Emails I Can't Send

In June 2019, while promoting her fourth studio album Singular: Act II, Carpenter revealed to Marie Claire magazine that she had begun work on a fifth studio album.[1] In 2020, she released the stand-alone single "Honeymoon Fades" and lent her vocals for the Clouds soundtrack.[4][5][6]

In January 2021, after four albums with Hollywood Records, it was reported that Carpenter had signed to Island Records.[7] She noted that it was "the perfect place for [her] to start the next chapter of [her] music career and evolution as an artist".[7] Her first release came at the end of the month with "Skin" which debuted at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first entry on the chart.[8]

In September that year, Carpenter reported to Teen Vogue that many of the album's songs were written from emails she wrote to herself, such as a song she had previously shared on August 7 with the description as "Intro", later revealed as the title track of the album.[9] She also revealed that she finished the album's recording in New York with Julia Michaels, JP Saxe, John Ryan and Leroy Clampitt, after she moved to Manhattan's Financial District in June of that year.[9]

Carpenter appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where she confirmed that the album would be dropped in 2022 and that the title was hidden in work released the year before.[10] The album's name clue was in the music video for "Skinny Dipping" in a shot where the name appears in a Scrabble game.[11]

The album was released on July 15, 2022.[9][12] On March 17, 2023, Carpenter released a deluxe edition of the album.[13]

Emails I Can't Send is primarily a pop album with elements of folk-pop,[2] dance-pop,[3] and storytelling.[14] The album also uses piano ballads and light-guitar instrumentals to showcase a sound where Carpenter benefited from less instrumentation.[2] Some critics found the album was reminiscent to Carpenter's previous albums but "with fresher feelings and a closeness to the audience that did not feel as airy-fairy as before".[15] The Strand Magazine writer Siraaj Khan agreed that the album differed from Carpenter's previous work which fell more into the contemporary R&B genre.[2] Variety writer Julia MacCary also found that the album marked a departure from Carpenter's "previous four pop-heavy albums, experimenting with new genres, slower songs and using personal emails for lyrics".[16] On the album, Carpenter noted:

For me, was really a time capsule of a special time in my life when I dealt with many things for the first time. I feel like I came out of that with a much greater perspective, and all these songs are based on real nights or experiences and reflecting and foreshadowing.[17]

The album was described as a "break-up album" and an "unapologetic collection of her inner thoughts, with a sense of heartache over unrequited love present throughout".[2] Julianna Rezza of The Mud Mag called the album a "compilation of delicately told stories and new sounds".[14]

The album begins with the title track intro which was inspired by a strained family relationship.[18] The song deals with "trust, disappointment and infidelity".[18] The end of the intro references the 1975 musical Chicago and smoothly transitions into "Vicious" which has a guitar-driven beat and ends in a "rock-esque vibe".[3] "Read Your Mind" was described as a dance-pop "jump-up-and-down and dance-through-the-house" song in which Carpenter sings about the lack of communication between her and a partner.[3] This is followed by "Tornado Warnings" which was described as a poem where Carpenter chooses to ignore her significant other's red flags.[19] Young Hollywood writer Skylar Zachian noted that "the lyrics reveal a perfect balance of literal and metaphorical storytelling to really get us thinking about the intricacies of relationships and decision-making".[3]

"Because I Liked a Boy" is about Carpenter's efforts to navigate public scrutiny.[19] "Introspective, ironic, and quick-witted lyrics" are used throughout the song.[20] Carpenter called the song "therapeutic" noting that the "song came from a really real place in [her] life".[21] This is followed by "Already Over" and "How Many Things" which marked the end of the record's first half.[19] The former was compared to Dolly Parton and Kacey Musgraves's work, with Carpenter singing about "the fragility of a relationship that should have ended long ago".[19] The opening line of "How Many Things": "You used a fork once / It turns out forks are fucking everywhere" sparked a Twitter meme among Carpenter's fans.[22]

"Bet U Wanna" has a "subdued but tense arrangement that complements its hushed vocals" and received comparisons to Carpenter's Singular era.[15][23] With "dreamy instrumentals and sultry vocals", the song was named a stand-out on the album.[3] This is followed by "Nonsense" who some felt it was Ariana Grande-inspired and "captures the feeling of liking someone so much that you completely lose your cool".[3] The song uses "sexual innuendos, catchy soundscapes, and raspy-to-silky smooth vocals that attest to the [Carpenter's] extreme versatility".[19] "Fast Times" is a "slinky bossa nova track" about being "impulsive and embracing the 'fast times and fast nights' of youth".[3][23] "Skinny Dipping" takes a "detour from the radio-friendly songwriting" and uses spoken words in its verses, with "resembles an awkward encounter with an ex-partner, which further adds to the project's conceptual undertone".[23] Carpenter's vocals were described as "ethereal" and used "jazzy instrumentals to add to the song's innocent, carefree feel".[3]

"Bad for Business" was described as "happy, romantic, and wistful" and embodies one of the most dangerous aspects of love: fixation.[23] The album ends with "Decode" which was described as a "sombre but hopeful conclusion" to the album where "Carpenter shines as a songwriter".[23] The song's heartwarming ambience is "produced by string instruments" and is about "overanalysing a relationship to the point where it's more detrimental than helpful".[3]

The deluxe version of the album opens with "Opposite" which sees Carpenter looking back on a relationship, "wondering if she was never her ex's ideal type in the first place".[17] This is followed by the up-beat "Feather" which was described as break-up anthem.[24] "Lonesome" is a Western-vibed song and was called "somber" and had "a kind of raw and stripped tune".[17] The deluxe version ends with "Things I Wish You Said" which ends on a "reflective and nostalgic note".[25]

"Skinny Dipping" was released as the album's lead single on September 9, 2021.[30] Carpenter performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[10] A music video was released upon the song's release and featured Carpenter writing letters to herself, putting them in a box labeled "this too shall pass" and after dancing barefoot in a green dress on the streets of New York, she throws the letters into the air.[31]

"Fast Times" was released as the album's second single on February 18, 2022.[32] It was released alongside a music video which acted a sequel to the video for "Skinny Dipping".[33] The video was inspired by Charlie's Angels.[33]

"Vicious" was released as the third single on July 1, 2022, along with the album's pre-order.[34] The song reached 26 in New Zealand.[35] Upon the album's release, Carpenter performed the song alongside others from the album at Samsung and Billboard's Summer of Galaxy annual event.[36]

"Because I Liked a Boy" was released as the fourth single on July 15, 2022, along with the album and its music video.[37] The video showcased Carpenter channeling "old Hollywood glamour aesthetic" and drew comparisons to Christina Aguilera's "Hurt" music video.[38] Carpenter performed the song on The Late Late Show with James Corden.[39]

"Nonsense" was released as the album's fifth single on November 14, 2022, alongside a music video.[40] Before its release, Carpenter performed the song on her Emails I Can't Send Tour with a new alternate ending of the song every night which went viral on TikTok.[16] The song received critical acclaim, reaching 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 32 on the UK Singles Chart.[41][42] Carpenter also performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.[43] A remix featuring Coi Leray was released alongside a sped-version and a Christmas remix.[44]