Sabrina Carpenter says she “was completely alone in wanting to release âEspresso'”
Sabrina Carpenter has revealed that she was âaloneâ in wanting to release âEspressoâ as the lead single from her upcoming sixth album, âShort Nâ Sweetâ.
- READ MORE:Â Why is Sabrina Carpenterâs âEspressoâ taking over Spotify algorithms?
âEspressoâ released on April 11, has fast become one of Carpenterâs signature songs, reaching Number Three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the charts in the UK and 15 other countries. Today (August 6) it reached one billion streams, becoming the third fastest song on the platform to reach that figure. Even Adele described it as âmy jamâ â high praise indeed.
However, she told Variety that not everyone thought releasing it was a good idea. âI was completely alone in wanting to release âEspresso,ââ she said. âNot so much from my immediate team. But when it came to âthe powers above,ââ she air-quoted, âThere was a lot of questioning behind whether it made sense. But they trusted me in the end, and I was happy that I believed in myself at that moment.â
Island Records co-CEO Imran Majid also weighed in, saying, âItâs no accident that everything is falling into place the way she always wanted. Sabrinaâs instincts and creative vision are incredible. Sheâs always thinking 10 steps ahead of the market.â
Itâs probably fair to say that âEspressoâ has been the song of the summer. It spent a full month at Number One in the UK earlier this year, while the Official Charts Company revealed a month ago that it was the fourth-biggest song of the year in the country at that point.
Such was the ubiquity of the song that people started noticing Spotify playing it after theyâd been listening to songs by everyone from Fontaines D.C. to Kendrick Lamar. NME said at the time: âWhile Spotify and artists and their teams can pump everything into a track going viral and make it the holding music to those moments when you donât have your own song queued, they also need people to then choose to engage with it for the momentum to keep going. Something that is happening for Sabrina Carpenter.
âPerhaps itâs the eternal lure of hitting the repeat button to marvel at lyrics like âWalked in and dream came trued it for yaâ and find ways to add âMountain Dew it for yaâ into our everyday lexicon.â
Meanwhile, Carpenter recently added more UK and Europe shows to her âShort Nâ Sweetâ tour, in promotion of the album, out August 23. The tour is set to begin next spring, kicking off in Dublin on March 3 before shows in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Amsterdam â including an extra date at Londonâs The O2. You can find tickets here.
Before her Europe shows, however, thereâs the North American leg of the tour first. Itâll begin in Columbus, Ohio, on September 23, and wrap up almost two months later on November 15 in Los Angeles. Purchase tickets here.
And, she’s just debuted a new track, âSlim Pickinsâ, with Jack Antonoff.