Sabrina Carpenter Finally Responded to the ‘Man’s Best Friend’ Cover Controversy: ‘Y’all Need to Get Out More’
When Sabrina Carpenter revealed the cover art of her latest album, Man’s Best Friend, many of her fans responded negatively. The image, which shows Carpenter kneeling at the feet of a faceless man with a fistful of her hair in hand, felt out of touch to many fans. At the time, Carpenter didn’t respond to the conversation. Now that her album is out, though, she has made it clear that she stands by the cover image.
Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Man’s Best Friend’ cover drew criticism online
Carpenter announced her most recent album in June and revealed the cover image. In it, she kneels on the floor while a faceless man holds her by the hair. It sparked immediate backlash.
“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 said they found the image degrading.
“It’s awful and sexist,” wrote one person. “She’s taking part in her own dehumanisation.”
While Carpenter did not respond to the backlash, she later released alternate covers that leaned more PG, quipping that they were “approved by God.”
Sabrina Carpenter responded to the conversation around the ‘Man’s Best Friend’ cover
Carpenter released Man’s Best Friend on Aug. 29. In an interview about the album with Gayle King for CBS Mornings, Carpenter unabashedly stood by the primary cover image.
“Y’all need to get out more,” she said when asked about her reaction to the backlash.
She said the controversy surprised her, as she and the people close to her loved the image.
“I was actually shocked because between me and my friends and my family and the people that I always share my music and my art with first, it just wasn’t even a conversation,” she said. “It was just like, it’s perfect for what the album is. It’s perfect for what it represents. Everything about it, to me, just felt so opposite of the world ending.”
She explained that the intention behind the image was to represent both control over a situation and a lack of it.
She just released her new album
Carpenter released Man’s Best Friend on Aug. 29. She joked that it may not be for everyone.
“The album is not for any pearl clutchers,” she told King. “But I also think that even pearl clutchers can listen to an album like that in their own solitude and find something that makes them smirk and chuckle to themselves.”
Her music is intentionally sexual and provocative, an angle that Carpenter said comes “naturally” to her. She knows that won’t appeal to everyone, but said that universal appeal has never been her intention.
“I always say, ‘You don’t have to like what I do,’” she said. “I think there’s this weird misconception that every artist has to check every box for everyone to like everything about them. It’s never been that way. It’s never going to be. So I’m okay if Tommy from Arkansas doesn’t like what I do. As long as the people that I’m speaking to that do connect with me and relate to me feel that connection, then I’m happy.”
