On My Mind (Sabrina Carpenter Album)

On My Mind is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter, released on July 17th 2020 under Starlight Records. Following a series of acting roles throughout her early career (2011-2018), Carpenter took a break from the industry before returning in 2020 with the intention to pursue a career in music. Immediately after signing a contract with Starlight Records, a division of Sony Music Group, in January of that year, she began work on what would become her debut album.

Originally compiling songs for an extended play she intended to release, Carpenter became unhappy with the sound and direction of the project. Instead, she opted to rework her ideas into what would become her debut studio album.

The album is deeply personal, with Carpenter delving into topics regarding mental health and her own experiences with anxiety and depression. She meshes these ideas with a combination of house and disco-influenced sounds to create a contrasting and purposefully disorienting project. Structured very deliberately, the record aims to take the listener on a journey, from the highs to the lows of Carpenter's own mental health experience.

The album was supported by multiple top 5 singles, including the number one hit Quiet Moment and title track On My Mind''. ''Critics praised Sabrina's vulnerable writing, noting that despite being unrefined in places, it was a testament to the young artist's potential. The production work on the album was highly applauded, being praised as some of the strongest pop production of the year. The album was nominated for two awards at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards: Top Album and Top Pop Album.

Commercially, the album was a massive success. With almost eight-hundred thousand copies sold in its first week of release, it marked one of the biggest opening weeks for a debut album in history. The album spent one week atop the Billboard Hot 200, with a further five in the Top 10, and was been certified triple-platinum in just six weeks.

Background and recording
When Sabrina Carpenter first signed with Starlight Records in January 2020, she began work on an extended play she had planned to release that year. While little is known about the project, Carpenter has stated that she was growing unhappy with the direction that it was heading. Her debut single, Don't Need You (No More), was originally planned to be the lead single of the project but later found it's way onto the album. Only two other tracks from the original EP have been released, being Desire and Out With You which were both released as album tracks exclusively on Encore.

The concept of the project began to shift and, throughout February and March, the extended play slowly developed into a fully-fledged album. Lyrically influenced by her own experiences with mental health, Carpenter worked on the album heavily while opening for Ariana Grande on the Liability Tour, continuing during the promotional campaign of the title track before completely wrapping up recording in May of that year.

Overview
The standard edition of On My Mind includes 13 tracks, with the deluxe edition of the album containing a further two tracks and thus bringing the total to 15. As mentioned previously, two tracks were also released exclusively on the popular streaming service Encore. The album packages it's primarily pop sound in a range of influences throughout, including dance-pop, disco, house, and electronic. Each element is used to heighten emotion at different points in the album, creating a flowing rollercoaster of emotions throughout.

Lyrically, the album is a deeply personal recollection of Carpenter's own experiences with mental health. Tackling topics such as anxiety, depression, and suicide, she takes down her barriers in an attempt to share her stories. The linear path of the album sees Carpenter's mental state at it's highest, slowly breaking down until it builds up again towards the end and finally hitting the final, ambiguous track. Carpenter spoke to Rolling Stone about the album, saying "Listening to the album now shows me this kind of watered-down version of some of my darkest times but it allows me to see the whole picture, the light at the end."

Songs
The record opens with its own title track, On My Mind, a simple love song about having someone who you can't stop thinking about. Sonically introducing the funk-inspired sound found in certain parts of the album, the track represents a state of bliss and stability before taking a turn for the worst in the next track. The promotional single Disaster is the first step into Carpenter's deeper consciousness as she details a vicious panic attack, clearly overwhelming her and she sings over a groovy bassline. Escape is a direct continuation of this, describing the sensation of feeling lost within your own body and trapped in your own thoughts.

Running Away features some of the album's darkest production, incorporating sleek house influences over it's commercial pop sound while lyrically expressing the desire to escape one's own consciousness and leave it behind. The record's biggest single, Quiet Moment with Ariana Grande, acts within the album as an infatuation of the ideas presented in the previous track. The catchy upbeat pop single sees the two begging for a simple moment of peace and silence. What Have I Done? acts as a bridge between its surrounding tracks. Still somewhat caught in this infatuation through the upbeat production, Carpenter slowly comes back to reality as the lyrics portray a sense of confusion and regret.

The album then moves on to it's critical highlight, Take Me Away, a deeply personal and perhaps the darkest track on the record, discussing Carpenter's experience with suicidal thoughts. The highly acclaimed track features some of her strongest writing coupled with an immaculate atmospheric productions. Carpenter to Rolling Stone on the track: "I mean, that song was written in one of the worst places of my life. As in curled up on the bathroom floor alone with a pen and paper, trembling so much I could barely write a word." No Colours In My Canvas is a dreamy pop track about loss of hope, and an inability to see any future for yourself. The dream-like production allows the song to follow up the dark anthem before it seamlessly. The Mariah Carey collaboration, Blinded By My Mind, is a powerful song that plays off it's predecessor in the sense that the lack of hope experienced is really the fault of your own mind not allowing you to think clearly. The house track takes elements from Carey's own album, Mirage, to create a stunning collaboration.

On My Mind starts to pick back up tonally around Spent It All On You. This disco infused pop track is the lift up of the album, where Carpenter is suddenly soaring above the things that once held her down in a witty, confident manner. This continues with the next track, a Katy Perry collaboration titled Focus On Me, that exudes a similar energy as the two express their intentions to focus their own lives rather than the lives of others. Don't Need You (No More), the first promotional single from the album, seems to be the conclusion of the album as Carpenter sings triumphantly about being free and letting go over a unabashedly pop sound.

Rollercoaster is the final track of the album's standard edition, and provides a swift turnaround in terms of narrative. The 2000s trance influenced track begins with a callback to the previous songs, before tackling the idea that Carpenter's rollercoaster with her emotions will never truly come to an end and she'll always be at risk of slipping back into that dark place. The two deluxe tracks don't contribute to the 'story' of the record, but still provide fresh looks into Carpenter's mental state. Dark Side Of The Moon is a track about feeling stuck on the wrong side of your mental state, unable to get better, while Silence acts as the antithesis to Quiet Moment, where Sabrina belts about her desire to fill the silence with any noise she can.

Release and promotion
For Carpenter's very first era, many were unsure how it would be handled. Especially with her label, Starlight Records, being freshly opened, a lack of industry experience was set to be a massive issue from the very start. However, with the smart tactic of releasing the album's first promotional single right off the bat, Starlight paved a way to test the waters with Carpenter before fully diving into the era. The album was heavily promoted through social media, in which Carpenter actively engaged with fans throughout the campaign, even netting her a Top Social Artist nomination at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards. Further promotion came in the form of an Animal Crossing Commercial campaign, consistent radio and television appearances and even a performance at the 2020 GRAMMYs Pre-Show where the album's official lead single, On My Mind, was announced. One of the biggest promotional tools of the era was Carpenter's partnership with major streaming service Encore. She released 2 tracks, 1 demo and an exclusive cover on the platform, as well as releasing the very first 'experience playlist' which featured clips of her discussing each track on the album at length. The partnership caused Carpenter's album to be heavily promoted in the platform's television commercials in it's first week. Carpenter and her team at Starlight Records worked together with Ariana Grande and her team at Republic Records to develop a campaign with electronics company BOSE in support of their collaboration, Quiet Moment. The single debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 before the campaign launched the following week at the 54th NFL Super Bowl, in the form of a headphone line titled Quiet Moment x BOSE, with commercials and billboards worldwide helping promote the release.

Carpenter's album promotion was supported by the No. 1 single as well as top-5 single On My Mind and two promotional singles (Don't Need You (No More) and Disaster). These, along with high profile appearances on television shows such as Saturday Night Live, Le Grand Journal, Rising Star Brazil, The X-Factor UK, The Voice AUS as well as a performance at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards, helped ensure the era's success.

Critical Reception
On My Mind received Universal Acclaim amongst two critics, scoring an 81/100 on Metacritic.

The album was praised for it's consistent theme and direction, with one reviewer stating that it "follows a concept flawlessly". It's production was also a talking point for critics, being described as "some of the most consistently solid production of any pop album recently".

However, the album did receive some negative feedback for it's lyrical performance, which was described as being "under polished" and "clunky", however still solid for Carpenter's first ever venture into music.

Commercial performance
On My Mind debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 with 777 thousand copies sold in it's first week, marking one of the biggest opening weeks for a debut album in history. Later peaking atop the chart, the album spent it's first six weeks in the top 5 of the Hot 200 and has been certified triple-platinum for selling over three million album equivalent units. It holds as one of the most streamed female debut albums of all time with nearly 700 million streams on Encore. The album spawned two official singles. The first of the two, On My Mind became Carpenter's first ever top 10 and later top 5 hit when it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in a row. Having sold over three million copies, the track was certified triple-platinum in July 2020. Quiet Moment ft. Ariana Grande served as the album's second single, launched on July 17th alongside the album release. The single debuted atop the Hot 100, making Carpenter the first artist in history to have a single debut atop the chart in her debut era. The track was also her first No. 1 on the Encore weekly charts, peaking with over 60 million

streams. Having spent it's first six weeks in the top 10, the single was certified quadruple-platinum for selling over four million copies.

The album also spawned two promotional singles, Don't Need You (No More) [February 2020] and Disaster [July 2020]. Both singles peaked in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, with Don't Need You (No More) going on to be certified gold, selling over 800 thousand copies in it's run.