Have you heard the Sabrina Carpenter song Espresso? Even if you don’t know it by name, you will have done. It’s honeyed but arch (“That’s that me, espresso”). Frothy, hooky, with a lyrical sting (“My ‘give a fucks’ are on vacation”). The coquettish hyper-real video has the US singer draped over speedboats and surfboards like a Superdry Bardot (glossy subterfuge; mainstream with a wink).
Carpenter was the opening act on the Australian leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, but her Espresso knocked Swift’s Fortnight off the top spot on Global Spotify and it has been streamed more than 434m times.
