If you would have told me even a year ago that Sabrina would have four simultaneously charting hits on pop radio, multiple chart-topping Billboard singles, and one of the biggest number 1 albums of the year, I honestly would have thought you were joking. Sabrina becoming one of the biggest stars in the world was not on my bingo card at all, but losing interest in her at the peak of her career was something I expected even less.
I wanted to write this blog post mainly for myself as a way to document my thoughts, but others who previously frequented the blog are also welcome to read this. I don't plan to update the site or blog any further after this, but this seemed like the most logical place to write this up, and also gives me a place to link people to should they want to know my full thoughts on why I am no longer a fan of Sabrina. Given I was a previous super fan of her for seven years, it's been a rather strange dichotomy to have the world be completely obsessed with her just as I've lost interest. It's felt especially odd because in some ways, she almost feels like a different artist than the one I once admired.
I was a fan of Sabrina since around 2016, when she first put out EVOLution and achieved radio success. "Thumbs" and "Space" were the songs that reeled me in and made me a fan, but I remember becoming even more interested in her during the Singular era. I was obsessed with her music, and loved her down-to-Earth, spunky personality. The only real time my interest waned was when she released "Skin" in January 2021, a scathing diss track against Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License." At the time, I was quite angry and couldn't believe she would attack Olivia like that, when if anything, all the "Drivers License" lyric said is that she was insecure about how perfect she perceived Sabrina to be. Looking back three years later, I can appreciate that she was likely scared and reacted too fast, but I still feel it was shitty of her to intentionally try to profit off a drama that likely would have gone away in a few weeks had she just ignored it. That said, I hate the toxic "you're either obsessed with them or you hate them!" narrative that stan culture often pushes, because I absolutely believe it's possible that you can stan somebody and not agree with everything they do. I forgave her within a couple months, and resumed being as much of a fan as I ever was. I proceeded to really enjoy the Emails I Can't Send era, especially "Fast Times" and "Read Your Mind." The era did a great job creating a more mature, polished image for her, and I really liked the idea of a concept album about late night thoughts you might have about somebody no longer in your life.
In the past year or so, I realized I was felt myself losing the passion I once felt for her. A big part of that is I haven't really loved the musical direction she's gone in. The acoustic ballads were fun for the concept of Emails I Can't Send, but I don't really feel it's where she shines, and a lot of them begin sounding the same after a while. I also loved her higher vocal range on EVOLution and Singular Act I and II, but it feels like she's made her vocals a lot more breathy and unstructured, which for the most part, isn't something I enjoy. The vocal direction of "Please Please Please" in particular sounds whiney and overwrought at parts. Honestly, I really dislike the song and don't understand its appeal.
I'm also admittedly not the biggest fan of how her image has evolved. Oddly, I've seen literally no one talk about it, but her personality is wildly different than it used to be. (I assume the lack of dialogue may come from nobody previously paying enough attention to get a sense of her personality, or people believe she was just like that because of Disney) I feel there was a charismatic warmth to her that has really been missing in her personality recently, and it's something I really miss about her old image. Her chill, down-to-Earth energy was really cool and refreshing, but her recent messier, dramatic personality has felt unappealing to me. This is just a me thing, but I've never found drama to be super appealing. There are artists with a "dramatic" image that I enjoy, such as Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, because I feel there is a vibe of playfulness and whimsy embedded within the dramatic lyrics. To me, Sabrina's dramatic personality doesn't have that same charisma, and feels overly catty and even hostile at times. Her personality feels much more cold than she used to, which has also been a turn-off. The personality change could be chalked up to being a Disney thing, but the previous version of her felt much more authentic and likeable to me.
One of the things I enjoyed about her post-Disney work was how it matured her image, and in my opinion, began slowly evolving her past the basic Disney pop girl archetype. I include Singular Act I and II in this, despite that public consciousness seems to have lumped it in with her Disney days, even though she finished acting for Disney in 2017. Stuff like "Hold Tight,""I Can't Stop Me," "Take Off All Your Cool," and "Honeymoon Fades" presented a much more sensual side to Sabrina, and it was done in a way that felt like a natural evolution of her artistry. Similarly, I loved how Emails I Can't Send evolved that image even more, through tackling more sexual themes in several of the tracks in a way that felt authentic.
I think it totally makes sense to continue evolving her image through being more open and empowered about her sexuality. I haven't minded seeing her lyrics delve into more sexual themes, and my feelings don't come from a place of prudishness, but the way in which she's gone about it in her recent era often has felt forced to me. I really liked her quirkiness and unique songwriting style, but I feel a lot of that has been lost and plastered over with sex in her recent work. While "quirky" may not be seen as a mature quality, I felt like she was able to embody it quite well in Emails I Can't Send in a way that didn't feel immature or Disney-ish ("You used a fork once, and forks are fucking everywhere!" from "How Many Things," and "I said I wanted Thin Mints, and you said you knew a guy" from "Because I Liked a Boy" come to mind). It would feel much more natural imo if there were more of a balance between elements of her old quirkier tone and the new sexier image, rather than one cancelling out the other. The way she has gone about implementing a more sexual image feels manufactured to me, rather than a gradual evolution and maturation of her artistry.
There have also been a few times where the sexual stuff pushes towards being uncomfortable. One example of this is a t-shirt that was released with Emails I Can't Send featuring one of the lyrics from "Because I Liked a Boy." The t-shirt had the lyric "I'm a homewrecker" printed on it, with "homewrecker" placed directly above the area where boobs would be positioned. (I presume the imagery was meant to imply "the size of my boobs will make you want to cheat with me") "Homewrecker" isn't really a word that can be reclaimed to be empowering like "slut" or "bitch" (nor should it be). In the modern day, I feel there are so many empowering ways to represent women as in charge of their sexuality. "Edgy" gimmicks to shock people with morally questionable things like that feel cheap and sleazy rather than empowering imo. Not that it's a particularly big factor, as not vibing with her personality and musical direction is the main reason I lost interest, but seeing her pivot towards stuff like that is something that has bothered me a little bit.
Despite all my feelings on her new musical direction and image, none of what I said is intended as objective criticisms of her, or how she has chosen to change as an artist. Similarly, this post is also not meant to come off as saying that I think her new image is bad. Put simply: it's just not really my vibe. As cheesy as it may sound, she was a celebrity I really admired, but most of the things I loved about her aren't really a part of her personality anymore. That said, I recognize a lot of these feelings are likely my own bias from having admired a very different version of her so much.
It's wonderful that she finally has seen all the success that she had been working for all of these years. I still fondly remember all the years I stanned her, and really enjoyed the couple of years of running this site and writing articles for it. Since this will be my final post on this blog, I want to end with a big thank you to everyone who read this blog. I am happy that she finally found her audience, and despite that I no longer consider myself a fan, I hope her career is every bit as happy and fulfilling as she dreamed it would be.
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