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One year after Sabrina Carpenter dominated the charts in the summer of 2024, she announced a new album. In the announcement, she included a photo of herself on all fours while a suited arm grips her hair. The pop star’s public image is tongue-in-cheek, but many fans feel she has gone too far with the album cover.

Sabrina Carpenter announced a new album, ‘Man’s Best Friend’

On June 5, Carpenter released the lead single on her upcoming album, Man’s Best Friend. Entitled “Manchild,” Carpenter sings about a childish ex-boyfriend. Carpenter is still touring for her 2024 album Short n’ Sweet, but she told Rolling Stone that she didn’t want to wait to release new music.

“If I really wanted to, I could have stretched out Short n’ Sweet much, much longer,” she said. “But I’m at that point in my life where I’m like, ‘Wait a second, there’s no rules.’ If I’m inspired to write and make something new, I would rather do that. Why would I wait three years just for the sake of waiting three years? It’s all about what feels right. I’m learning to listen to that a lot more, instead of what is perceived as the right or wrong move.”

She will release Man’s Best Friend on Aug. 29. 

Many of Sabrina Carpenter’s fans are not impressed with the album cover

Carpenter said that, for now, one of the best things about Man’s Best Friend is that the public has not heard it yet and so can’t share their opinions.

“I’m living in the glory of no one hearing it or knowing about it, and so I can not care,” she said. “I can not give a f*** about it, because I’m just so excited.”

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Already, though, people have opinions. Many have praised the sexual nature of Carpenter’s music and concerts, with fans describing her public image as being aimed more at women than men. The cover of Man’s Best Friend is not going over well with many fans, though.

“Yeah like… whether you want to believe it’s ‘satire’ or not- the fact that thousands of women all over saw this photo and felt the burn of humiliation should be taken into account,” wrote one Reddit user. “If this really was subversive, it would be the men feeling uncomfortable.”

A number of people didn’t feel that cover was appropriate in today’s political climate. 

“Every sub I’ve seen today has panned this,” wrote one person .”It’s gross, especially in today’s climate. It’s never a good time to depict women as subservient and servile. It’s demeaning and degrading. Comparing herself to a dog? Gross. She’s really out of touch. She sang ‘It’s Raining Men’ the other day and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. With the popularity of the 4B movement, why is she out here praising men?”

While many people said they understood the cover is intended as satire, they still think it misses the mark.

“It honestly really infuriates me how there are so many people on TikTok dismissing valid criticisms about the cover as ‘lacking media literacy,’” wrote one person. “Like, we know that she’s trying to be satirical and shocking. We aren’t stupid. The problem is that the execution misses the mark.”

A number of people expressed hope that because of the backlash, Carpenter would consider changing the cover before the album’s release.

Others believe she was aiming for this response

To some, though, it seemed that stirring up controversy was the point. 

“This is what she’s wants,” wrote one user. “For it to cause an online uproar so people can check it out.”

Even if people are angry, they are talking about it at length, and likely will beyond the album’s release.

“No matter what anyone says this is crazy marketing the discourse off this will feed her for the next 5 years her team def knows what they r doing lol,” wrote another person.

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