Sabrina Carpenter’s new album, Man’s Best Friend, comes out in August. She’s not letting any grass grow under her feet – her last album, Short n’ Sweet, came out LAST August. We’ve gotten so used to artists dropping albums once every two or three years and milking every last single they can from the album, so it’s pretty unique that Sabrina is just keeping it moving. That seems to be her motto in general though – people are regularly complaining about various aspects of Sabrina’s life, stage persona, music, etc. She rarely responds, and on the rare occasions when she does respond, it’s usually something sassy, said with a wink or an eyeroll.
Well, two weeks ago, Sabrina released the album cover for Man’s Best Friend. It showed her on her knees, with a man grabbing a fistful of her hair. There was a week-long discourse about that image and what it said about feminism in general, Sabrina’s performative submissiveness, whether this is a bad message for the children, all of it. Sabrina didn’t really say or do anything about the discourse as it was happening. But it looks like she’s now offering an alternative album cover! She posted the new covers on her social media with the message: “i signed some copies of Man’s Best Friend for you guys & here is a new alternate cover approved by God, available now on my website.”
Soooo, yeah, she saw all the conversation and she thinks y’all are dorks! “Approved by God” is so funny. Call me crazy, but the first cover is much more striking? The alternate cover is just… blah.
Album covers courtesy of Sabrina’s IG, additional photo courtesy of Cover Images.
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- 2025 Met Gala celebrating ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ at Metropolitan Museum of Art Featuring: Sabrina Carpenter Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 05 May 2025 Credit: Matt Crossick/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I really enjoy Sabrina. Her music is very clever and cheeky — she’s kind of an amalgam of Kasey Musgraves, Taylor Swift, and Ariana Grande and it just works for me. It’s pretty unabashedly feminist too, IMO. Her latest song, Man Child, is really funny and incredibly relatable… The story of my life all through college! I just couldn’t resist a f*ck boy.
I find the first cover kinda bland and dumb (if you are going to go for it, do it right) and the second is pretty but boring. She missed an opportunity here. I love album art and there have been some amazing works of art on albums. Expected more.
Eh. I have a lot of different feelings about the first cover but I don’t feel particularly passionate about any of them. On one hand, as an artist she should have permission to be provocative in whichever way she chooses and our society’s obsession with endlessly policing women’s behavior and projecting our personal moral ideals is tiresome. Her form of sexuality is ultimately whatever she feels comfortable with.
On the other hand, given the moment that we’re in as women–the fact that our rights are under assault, the rise in misogyny in young men because of the manosphere and incel-oriented online platforms, the normalization and radicalization that’s occurring as online communities encourage and celebrate gender-based violence….IDK. It’s just a very dark time to be a woman.
So while I recognize that it’s prob unfair to put all of that heavy shit on Sabrina, I also sympathize with the notion that at this moment in time, a cover that depicts female empowerment and even dominance would be more inspiring. IMO it would hit the right note given what men are currently doing to us.
Wow, yes to all of this. Like, none of what is going on nationally and globally is her fault or her problem really, it would just have been nice to see her take a different angle. I’m not mad, but I am kind of sad and disappointed.
Right. In normal times the cover probably wouldn’t be a big deal but given the fact that men in her generation are overwhelmingly responsible for disseminating misogynistic content online, it’s giving Pick Me.
And I don’t think that’s what she intended–she probably wanted Sexy/Edgy–unfortunately, the vibe doesn’t match the sociopolitical moment we are living in.
You nailed it. That is what made me uncomfortable with the cover. I mean let her do what she wants, and if this cover had come out 15 years ago, it wouldn’t have been a big deal….but now women in the US are under the very real threat of losing our rights and being subjugated by incels….and this cover sort of shows what they want which is terrifying.
Again, not shaming anyone’s sexual preference, but this cover hits different in 2025.
I agree. It also tries to convey the message that our power resides solely in our sexuality. And our sexuality is consistently weaponised to punish, subjugate, and set us back.
She’s still quite young, so hopefully she will see things from a different perspective in the years to come, and not in extremes (sexual vs prudish)
There’s a “leave room for Jesus” joke to be made here, I just know it.
Honestly, compared to some metal albums this isn’t even anything. Man, we really are going back to the puritan era.
It is so f*cking weird people are trying to sum up the reaction as youth being “prudes”. Artists make their art within the times they are living. Putting a woman on her knees in front of a man pulling her hair (not in some sexy way) on an album cover is very tone deaf in Trump years. Like I said before, Katy Perry was cute until she wasn’t with this schtick too. This one, I saw, is inspired by a photo of Marilyn Monroe, which is fine, but at some point, she will need to get some originality. You can’t use Lolita, Marilyn Monroe forever. I actually liked her image before she adopted all this decided-by-old-white-men image, but I know, this one sells better.
Yep! I responded to another comment saying the same before I read yours. This cover hits the gut in 2025….in a way it never would have in say 2010.
People are really acting like we are clutching our pearls. Megan Thee Stallion is half naked most of the time. We are all fans of her. She looks strong and queen-like. We aren’t afraid of sex or sexy image.
Not all of the criticism came from a prudish or misogynistic place, but some of it definitely did, and I noticed that some of the same people who were up in arms about Sabrina Carpenter (not just that cover, but the fact that she dares to put out a sexual, hyperfeminine image period) have leveraged similar attacks on Beyonce, Cardi B, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, and others. This sort of criticism has become a boy who cried wolf situation. When every situation where a woman brings sexuality into her art is met with, “This is degrading, she’s a ****, young girls will be ruined by her, this sets women and feminism back, men will abuse women because of what she did,” it has a way of ruining any criticism and making it just look like garden variety respectability politics.
A lot of the discourse around it on SM came across as slut shamming. It was hard to read.
She’s a firecracker, I wasn’t personally offended by her first cover. But we are in strange times that an administration. Would love nothing more than to enslave women and their reproductive bodies. So you never want to give a false impression she is endorsing submission or subjugation by men. We don’t need to give incels any more bright ideas.
100% agree with @Kitten. If the roles were reversed I think it would have been more powerful. Throw a leash on the dude and walk him like a dog I say.
100%!!!!!!
I think it would have been way more clever if the roles were reversed.
Her cover is putting her into the role of “man’s best friend” (i.e., a dog). Whereas, if she was putting the man into the expected “man’s best friend” role, with her as dominant, it would have been artistic to me.
I agree with those who stated it was tone deaf in the current socio-political climate but, at the same time, i also think the “offensive” cover is just plain boring.
“approved by god” lolol love it. She cracks me up.
I took the first cover kind of a nod to late 70s early/80s album covers. Kind of cheeky/naughty.
It’s unfortunate that there was any controversy to start with. I’d disagree with anybody wanting Sabrina to look dominant – Sabrina IS in control already and she’s taking it to the bank. It’s always frustrating to me when people simplify art to one message or another, good art contains multitudes.
If anyone wants to clutch pearls, look at the history of art. Or in album history look at Blind Faith 1969 which had a Pre Raphaelite-looking 11 yr old topless girl holding a silver airplane (it’s a great album). Let women’s art be just as suggestive as the men’s.
I’d argue that the most effective art captures a moment in time. It doesn’t have to be political, but it should convey a message. It doesn’t have to be provocative, but it does have to be memorable.
Beyonce’s Lemonade, Aretha Franklin’s Young, Gifted and Black, Carole King’s Tapestry…all are evocative images that capture a movement and a moment. All project female power and strength and none feel exploitative. Sabrina’s original cover just feels cheap and uninspired by comparison.
TBH, she deserves better.
I thought the first cover was funny – like on the outside men think she’s their “best friend,” but when you go inside and listen to Manchild, she thinks men are babies looking for a mommy.