This album has a special place in my heart. This is Sabrina's debut album, which in my opinion has a unique sound that remains unmatched in all of Sabrina's future work. I go back and forth between this and Singular Act I being my second favorite Sabrina album, but lately I've been leaning towards this one being my second favorite. This album leans a bit more folkish than any of Sabrina's other albums, but I thought it worked great with her vocals and I would love to see her return to this sound.
Starting off with "Eyes Wide Open," the folks production of this song immediately sets the stage for the sound of this album. The song lyrically discusses keeping your "eyes wide open" to new possibilities and lessons in life. It also talks about coping with those life lessons, even when they are difficult. I love how the message of this song revolves around staying in the moment, and how it compares learning new things in life to "fulfilling a dream." There's one particular line in there, in which Sabrina sings "Everybody loves to tell me I was born an old soul / Better keep my eyes wide open / There's so much that I don't know." This really resonates with me, both because I consider myself an old soul and because even if we feel like we know a lot in life, there's always so much more that we could know. I feel it is important to keep our minds always open to new perspectives, even if it is sometimes hard to do so. Overall, the message of this song is so inspiring, and I feel it's one of Sabrina's most uplifting songs to date.
"Can't Blame a Girl for Trying" is far more upbeat and quirky than the last track, but the ukelele still fits quite well with the folkish tone of the album. It's a very cute song about how Sabrina feels awkward in life, and feeling like she doesn't know how to navigate love. However, nonetheless she persists and continues trying, acknowledging that she's not perfect while realizing that's okay. Sabrina wrote this song when she was 12 years old (with Meghan Trainor) as her debut single, so while it's not the most mature subject matter, it's still an absolute bop.
The next track, "The Middle of Starting Over," is also from that same early era and was Sabrina's second single. The song lyrically talks about letting go of all your troubles and starting over to be happy in life. "The middle" part of the title refers to the fact that life is not easy, and we are constantly learning and growing, so "starting over" is something that must be worked at. The background vocals work excellently in this song and I like the production.
"We'll Be the Stars" talks about a romantic relationship in which both people are unashamed to be themselves, using "star" and "space" related metaphors. The folk production of the song ties in really well with the rest of the album, and you can tell Sabrina is starting to grow into the artist she is now with this song. I've always considered this song sort of a bridge between Sabrina's earliest work and the more mature stuff on the debut album, as it does sort of feel cutesy like "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying" and "The Middle of Starting Over," but also a bit more mature like the rest of the album.
"Two Young Hearts" moves the album into a little bit of a countryish vibe. Even though I'm not a fan of country, I didn't necessarily find this to be a bad thing. The song talks about Sabrina being judged for having romantic feelings for someone, presumably by parents or someone older than her, because she is "too young." However, Sabrina fights back against this judgement, by arguing that only the two people in the relationship know what it feels like, and no one else can fully know the nature of a relationship unless they are in it. I love how Sabrina ends with the lyric "you're never too young," as it perfectly sums up the message of the song.
"Your Love's Like" moves into a more pop-rock sound (albeit a very light rock). This is personally one of my favorite songs on the album, mainly due to the incredible use of metaphor. The very specific descriptions and comparisons truly help you visualize what the concept of love feels like to Sabrina. This, along with her strong vocals and the upbeat production, make for a really enjoyable listen. The lyrics also flow very nicely, and I enjoy how she switches up the flow and the lyrics in the final chorus of the song. This is still one of my favorite Sabrina Carpenter songs to date.
"Too Young" isn't my favorite song, but I still enjoy it. This song felt very similar to "Two Young Hearts" to me, in the sense that it essentially has the same message of never being too young to fall in love. I liked how it felt like more of a ballad than "Two Young Hearts," but otherwise it felt very similar. Besides this, however, it is a very emotional song and definitely has gotten me to tear up a few times. I certainly don't mean to make this sound like it's a bad song, because it is quite enjoyable and the lyrics are very emotional, I just sort of wished she wouldn't have made the message so similar to "Two Young Hearts."
"Seamless" is a very adorable song about Sabrina's friendship with Rowan Blanchard, who was her co-star of Girl Meets World. I thought their friendship was quite cute, which makes it a little hard to listen to the song now that they don't seem to be friends anymore. In an interview with Rowan Blanchard about her show Snowpiercer, Rowan is asked if she keeps in touch with any of her Girl Meets World co-stars, to which she responds something like "A little" and shrugs. I find it a bit sad, since her and Sabrina used to be almost inseparable. Lyrically, the song discusses how a best friendship involves always being there for the other person, with all their quirks and flaws. The production of this song is adorable, and Sabrina's vocal delivery is superb.
"Right Now" tells us how we're missing the little joys in life when we're worrying too much about the future. This song pushes us to see that we don't need to hold our fears of the future so tight, because living in the present is the best gift we can give ourselves. One lyric specifically, "The present is our future past, we’ve gotta make this moment last," is one of my favorite Sabrina lyrics to date because of how inspiring it is. Through asking the listener questions in the verses, Sabrina pushes us to think deeper about our lives, which we often are not able to do with how fast-paced everything can be. All of this, on top of the excellent production, makes this one of my favorite songs on the album.
"Darling I'm a Mess" was written by Meghan Trainor, who was not famous at the time of writing the song, but has quickly risen to fame since. I wasn't a huge fan of this one. Sabrina sounds a bit immature in this, pining over a boy who does not have feelings for her. It's understandable at that age to get crushes, but the way it's sung about here makes Sabrina sound like (well, to use her words) "a mess," which I can't say I care for. While the production works very well and her vocals sound good, her desperate lyrics don't really work well for me in contrast to the empowering lyrics of the rest of the album. That's not to say it's a bad or non-empowering song, it's just not my cup of tea.
"White Flag" is a return to the empowering and uplifting lyrics. The song discusses taking your worst moments in life and trying to learn something from them, realizing that better days are coming and that hardship won't last forever. The production and lyrics both give off a very hopeful vibe. The echoing background vocals in the chorus provide an excellent contrast to the production. This song is the third of four tracks that are duplicates from Sabrina's first EP, which was released when she was 14 years old. This is one of the highlights of the album, in my opinion.
Finally, "Best Thing I Got" is a very uplifting song about Sabrina finding true love, and all the ways she is thankful for her lover. The upbeat vocals and production make this song a feel-good track, even if it is a very simple song. This is another one of Sabrina's earliest songs, released when she was 14.
The folk-pop inspired sound of this album makes this album truly stand out in Sabrina's discography, and has some of my favorite Sabrina songs to date. Although Sabrina seems to have completely moved away from this sound, I would enjoy if she went back to it someday, even if it was just for a song. The production of this album really accentuates her vocals, making for an excellent debut album.
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