Why are people upset about Sabrina Carpenter's album cover?
07/08/25 5:03pm
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I think some people were a bit shocked when the cover came out, because there aren't many mainstream artists creating covers where there's a strong implication that is so in your face. I did not take offense to it, and wasn't weirded out by it. I thought it was punny given the album title paired with her posing with a "dog on a leash" suggestion, which goes hand in hand with the phrase "man's best friend," typically being about dogs. There was also a lot of puppy imagery associated with the album rollout and music videos.
She has the freedom as an artist to do whatever she wants, and ultimately, people talking about it is only going to sell more albums for her.
I think it was a win for her personally, and I think she bought into it and played into the controversy of it all well. She owned it, embraced it, and carried on. Go off, Sabrina. Good job.
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She has the freedom as an artist to do whatever she wants, and ultimately, people talking about it is only going to sell more albums for her.
I think it was a win for her personally, and I think she bought into it and played into the controversy of it all well. She owned it, embraced it, and carried on. Go off, Sabrina. Good job.
Sabrina Carpenter sparked controversy when she released the cover of her forthcoming album, Man's Best Friend. The album art includes a photo of Carpenter wearing a short black dress and heels and kneeling beside a man in a suit (it appears to be a man, at least: his face is cut off) who is pulling her hair while she paws at his leg.
Some people believe Carpenter is satirizing the male gaze with her album art, especially since she has a reputation for this and since the album's lead single is called "Manchild" and takes aim at immature men. Others feel the art is antifeminist and perpetuates the objectification of women, and that even if Carpenter's intention is to be subversive, she fails because the image depicts the thing it's meant to critique. Still others feel that Carpenter has the artistic license to do whatever she wants, and that people shouldn't police her artistic or sexual expression.
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Some people believe Carpenter is satirizing the male gaze with her album art, especially since she has a reputation for this and since the album's lead single is called "Manchild" and takes aim at immature men. Others feel the art is antifeminist and perpetuates the objectification of women, and that even if Carpenter's intention is to be subversive, she fails because the image depicts the thing it's meant to critique. Still others feel that Carpenter has the artistic license to do whatever she wants, and that people shouldn't police her artistic or sexual expression.
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