Sabrina Carpenter’s album rollout has gotten off to a controversial start — and people haven’t been afraid to let her know it.
On Wednesday (June 11), the 26-year-old Grammy winner confirmed the release of Man’s Best Friend, the much-anticipated follow-up to her 2024 project, Short n’ Sweet.
Sharing the apparent album cover, one slide showed a dog wearing a tag with the LP’s title, while the other depicted Sabrina kneeling in a dog-like pose before a man who was pulling her hair. The latter image caused quite a stir, with some criticizing the art as sexist, demeaning, and “regressive.”
“Love Sabrina – but this picture – why is the man in there like that?” one Instagram user wrote. “It’s not a very empowering image for women. I think it’s a mistake since most her fans are women and as a dv survivor I find it uncomfortable and I’d rather see her empowered than like that. Idk I dont wanna be negative, I’m sorry, maybe it’s just me.”
“This cover art is so disgusting. As a fan I don’t like it,” another added, while a third fan commented: “How is this not just appealing to be male gaze?? Insanely misogynistic imagery. Mans best friend??? please please please.”
Glasgow Women’s Aid, an organization that provides services to those affected by domestic violence, also criticized the art for perpetuating “misogynistic stereotypes” and “pandering to the male gaze.”
“Sabrina Carpenter’s new album cover isn’t edgy, it’s regressive,” the group wrote on Instagram. “Picturing herself on all fours, with a man pulling her hair and calling it ‘Man’s Best Friend’ isn’t subversion. It’s a throwback to tired tropes that reduce women to pets, props, and possessions and promote an element of violence and control. We’ve fought too hard for this.”
However, not everyone was upset by The Man’s Best Friend art. During Thursday’s (June 12) episode of The View, some of the co-hosts showed their support for Sabrina, saying a lot of the outrage was unwarranted.
“Oh, boo-hoo! It sounds like the ’90s to complain about an album cover,” Alyssa Farah Griffin said. “They’re always provocative, you want to grab people’s eyes… It reminds me of, like, Britney Spears in the ’90s, like. ‘You shouldn’t be wearing that!’ Are we still doing that?”
Social media users echoed Griffin’s comments, arguing that Sabrina’s cover-art pose was in line with her lyrics about women’s empowerment and sexual agency. Some were convinced that Sabrina knew the image would raise eyebrows, as it underscores the way women are often seen and/or treated in society.
“In that sense, the image feels less like cheap shock tactics and ‘sex sells’ marketing, and more like a mirror – one that reflects a society that still enjoys seeing women on their knees,” wrote Metro’s assistant entertainment editor Brooke Ivey Johnson. “Is it kind of hard to look at? Yes, but then so is the grim reality of rising inceldom among young men.”
Carpenter has not publicly responded to the cover art controversy as of press time; however, she has addressed the criticism surrounding racy concert performances.
“It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” she said in her newly released Rolling Stone cover story. “They’re like, ‘All she does is sing about this.’ But those are the songs that you’ve made popular. Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it. It’s in my show. There’s so many more moments than the ‘Juno’ positions, but those are the ones you post every night and comment on. I can’t control that.”
