i truly think a lot of it has to do with being a child star and wanting to get away from the connotation that she still has to be “kid friendly.” when your most notable characters are kids, it sometimes gets hard for people to conceptualize that she is an adult now and can do adult things. i hope she’s navigating the industry well
I was working on an essay bcos SC is basically my special interest n I’ve watched all her music videos, but the progression has been very natural and clean. She started getting a little risqué in singular act 1, which released when she was 19. Moreso in act 2 (20). Nonsense was in emails I can’t send (23), as was Fast Times. Short n sweet was obviously her most explicit thus far, released when she was 25. Her on-stage presence has always been more sexual than her lyrics and music videos, to
the point that some people were upset with her performances of Alien when she was 18 (it was pretty chill, especially by today’s standards, but she hadn’t quite shucked the Disney expectations yet) It’s been a continuous crescendo for the past eight-ish years that, yes, has increased faster in the last two years but that’s also kinda just how marketing works. She’s said espresso was what she was trying to do w emails, which makes sense esp w nonsense lol