It’s been an awesome month to be Sabrina Carpenter. She won two Grammys, she was on the cover of Vogue, and now she gets to commit crimes with Dolly Parton. Carpenter released the deluxe version of Short n’ Sweet on Friday, which includes a new version of “Please Please Please” that’s been turned into a duet with Parton. Obviously, they needed to make a video, and I am pleased to report that the vibe is “Goodbye Earl” meets the “Telephone” video meets Thelma & Louise.
Parton’s influence on Short n’ Sweet is undeniable — especially on tracks like this one and “Slim Pickins” — so this just makes sense. What also makes sense is that the video, while not a direct sequel to the original “Please Please Please” visual, does sort of serve as a follow-up. In it, Carpenter and Parton are driving a pickup truck down some back roads, occasionally glancing at the truck bed. Most of the video is devoted to how sweet these two look together, but at the end we see that they’ve kidnapped a man and he’s writhing around in the back, tied up with a burlap sack over his head. Eagle-eyed viewers will note he’s dressed a lot like Barry Keoghan in the track’s original video. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t act like a stand-up guy.
This might be the closest thing we get to Carpenter going on the record about her breakup with Keoghan. Happy Valentine’s Day!