Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso: The Summer Hit of 2024

Every year there is a big song of the summer. Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy) was that summer hit song, but Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso came with a late kick to challenge for that title. At over a billion listens, Espresso was a sleeper hit that has the right combination of pop and club that spells success for a summer track. So, as we move from summer to fall in the US, let’s take one last trip to the beach for some fun in the sun.

Musically, this track has everything you look for in a summer track. A fun 4/4 track with a mix of electro bongos, drums and thick syth lines. The track itself has a bit of a calypso vibe with some bouncy Miami percussion hits and funky bass lines. There is nothing here that revolutionises pop music, but it is a tried and true formula done well. You cannot help but groove to this track and picture yourself driving in the sun with your Corvette convertible.

Lyrically you are in basic pop territory about being free and having a night on the town looking for love. Moreover, vocally the track has all the rough edge’s of Carpenter’s vice smoothed to a glossy pop finish that is equal parts cotton candy sweet and unremarkable. You may be thinking “Wow Dave. With the last few sentences, why do you listen to this track so much?” The answer is easy, it is the catchiest hook on the planet. Listening to this hook is like when lab rats keep picking cocaine instead of food until they starve. As soon as this song finishes I want another sweet dopamine hit from that hook. Simply put, this track is a genius hook surrounded by pumping energy and an easily digestible vocal. These ingredients combine to make one hit track.

Carpenter’s Espresso does not tread new ground and does not have the depth or musical importance as Shaboozey’s fresh country shake-up Tipsy, but it is irresistible. This is the type of cotton candy track you can have on repeat as you belt out the hook in the sun. Sometimes, that’s all music has to do…something you can yell at the top of your lungs speeding down the highway with the wind in your hair as you smell the ocean.

Listen to Espresso