Sabrina Carpenter Says 'Emails I Can't Send' Will 'Forever' Mark a 'Pivotal Time' in Her Life

Emails I Can't Send is out now

Sabrina Carpenter Says Emails I Can’t Send Will ‘Forever’ Mark a ‘Pivotal Time’ in Her Life
Sabrina Carpenter . Photo: Alfredo Flores

After months of anticipation, Sabrina Carpenter is finally back and she's sharing a piece of herself with fans through her new record.

Speaking to PEOPLE about the release of her newest album, Emails I Can't Send, at the Samsung Summer of Galaxy concert on Saturday at NeueHouse in Los Angeles, Carpenter opens up about why she thinks this album in particular will always hold a special place in her heart.

"Anybody that grows up experiences their 20s and experiences how rough of a road that is," the "Skinny Dipping" singer, 23, tells PEOPLE. "But then adding what we've all dealt with in the last two years and then adding so many other things on top of that, for me personally it was a very, very pivotal time in my life."

Sabrina Carpenter Says Emails I Can’t Send Will ‘Forever’ Mark a ‘Pivotal Time’ in Her Life
Sabrina Carpenter. Alfredo Flores

She adds, "So the fact that this album is now forever going to really mark that time and [serve] almost as a diary of that time in my life — I'll never really be able to recreate and go back to that time. There's something nostalgic about it."

Emails I Can't Send, the 13-track album dropped on Friday and follows Carpenter's 2019 album Singular Act II. She released the first single titled "Skinny Dipping" in September and followed with her fan-favorites "Fast Times" and "Vicious."

Now that it's out, the Girl Meets World star says the creation process was "really special" because she was simply "writing letters" to herself the entire time. "I think the fact that it all came together is really, really surreal," she says.

Carpenter calls herself a "perfectionist" and says she took her time with the release because she wanted to make something she was "really proud of" — and she is. "I'm so happy that at the end of the day, I just make it for myself," she says. "Then, the fact that I've had fans that have been growing up with me and can now relate these stories to their lives. It's so special."

At the concert hosted by Samsung, Carpenter hand-selected a few songs from the album to sing live for the first time — along with some of her classics like "Sue Me." After saying goodbye to her fans at the event, she returned for an encore and concluded the night with an emotional performance of "Decode."

She had two drinks curated to match the theme of her songs and the event was decorated with red hearts everywhere. But her work with Samsung goes even further. Carpenter collaborated with the company to create the music video to her song "Because I Liked a Boy" — which is believed to be about her rumored love triangle with Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo — and she says it was "really special."

"That song just meant so much to me for a really long time," she says. "And I was always really, really delicate and careful with the way that I wanted to make the video. I could not have asked for a better team of people to just fully back me up and support my vision."

Fans began lining up for the concert at 7 a.m. and Carpenter says it "blows" her mind how "dedicated" they are. "I'm trying to even think if there was any artists that I camped out early for... you know, maybe the Jonas Brothers actually," she says. "I just think it's such a special relationship that you have, when they're that dedicated. I'm so lucky."

With that, she's now prepared to perform her new songs and "meet people all over the world."

"Then also just slay hot girl summer," she says jokingly. "I don't know why I said that. I'm definitely not having a hot girl summer. We're gonna be working. The hottest girls are working."

Emails I Can't Send is out now.

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