We have all vibed to Sabrina Carpenter’s songs at one time or another knowingly or not. The pinup pop star is everywhere. She’s even claimed Espressos. The Disney star we watched growing up to the glamorous pop star who stuns the stage at Coachella. Her fans see her as someone who sings for the female gaze and is a “girl’s girl.”
Sabrina’s recent album cover for Man’s Best Friend is making people redact their support. The controversy began when she dropped the cover shortly after her blockbuster album Short n’ Sweet, on June 11th, 2025. The cover immediately sparked outrage at the depicted image and began questioning the meaning behind it. Was it a total turnaround from her “man-hating”, “women for the win” image? Or was it a jab at the criticism she had been receiving for having a “hypersexualised” persona.
The album’s lead single, Manchild, was released on June 5th, 2025 with a music video following a day later. While the track immediately garnered popularity , it was the cover that people were unsure about. It displayed Carpenter on the floor having her hair pulled by what appears to be a man in a suit. Many found this to be degrading and a mockery of feminism.
Zara Cubic, someone who has Carpenter in all her Spotify albums, gave her opinions.
“ I guess it’s kinda sexualizing her and it seems like an album catered to men. It seems like she is glamorizing a woman bowing down for a man,” Cubic said. “Criticism followed the album cover drop with people quickly jumping to conclusions and spreading hate online to “cancel” the singer.”
On the other hand, people are coming to her support and recognizing the supposed underlying meaning of the cover. They say her intentions were not to encourage women to be dogs, but to make the image ironic, mocking the concept that women are supposed to be beneath men. It attempts to challenge people who criticizes her for her sexually explicit lyrics but never have something to say when men who rap say outrageous things about women. Hypocrites who shame sexually expressive women.
However, there is a third side to this conversation. The one that says “so what!” The side that doesn’t seem to care if the image is literal and believes that women should not be so heavily criticized. They believe women are free to express themselves and the album may not be for everybody.
Carpenter is known for her sweet and bubbly pop songs, which definitely aren’t always layered or considered “deep.” Their purpose is to be catchy, not to send a message. This is reinforced with the amount of misconceptions regarding the cover and people just not understanding the meaning. People could not grasp the context behind it.
However, it seems like the album cover did its job, which was to spark commentary, because whether or not people like it, the album drop will be talked about by all sides. Overall, it is meant to confront the rise of the ideals of “conservative” and “modest” women. Ironically, a woman on her knees for her male partner is a depiction of exactly those ideals. The album drops August 29th,2025 and if the debate keeps on, it will be a hit.
