"Taste" is a song by American singer Sabrina Carpenter from her sixth studio album, Short n' Sweet (2024). It was released through Island Records on August 23, 2024, as the third single from the album. Carpenter wrote it with songwriters Julia Michaels and Amy Allen and its producers John Ryan and Ian Kirkpatrick, with Julian Bunetta also contributing to production. Musically, "Taste" has been labeled as a combination of various pop and rock subgenres.
In January 2021, Sabrina Carpenter signed a recording contract with Island Records.[1][2] She announced that she was working on her sixth studio album in March 2024, exploring new genres and expecting that it would herald a new chapter in her life.[3][4] In anticipation of her performance at Coachella, Carpenter announced that a single called "Espresso" would be released on April 11, 2024.[5] The song was a surprise success, becoming her first number one single on the Billboard Global 200 chart and her first song to enter the top five on the Billboard Hot 100.[6][7] She followed this with "Please Please Please" on June 6, 2024, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[8]
Preceding an official announcement, billboards bearing tweets about Carpenter's height began appearing throughout New York City.[9] On June 3, 2024, she announced that the album, titled Short n' Sweet, would be released by Island Records on August 23, 2024, and revealed its cover artwork.[10] The tracklist was revealed on July 9, 2024.[11]
Carpenter wrote the song "Taste" with songwriters Julia Michaels and Amy Allen and its producers John Ryan and Ian Kirkpatrick, with Julian Bunetta also contributing to production.[12] The song served as a single alongside the album's release.[13] According to Paper's Erica Campbell, it features Carpenter candidly addressing the complexities of relationship issues with the lyrics: "I've been known to share. You'll just have to taste me when he's kissing you". When asked about the song's bold topic in the interview, Carpenter said, "I will write any song. It doesn't mean I'll put it out, but I'll write it. I think the series of unfortunate events I've encountered in relationships are no secret to people who know me or think they know me."[14]
This song is composed in the key of E♭ major, with a tempo of approximately 113 beats per minute (BPM).[26]
Critical reception
Lipshutz believed that being a "deliriously likable potpourri of pop styles", "Taste" deserved to be chosen as the album's third single. He went on to describe the song as an "electrifying anthem" whose breakdown was perfectly designed for Carpenter to perform on an arena tour.[16] Including it in The New York Times's list of the most notable tracks of its release week, Zoladz shared a similar opinion and believed it continued the "winning streak" established by its preceding singles.[25] Tom Breihan of Stereogum felt that "Taste" was "about to be another hit".[27]
Commercial performance
"Taste" debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 issued for September 7, 2024. The song was joined by "Please Please Please" at number three and "Espresso" at number four, making Carpenter the only act other than the Beatles to chart their first three top five hits in the region during the same week.[28] The song charted at number two on the Billboard Global 200.[29] In Canada, "Taste" entered at number four on the Canadian Hot 100 issued for the same date.[30]
In the United Kingdom, "Taste" debuted as Carpenter's third number one on the UK Singles Chart, with "Please Please Please" and "Espresso" appearing at numbers two and three respectively, during the same chart week. This made her the first female and third overall artist to earn Britain's number one album and single simultaneously while also occupying the single chart's top three.[31][32] All three songs held their positions the following week, making Carpenter the only act other than Ed Sheeran to occupy the top three for two consecutive weeks.[33]
In Australia, "Taste" entered at number one, followed by "Please Please Please" and "Espresso" as Carpenter occupied the entire top three.[34] In New Zealand, "Taste" debuted at number two on the New Zealand Singles Chart.[35] It also reached the top fifteen on national record charts at number one in Ireland,[36] number two in Norway,[37] number three in The Netherlands, number four in Singapore,[38] number five in Malaysia,[39] number eight in South Africa,[40] number nine in Sweden,[41][42] number eleven in Denmark,[43] and number twelve in Latvia.[44]
Music video
The music video features appearances from American actress Jenna Ortega (left) and Canadian actor Rohan Campbell (right).
Dave Meyers directed the music video, which features Jenna Ortega and Rohan Campbell. In a teaser that Carpenter posted online, she picks up a knife from a bed filled with weapons and walks into a house. She heads upstairs, where she finds Ortega in the shower with Campbell. Carpenter pulls back the shower curtain and goes to stab Ortega, who is visibly terrified. The screen cuts to black and Carpenter uses the knife as a mirror to fix her lipstick while singing, "Oh, I leave quite an impression."[13][45]
The music video displayed various instances of graphic violence, seen here as Carpenter is impaled by the fence after falling off the balcony after getting shot by Ortega, several critics compared the scene to the 2000 horror film Ginger Snaps.
The video starts with Carpenter singing a lullaby, preparing to kill her currently asleep target. She then breaks into the house of her ex-boyfriend (Campbell), planning to attack his new girlfriend (Ortega) with a machete. Ortega sets up a decoy in a bed and ambushes Carpenter, shooting her out of a window, where she is impaled on a fence. Carpenter then throws a knife at Ortega, which stabs her in the eye. This kicks off a gory battle between the two, featuring hospital defibrillators as weapons, voodoo dolls, and Ortega severing Carpenter's arm after the latter catches her in the shower with her boyfriend. Near the end of the video, while Ortega is kissing her boyfriend, the camera rotates around them and she finds herself hallucinating herself kissing Carpenter. Horrified, she promptly lashes out with her chainsaw, only to accidentally kill the boyfriend, failing to realize her mistake until Carpenter rushes out to watch him drown in the pool. At his funeral, the two women agree they are better off as friends than as rivals, and humorously discuss how insecure the victim was.[47]
Live performance
Carpenter performed a medley of "Taste", "Please Please Please", and "Espresso" at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on September 11, 2024.[48][49] The performance began with an audio sample of Britney Spears's song "Oops!... I Did It Again" (2000).[50][51] Perched on a massive diamond suspended high above the stage, Carpenter began performing "Please Please Please"[52] as silver confetti cascaded around her. She touched down on a futuristic set where an astronaut and a blue-skinned alien performed a dance to "Taste". The provocative choreography included a moment where the alien playfully lifted a leg onto the astronaut's shoulder before Carpenter took centre-stage, pulling the astronaut aside and kissing the female alien. Stripping off the high collar of her silver-studded outfit, Carpenter strode down the catwalk while singing "Espresso", surrounded by helmeted dancers performing space-themed routines under neon signs and visuals of a giant Moon Person extending into the crowd. The performance concluded with Carpenter reclining into a group of dancers, inspired by Marilyn Monroe.[53][54][55][56]Entertainment Weekly's Lester Fabian Brathwaite and Vogue's Hannah Jackson thought Carpenter channeled Spears, Monroe, and Madonna on the Blond Ambition World Tour.[57][58] The song has also been included as the opening of Carpenter's sixth headlining tour, the Short n' Sweet Tour (2024–2025).[59]
Sabalicious Songs (BMI) administered by Songs Of Universal, Inc., Music of Big Family/Don Wyan Music (BMI), administered by Hipgnosis Songs Group, Good Deal Publishing (BMI), administered by Songs of Universal, Inc., Kenny + Betty Tunes (ASCAP) administered by WC Music Corp., Buckley Tenenbaum Publishing (BMI) and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)
↑ Zoladz, Lindsay (November 19, 2024). "A Bizarre Love Triangle Playlist". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 3, 2025. Retrieved February 13, 2025. The most successful is 'Taste,' a sassy, innuendo-stuffed pop-country smash by one of the year's breakout stars, Sabrina Carpenter.
↑ Pareles, Jon (August 26, 2024). "Sabrina Carpenter Is Gloriously Sly and Merciless". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved January 10, 2025. It's an indie-rocker with chugging electric-guitar chords, and instead of attacking the guy, it taunts her rival: 'You'll just have to taste me when he's kissing you.'
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 45. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 36. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
↑ "Top Singles (Week 35, 2024)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on September 2, 2024. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 6. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 7. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
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