Singular: Act II Review: Nine Songs, One Ambition

Sabrina Carpenter built her second album around a simple idea: pop music that sounds bigger than it is. The record is a set of nine songs, each one shorter than four minutes, built for radio play and big rooms alike. It is a pop record dressed up as a statement of intent, and it mostly delivers on both fronts.

In My Bed Opens the Record

The opener sets the tone fast. It is a song about moving forward while holding on to what came before, and it lands with a chorus that stays with you. It is not the best track here, but it does its job: it gets the album moving without asking too much of the listener.

Pushing 20 follows, a song about age and expectation. It is slighter than the opener, more of a sketch than a full argument, but it moves the record along without losing pace.

I Can’t Stop Me and I’m Fakin Carry the Middle

I Can’t Stop Me is where the record starts to find its footing. It is a song about self-control and desire, and it is one of the few tracks here that feels fully formed. It is the kind of song that could work on its own as a single, and it does not waste the opportunity.

I’m Fakin is a lighter, more playful turn, a song about performance and honesty that leans into the record’s central tension between the two. It is not as strong as the song before it, but it keeps the energy high.

Take Off All Your Cool is the record’s most playful moment, a song about letting go and starting over. It is the lightest track here, and it works as a palate cleanser before the album turns serious again.

Tell Em is the longest track on the record, and it earns that length. It is a song about confidence and control, and it builds to a chorus that feels earned rather than forced. It is the record’s best song, period.

Exhale is a quiet turn after the track before it, a song about release and peace. It is not a standout, but it does not need to be.

Take You Back and Looking at Me Close It Out

Take You Back closes the record with a song about regret and memory. It is a solid closer, but it does not quite match the ambition of the track before it.

Looking at Me ends the album on a note of self-reflection. It is a fitting close to a record about identity and image, and it leaves the listener with something to think about.

What Works and What Doesn’t

The record’s strengths are easy to identify:

Tell Em — the album’s best song, with a chorus that feels earned.
I Can’t Stop Me — a fully realized track that stands on its own.
In My Bed — a strong opener that sets the tone early.

The weaker moments are quieter, but they are real:

Pushing 20 — a sketch rather than a full song.
Take Off All Your Cool — a pleasant but slight interlude.
Exhale — a minor pause that does not add much.

Final Word

“Singular: Act II” is a confident, focused pop record that knows exactly what it wants to be. It is not a reinvention, but it is a step forward, and the step is visible in the writing and the production alike. The record’s best moments — Tell Em, I Can’t Stop Me, In My Bed — are as good as anything she has released, and they justify the whole project on their own.

The lesser tracks do not drag the record down; they simply do not reach the same heights. That is a fair trade for an album this short, and it leaves the record feeling tight and deliberate from start to finish.

This is a pop record with purpose, and it mostly succeeds at what it sets out to do. The album’s ambition shows through in the writing and in the production alike, and the best tracks stand on their own.

The recordSingular: Act II Sabrina Carpenter9 tracks · 29 min