thread of the inescapable Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter

xp with voodoo chilli, yes, exactly, bloghouse

ngl I like the robin thicke song more, lol

this was basically imported from kpop fandom and is now used routinely for artists with highly engaged online fandoms -- artists like nicki minaj, grande, swift.

Just a point of order, Grande doesn't do this(?) There were a few "Yes, And?" remixes, but remixes are nothing new...

i like "espresso" but i wish it reminded me of air france lol

I like "Espresso" fine but find it weirdly forgettable. As in, I literally have trouble remembering how it goes when I'm not listening to it

yes! this is weird isn't it? I've heard this song like 25 times and I could not tell you what the melody is. also I'm bothered immensely by the grammatical "that's that me" lyric. what?

this thing is probably some kind of brainwashing weapon

"the grammatically incoherent "that's that me" lyric" I meant.

Do people really find the phrase “that’s that ‘me’ espresso” incoherent? It makes perfect sense to me.

Took me a while to parse it, but once it clicked it clicked.

I’ve been listening to a fan extended edit, maybe it’s a tiny bit long? Or maybe it’s still too short…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrD1sI_5NyU

Do people really find the phrase “that’s that ‘me’ espresso” incoherent? It makes perfect sense to me.

I get it now, written out like that

i prefer my interpretation

the talk-like-a-pirate version: “that’s that, me espresso”

― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Tuesday, April 30, 2024 6:17 AM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's the second 'that' that (ha) makes no sense

or, at best, is incredibly awkward and difficult to parse

i was wondering why the production of her new one sounds so bad and hollow and ofc it's done by jack antonoff ;_;

I agree with the grammarian cited here: https://www.them.us/story/sabrina-carpenter-espresso-lyrics-analysis-meaning-explained

As Barg hears the chorus, “me” is the antecedent, and “espresso” is its appositive, as in “It’s-a me, Mario.” Under that interpretation, Carpenter isn’t claiming that some elixir known as “me espresso” is keeping her “honeybee” up at night, she’s saying that “me,” a person who could be known or described as “espresso,” is preventing the hapless horndog from getting any sleep. It’s a subtle but important distinction, and one that blows the case wide open.

Reminiscent of the controversy around “that demon life” from the Rolling Stones’ “Sway”

Hmm... I guess I disagree with the grammarian, this seems right to me:

My longtime personal theory has been that Carpenter is using “me espresso” as a purposely silly noun phrase, in which the pronoun “me” is repurposed as an adjective, as in, “You can’t sleep, and that’s because of a certain quality I possess called ‘me espresso.’” (This would not be totally unprecedented: my favorite spin instructor goes by the handle “Brittany Espresso,” and she’ll sometimes say things like, “Have another shot of Brittany espresso” in a motivational capacity during especially grueling climbs.)

Yeah I agree, contra the grammarian, that it’s a noun phrase. It’s analogous to “a case of you” from the Joni Mitchell song of that name.

(I think it would be very strange to refer to yourself as “that me”; as opposed to referring to a quality you possess as “that (me) espresso”)

xp this is such a bad explanation, is it a bit from them??

This is a pop song and we're worrying about grammar?

in this ever-changing ILM thread in which we post in?

I think the context for "that's that me" is like "that's that girl" combined with cute internet speak a la "it me!" Hence "that's that me." She could have just said something like, "yeah that's me, espresso" but it wouldn't be as goofy or memorable and we wouldn't be talking about it.

Alfred, we cannot forget from where it is that we come from

The fact that it's called "Espresso" and not "Me Espresso" makes me think that the grammarian's reading is more likely.

What will ultimately settle this will be the annoying adoption of "that's that me" as a catchphrase.

And it will seem unbelievable to us that it started here; like the thing going around now about Alanis Morissette supposedly inventing “friends with benefits.”

Gross, if true

lol I'd never thought about that but I guess it tracks. Hard to imagine she's the first one to say it, but the internet says there are no prior documented uses.

I don't know to what extent Hal Leonard-published sheet music can be counted on for an official representation of a song's lyrics, but fwiw:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/halleonard-pagepreviews/HL_DDS_2344737beMQal0HF6.png

"that's that 'me' espresso" has always made sense to me and i am impressed by both explanations in that them article seeming to get it wrong?

yeah way to make heavy weather of something that is very straightforward

yeah way to make heavy weather of something that is very straightforward

Clearly you have never really, really needed $100.

Completely baffled by the last two posts

"that's that 'me' espresso"

How is this different from the first explanation? (If there’s a 3rd interpretation, I want to hear it!)

It’s not, but ironically that article spends a lot of time describing the competing interpretations in the most unclear terms possible.

The article is kind of annoying, I just agree with the grammarian. Appositively.

I just wanted to note that it’s kind of funny that I haven’t gone out of my way to avoid this song or anything but I never heard of it before this thread declared it inescapable and I have yet to encounter it in any of the public spaces I inhabit that play music.

Oh lol, I hadn’t seen Whiney’s thread

I just wanted to note that it’s kind of funny that I haven’t gone out of my way to avoid this song or anything but I never heard of it before this thread declared it inescapable and I have yet to encounter it in any of the public spaces I inhabit that play music.

I'm thoroughly insulated; I would never have heard it without pulling it up on YouTube after reading an article about it on Slate. Then I did some research and learned that Sabrina Carpenter has five albums. I would have assumed this was her debut single.

This thread so far hasn't mentioned the little 6-note guitar figure in the pre-chorus, which a nice piece of Trevor Horn-ish cheeze and I think one of the song's key hooks.

Just saw that there's a new cabaret show called Broadway Loves Sabrina Carpenter featuring over 12 stars of Broadway performing her songs at the renowned venue 54 Below in Manhattan. Coming up in August.

To me, too she seems like some kind of stealth superstar.

Unfortunately her just-released new single “Please Please Please” (not a James Brown cover) is a bit “mid”, as the kids say. But it was cute seeing her with her real-life boyfriend in the video.

The lyrics to the new one are pretty funny

Yup and it’s very catchy/sweet. I like how it changes key as soon as the second verse : a rare pop trick iirc

the new one is just a bit too much self-aware wackiness for me, I can feel it trying to be a meme of itself

I still don't think I've knowingly heard this song. Not out of any staid principle or intentional avoidance, I just genuinely think it has escaped me thus far.

I wish "Please Please Please" had been a James Brown cover.

I've avoided the full song, too, somehow. But I have heard her do what I assume are the changeable last few lines a few dozen times ... at various concerts, on SNL, etc. (I'm online.)

It really rides off the feeling that it could have been a song in the Barbie movie