The Sabrina Carpenter Man’s Best Friend Discourse, Explained

Fresh off debuting her brand-new single “Manchild” live at Primavera Sound 2025, Sabrina Carpenter hit fans with another major news alert: Her seventh studio album, officially titled Man’s Best Friend, will be released on August 29, 2025, not even a year after the release of her Grammy-winning album Short n’ Sweet.

While some simply rejoiced at the prospect of new Sabrina Carpenter music so soon after such a significant project, many others took to social media to comment on the album's title and accompanying visuals, starting a debate around hypersexualization, misogyny, and the male gaze.

Below, we break down the discourse and drama so you get the full picture.

Sabrina Carpenter first announced her new album, Man’s Best Friend, on June 11, 2025. The star simultaneously revealed that the project would include “Manchild” as its lead single and unveiled the cover art for the project. In the album art, which you can see below, Carpenter appears on her knees before a suited figure, which many have assumed to be a man given the title, who grabs her hair. The back cover of the album appears to be a photo of a dog wearing a collar with the album's title in a heart-shaped pendant.

Courtesy of Sabrina Carpenter/Island Records via Lede Company

To coincide with the announcement, Carpenter also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, shot by David LaChapelle, wearing nothing but white stockings.

“If I really wanted to, I could have stretched out Short n’ Sweet much, much longer," Carpenter said in her cover interview. “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.”

Though Carpenter has gained a reputation for sexually charged and explicit innuendos, the cover art for Man’s Best Friend has gained the star a fair share of criticism and a number of detractors who claim the image is degrading and even misogynistic.

Many have pointed out the image bears a strong resemblance to “misogynistic ads from the '60s.” In contrast, others claim that the photograph is intended for the male gaze and that nowadays liberation can be achieved through other means.

“Intentionally reproducing a misogynistic aesthetic, even under the guise of satire, doesn’t subvert it; it reinforces it. It aestheticizes the very tropes it claims to critique,” someone wrote on X criticizing the cover.

Others argued that while the point of the cover was to subvert sexist tropes, its execution failed to deliver. “Satire implies an exaggeration,” another person wrote on X. “The Sabrina cover and title can easily be perceived at face value, so it FAILS at being satire.”

While there's a handful of people criticizing the cover of Man’s Best Friend, there are also many people defending the choice of cover art, saying it's supposed to be satirical, ironic, and tongue-in-cheek.

"The way people can't comprehend that an album called 'Man's Best Friend' with cover art of a man treating a woman like a dog (b*tch), and a lead song titled ‘Manchild’ is clearly ironic/criticizing those things," someone commented on X.

Some claimed detractors are trying to police Carpenter's sexual expression, while others defended the cover as being purposely controversial, likening it to previous work from ‘80s, ’90s, and '00s stars like Madonna, Xtina, and Britney.

As far as the accusations that say Carpenter is catering to the male gaze, others jumped to the singer's defense, both in relation to the cover art for the album and the Rolling Stone cover.

“Saying a woman is 'catering to the male gaze' has become a modern form of slutshaming disguised as feminism. She has every right to show off her body,” a person wrote on X. “Maybe this is a bad take, but I fear we have ‘stop doing things for the male gaze’d ourselves back into expecting women to be modest and shaming them otherwise, and it's strange,” a second one agreed. “Y'all are starting to say feminism=modesty, and it’s really pmo. Her owning and doing what she wants with her body IS feminism,” a third one added.

Some, however, saw a case for both sides. “I think Sabrina’s album cover can be satirical, but I also think it can still be very off-putting for many women and [they're] allowed to feel that way,” a user wrote on X.

Sabrina Carpenter briefly addressed the discourse surrounding the cover art for Man’s Best Friend replying to a fan on X. “Does she have a personality outside of sex?” someone asked quote rewteeting a post asking people to share their opinions on the cover art of the album, to which Carpenter replied: “Girl yes and it is goooooood.”

Carpenter also replied to a TikTok user who claimed the artist referenced Lolita, Adrian Lyne's 1997 movie adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's highly criticized novel, in a W Magazine editorial from 2024 — something multiple people online had pointed out after the reveal of the Man’s Best Friend cover.

“I’ve never seen this movie. It’s never been on my mood board and never would be,” Carpenter replied in the comment section of the original TikTok.

Screenshot. Courtesy of TikTok.

Previously, in her interview with Rolling Stone, the star also opened up about dealing with shaming for past overt innuendos.

"It's always so funny to me when people complain," she told the publication. “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. If you come to the show, you’ll [also] hear the ballads, you’ll hear the more introspective numbers. I find irony and humor in all of that, because it seems to be a recurring theme. I’m not upset about it, other than I feel mad pressure to be funny sometimes.”

Carpenter also opened up about women in entertainment being scrutinized more than ever before: “I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I truly feel like I’ve never lived in a time where women have been picked apart more, and scrutinized in every capacity. I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about every female artist that is making art right now.”

“We’re in such a weird time where you would think it’s girl power, and women supporting women, but in reality, the second you see a picture of someone wearing a dress on a carpet, you have to say everything mean about it in the first 30 seconds that you see it," she added.

While Sabrina Carpenter has not changed the cover art for Man’s Best Friend, she did indeed drop an alternate cover for the album after the controversy — and she took the discourse in stride when announcing it.

On June 25, 2025, Carpenter took to her social media to unveil a “new alternate cover approved by God” of her seventh studio album. The Man’s Best Friend alternate cover features a black-and-white photo of the artist latching onto a man's arm while mid-dance. The image references a photo of Marilyn Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller from the ‘50s.

Courtesy of Sabrina Carpenter/Island Records

_{Editor's Note: This story was originally published on June 13, 2025, and has since been updated.}