Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste,” Explained

After ruling the airwaves all summer long with “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” Sabrina Carpenter is capping off the season — and satiating our thirst for more witty, sparkling pop — with her newly released sixth album, Short n’ Sweet.

Throughout its speedy 12-track duration, the 25-year-old wields confidence and authenticity like it’s a Marc Jacobs bag, honestly referencing A-list relationships past and present, and stretching the limits of innuendo. Having had “full creative control” over Short n’ Sweet and “being a full-fledged adult” during its recording process, Carpenter told Variety that the record feels like her “second ‘big girl’ album.”

This freshly honed artistic identity is front and center on the opening track and third single “Taste,” which arrived alongside a Dave Meyers-directed visual inspired by Death Becomes Her and co-starring Jenna Ortega on Aug. 23. Co-written by Carpenter, Julia Michaels, Amy Allen, John Ryan, and Ian Kirkpatrick, the deceptively sweet tune sets the tone for the record’s often sardonic and sensual point of view.

Don’t let its title fool you — “Taste” is not aimed at a lover but the other woman, aka his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Although the track seemingly finds Carpenter post-breakup, she can’t help but emphasize the impact she made on her ex during a short-lived fling. “Oh, I leave quite an impression / Five feet to be exact,” its opening line states before she makes her presence further known: “You’re wonderin’ why half his clothes went missin’ / My body’s where they’re at.”

In the breezy and addictive chorus, she sets her thesis: “I heard you’re back together and if that’s true / You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you.” Despite current standings, Carpenter explains that her time with this man and the feelings he harbored for her cannot be erased. In the second verse, she offers another piece of evidence: “He’s funny, now all his jokes hit different / Guess who he learned that from?”

Still, the bridge — delivered in a breathy stream of consciousness — hammers the point home. After decreeing that when this girl “feels his lips, you’re feelin’ mine,” Carpenter begins to lay down her weapons, resolving that “you can have him if you like.” But just when you think she’s done, the singer issues another thwack via an allusion to what might be the highly publicized 2020 love triangle between her, Olivia Rodrigo, and Joshua Bassett. “I know I’ve been known to share,” she sings with a wink.

But who is the man on the sidelines of “Taste?” The internet is speculating that Carpenter’s rumored relationship with Shawn Mendes might be the song’s inspiration. The two singers were spotted together multiple times in early 2023 before things quickly fizzled out.

It’s a strong theory, considering Carpenter recently told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that the album title wasn’t a reference to her “vertically challenged” height. “I thought about some of these relationships and how some of them were the shortest I’ve ever had, and they affected me the most,” she said. Short and sweet indeed.