Sabrina Carpenter Has Transformed Language as We Know It
How gamer anthem, "Espresso," is shaping the future
There is a niche podcast called Dynamic Banter where two horn born honk leel boys talk like this about piss and cum. In an episode around the release of Disney’s Frozen, Steve Zaragoza, one of the two hosts, remarks he dislikes “For the First Time In Forever” because the title of the song was improper grammar (it isn’t) and it’s teaching kids the wrong way to speak. This is a hilarious bit coming from the podcast that often punctuates regular statements with a sound clip from John Travolta’s infamous Oscar bungle, calling Idina Menzel “Adelle Dazeem,” shortened simply to “-dazeem” followed by thunderous applause.
The earlier “horn honk leel boys” reference is just one of numerous ways the Dynamic Banter podcast has taken and morphed language in incredible ways. The podcast itself is pure joy. Perhaps the most genuine and hilarious “two guys talking” podcast out there. Listen for any length of time and you, too will be repeating some of the ridiculous things Zaragoza and co host Mike Falzone say, as they smash, knead, and mold the English language in exciting, but always recognizable ways.
I found myself thinking about Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” today after the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2. I’ve only really known it as the song with the Nintendo Switch reference but upon listening to the lyrics more, I found Carpenter does the exact same thing with language that Dynamic Banter does.
“Too bad your ex don’t do it for ya
Walked in and dream-came-trued it for ya
Soft skin and I perfumed it for ya
I know I Mountain Dew it for ya”
A lot to go over here. First of all it needs to be said that a song that references both the Nintendo Switch and Mountain Dew is for the gamers.
Turning “dream-came-true” into a verb is truly inspired and she creates a similar verb a couple of lines after, “One touch and I brand-newed it for ya.” The repetition of the technique solidifies that the song, riddled with that same language-morphing as I described from Dynamic Banter, is an intentional and important literary element. It drives home Sabrina Carpenter’s agency as the actor. Your dreams didn’t simply come true, these acts aren’t simply brand new. She made them that way.
Ignoring this would be to misunderstand the song entirely, which is why I think grammarian Jeffrey Barg got it so wrong when asked about the song’s most controversial lyric.
“Say you can’t sleep, baby, I know
That’s that me espresso”
The titular, “that’s that me espresso,” has supposedly sent listeners into a frenzy regarding the placement of a comma which different camps believe is or is not present. I hardly see how it would matter. Our grammarian, in conversation with Samantha Allen for Them.us, likens it (presumably for the gamers, who this song was written for) to how Mario says “It’s-a me, Mario!”
I don’t think you have to be a grammarian to understand this is wrong. In fact, you might have to not be one to know it’s wrong. Sabrina Carpenter is not operating within the known bounds of the English language. The song itself teaches you how to listen to it with several examples of grammatical rule-stretching in a way only those most adept at language can.
So when Carpenter sings, “that’s that me espresso,” we know she isn’t saying it like Mario. She’s not addressing herself. She is the type of espresso. She is simultaneously comparing the espresso to herself while also embodying the espresso.
“That’s that good shit,” I will often say when my wife and I have sprung for the local Mexican restaurant as opposed to Chipotle. There is an implication of other types, but this one is the good one. The shit is good and also perhaps made of good.
I imagine most Sabrina Carpenter fans have intuited this meaning already which, admittedly, doesn't translate well when trying to explain it. It is something most listeners just know. And while I’m often inspired by the great writers of history to craft beautiful prose or create a perfectly worded critique, it is the two horn honk born boys and the dream-come-truing women, unhindered by grammatical constraints who truly push language forward.
Man, I can only dream of making my writing that delicious. There's competence and then there's this... 👏