So far, we’ve heard two big pop bangers from Sabrina Carpenter‘s new album, Short n’ Sweet — “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” — but the album also features R&B, disco and country songs. That’s because Sabrina’s determined not to be put in a box by “a lot of grown men.”

Speaking to Paper magazine, Sabrina says, “When I was younger, I was told by a lot of grown men that I needed to pick a genre, stay in that genre, be that genre and do one thing. … It was their idea of what I should be. I was like 12 or 13.”

She continues, “So I think secretly my entire life, the goal was to be able to create something that felt multi-genre but also so distinctly myself.” As a result, “Sonically, all the songs [on the album] are different, but the lyrical perspective is all Sabrina. It’s all me and it’s all stories in my life. That’s the throughline.”

So what does that mean in practice?

“If your favorite song is ‘Espresso,’ then you’ll have another song that you love [on the album],” Sabrina says. “And if your favorite song is ‘Please Please Please,’ you’ll have another song that you love.”

She jokes, “And if you hate both of those songs, then listen to a different album.”

Short n’ Sweet is Sabrina’s sixth release, but she’s aware many listeners are just discovering her now, which she doesn’t mind. As she says, “I’m grateful for the people for tuning in, whether it be 10 years ago, five years ago, yesterday or tomorrow, in two years. There’s definitely some people that are still not tuned in. I plan on tuning them in.”

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