk beat and the bubbly, flirtatious lyrics like “I can't relate to desperation. / My “give-a-f*cks” are on vacation” or the iconic “That’s that me espresso.”
    • “I just thought I was the s*it in the moment, and…you don’t always feel that way so you kind of have to capture those moments that you do,” Carpenter revealed in an interview for New Music Daily . [2]
    • “For me, equating [that feeling] to caffeine and that addiction was really fun. And I definitely have a caffeine addiction as it is, so it really ends up being a full circle for me.”
    • “‘My give-a-f*cks are on vacation’—it’s such a simple, funny line,” she says, “but so much of this song really kind of gets to a place where it really measures up with where I’m at right now, and…you have to go through life to get there…. I’m just having fun now.”
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    Espresso isn’t just a metaphor for how Carpenter feels about herself—it’s also an apt description for how addictive, energizing, and hot she is to the song’s unnamed romantic interest: “Now he's thinkin' 'bout me every night, oh, / Is it that sweet? I guess so. / Say you can't sleep, baby, I know, / That's that me espresso.”
    • The song is full of sexual innuendo as well, like in the lyrics, “That morning coffee, brewed it for ya, / One touch and I brand-newed it for ya” or “Move it up, down, left, right, oh, / Switch it up like Nintendo.”
    • Fans like TikToker @emilyxinfinity have pointed out that the sexual innuendo seems to go over some listeners’ heads, possibly because they haven’t grasped figurative language, they want to police women’s sexual agency, or they assume a beautiful pop star like Carpenter isn’t clever enough to think of lines like “Mountain Dew it for ya” (“mount and do it for ya”).
      • As TikTok user Ashley Ibarria commented on @emilyxinfinity’s video, “To make espresso, you grind the coffee beans…. You GRIND on the BEAN to make espresso.” [3]
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Section 2 of 6:

Why are we so hooked on “Espresso”?

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    The song is full of what Alex Abad-Santos at Vox aptly calls “sexy clown wordplay.” [4] Basically immediately after “Espresso” was released, listeners were hooked on its catchy, unusual, and often grammatically absurd lyrics like “dream-came-true’d it for ya,” “my give-a-f*cks are on vacation,” and of course, “that’s that me espresso.” The lyrics have served as inspo for countless memes, and many a linguist has lost sleep over-analyzing the song’s lyrical brilliance (we assume).
    • Musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding—co-hosts of the music podcast Switched on Pop —theorize, “‘Espresso’ plays with language in a way that takes your brain a moment to process…. It keeps listeners on their toes.” [5]
    • While memes can be brutal, the meme-ification of “Espresso” seems mostly done out of love. Carpenter takes it in stride, even sharing some fans’ memes to her social media account, like this one . [6]
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    It’s not the only off-kilter lyric in Carpenter’s hot girl anthem, but it’s the one we’re obsessed with the most—partly because it’s unclear exactly what the lyric means, and partly because it’s unclear if there’s a comma before “espresso” or not, which could affect how the lyric is interpreted, if only very slightly.
    • “That’s that me espresso” might suggest that the espresso Carpenter is singing about is of the “me” variety. It’s “me”-flavored. It’s giving “me.”
    • On the other hand, you might interpret “That’s that me, espresso” as Carpenter saying, “That’s me,” and then using “espresso” as a direct metaphor for herself to showcase how addictive and energizing and hot she is (which we can’t disagree with).
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Section 3 of 6:

“Espresso” Music Video Analysis

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    Our girl is literally in the driver’s seat, which sets the tone for the entire song. When she intentionally swerves the boat, knocking the guy overboard, she steals his wallet and treats herself and her gal pals to a day of sun and fun on the beach with a crew of hot guys fawning over them.
    • The music video, directed by acclaimed music video director Dave Meyers, takes place in a dreamy, stylized 1950s beach setting, where the sun is hot and the babes are hotter. 💅
    • “Since the day I heard the song, I saw a beach atmosphere,” Carpenter said, “—and more specifically this kind of old school [and] modern environment. [I wanted to capture] the playfulness that I like to use throughout all of my videos. I also just wanted a pool car, to be frank.” [7]
    • It’s giving Barbie Land—which is probably intentional: Carpenter references the 2023 smash hit in the context of “Espresso” in a number of her TikTok videos, including this one and this one .
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    The guy she ditched at the beginning of the song comes back around with the cops in tow, and they handcuff a beaming, fancy-free Carpenter. The last shot of the video is of Carpenter relaxing in the back of the cop car.
    • The video, like the song, definitely speaks to Carpenter’s ability to keep a guy “wrapped ‘round [her] finger,” as basically all the male characters spend the video swooning over and serving Carpenter (and her girlfriends).
    • But much of the power she possesses in the music video is financial, in contrast with the song, which focuses primarily on Carpenter’s powers of seduction.
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Section 4 of 6:

“Espresso” Song Origins

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    According to a Rolling Stone interview the pop star did in June 2024, the song had been rolling around in her head since July 2023 while she was spending some time in France after a tour. “I decided to put that burden on other people,” she says. [8] Literally, what a queen.
    • The song was written by Carpenter, along with Amy Allen, Steph Jones, and Julian Bunetta.
Section 5 of 6:

More about Short n’ Sweet

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    Short n’ Sweet is technically Carpenter’s sixth studio album, but it’s only the second album released through Island Records, a label with whom she feels she has “complete creative control.” [9] Previously, she was locked into a contract with Disney-owned Hollywood Records, with whom she released 4 albums and felt more creatively stifled.
    • Short n' Sweet was released on August 23, 2024, by Island Records and was produced by Julian Bunetta, John Ryan, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Jack Antonoff.
    • Short n’ Sweet received mostly positive reviews from critics who praised Carpenter’s breezy songwriting and clever lyricism, though many found the lyrics low-risk. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 200, and all 12 songs were included in the Hot 100.
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    “Short and sweet” might describe Carpenter herself, at 4-foot-11-inches tall, or the relationships she sings about on the album: “some of them were the shortest I've ever had, and they affected me the most,” she says. [10]
    • Carpenter describes the album as the “hot older sister” of the album preceding it, Emails I Can’t Send , her first with Island.
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Section 6 of 6:

Related Songs

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  1. 1
    “Please Please Please” The second single off Short n’ Sweet after “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” is a disco-y, country pop, yacht rock song. (She really does it all!) The song is about feeling insecure in a relationship with someone who doesn't treat you how they should, and worried your heart could be broken at any moment: “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another, / I beg you don’t embarrass me, mother f*cker,” she sings in the chorus. [11]
    • The music video picks up where “Espresso”’s leaves off, with Carpenter in jail—and it stars Carpenter’s off-screen boyfriend, Saltburn star Barry Keoghan, as a dangerous criminal with whom she falls in love. Director Bardia Zeinali explained the video is “about this person that Sabrina's character keeps falling for, that has this chaotic behavior.” [12]
    • But the video ends with “a role reversal and an exchange of power towards the end,” with Carpenter tying Keoghan’s character up and placing duct tape over his mouth, kissing him, and walking away. [13]
  2. 2
    “Taste” “Taste” is the third single off Short n’ Sweet . In this bouncy rock tune, Carpenter sings about her rivalry with the girl dating one of her exes—played in the music video by Wednesday and Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice star Jenna Ortega. The theme of the song is summed up in these lyrics from the chorus: “I heard you're back together and if that's true / You'll just have to taste me when he's kissin' you. / If you want forever, and I bet you do, / Just know you'll taste me too.”
    • The music video —once again directed by Dave Meyers—involves Carpenter and Ortega in a war over the boyfriend. The two rivals are stuck in an endless loop of killing each other in comedically gruesome ways—but they’re also kinda horny for each other too. [14]
    • The video alludes primarily to the 1992 film Death Becomes Her , starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as rivals (just with added horniness levels). It also features references to the movies Psycho , Addams Family Values , Ginger Snaps , and Kill Bill: Volume 1 .
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.vogue.com/article/sabrina-carpenter-espresso-music-video-fashion
      2. ↑ https://music.apple.com/us/post/1741178891
      3. ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@emilyxinfinity/video/7378528379202473259
      4. ↑ https://www.vox.com/culture/2024/5/14/24155699/sabrina-carpenter-espresso-career-olivia-rodrigo-explained
      5. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/04/sabrina-carpenter-how-the-espresso-singer-became-a-piping-hot-pop-prospect
      6. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/C6ZCb9rRGuC/?img_index=3
      7. ↑ https://www.vogue.com/article/sabrina-carpenter-espresso-music-video-fashion
      8. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/sabrina-carpenter-espresso-short-n-sweet-taylor-swift-1235036627/
      9. ↑ https://people.com/sabrina-carpenter-short-n-sweet-album-title-meaning-8700025
      1. ↑ https://people.com/sabrina-carpenter-short-n-sweet-album-title-meaning-8700025
      2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF1Na4AIecM
      3. ↑ https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/sabrina-carpenter-please-please-please-barry-keoghan-video
      4. ↑ https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/sabrina-carpenter-please-please-please-barry-keoghan-video
      5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEG7b851Ric

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