You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe.

I have a niece who's nine, and she told me the other day that she loves Please, Please, by Sabrina Carpenter, but she knows that, quote, has a bad word in it.

And the following conversation, talking about that song, also has bad words in it.

So, Asha and everyone else, just a heads up, this episode contains explicit language.

Before the day that you all started working on this song, was there a thought or an idea that was in your

mind before you ever got to the songwriting stage?

I think it was just such a specific thing that I was going through, just like feeling

like as a young woman one day you can be so confident and detached and the next day,

you're, for lack of a better term, a desperate ho.

And it was something that was making us laugh.

And I feel like this song was the perfect way to kind of just lay it all out on the table

and also talk about something so openly that maybe we're normally just afraid of saying,

which is like sometimes you're just embarrassed by men.

Sabrina Carpenter is a singer, songwriter, and actress.

She had a huge year with her album, Short and Sweet,

which came out in August 2024.

It debuted at number one and went platinum within a month.

At the upcoming Grammys, she's nominated for Song of the Year,

record of the year, album of the year, Album of the Year, and more.

One of her big hits is Please, Please, Please, Please, which she wrote with Amy Allen and producer Jack Antonoff.

He's won the Grammy for Producer of the Year for the last three years in a row.

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