Entertainment

Sabrina Carpenter Releases New Album: Man's Best Friend

By Lidya Maru

Sabrina Carpenter’s seventh studio album, “Man’s Best Friend,” was released on Aug. 29 and reignited debates on the role of pop music in contemporary society. Like many other female artists, Carpenter has faced criticism for promoting the genre’s overly sexualized, trivial, and potentially misogynistic tendencies. Carpenter’s newest release was no exception. 

Before being released, controversy spread surrounding the licentious cover art. The image depicts Carpenter on the ground, crawling towards an incognito man who has a leash-like grip on her hair. Many interpreted that image, along with the album’s title, as a glorification of subservience and a reinforcement of traditional gender roles.  

In the wake of rising conservatism and the “trad wife” ideal, the backlash against patriarchal ideals has grown proportionally, and many felt that the imagery in Carpenter’s album cover was both ignorant and dangerous. 

While the appearance of the album cover is undeniably shallow, the lyrics offer some complex commentary on the dangers of modern masculinity and its effect on the next generation of men. The album’s lead single, “Manchild,” criticizes immature men for never having “heard of self-care” and lacking half a brain, even blaming this tendency on the generation of mothers who raised them. Her negative assessment of modern men is in direct contrast to the patriarchal ideals critics claim she is promoting. 

Carpenter’s album cover is a satirical contrast of the very patriarchal societal expectations that she opposes in her songs. Although in a dehumanizing position, Carpenter is the center of the image and given a much more prominent focus than the nondescript male figure. In combination with the clear feminine perspective of her music, Carpenter uses the album to express her struggles with the way women are treated by men. 

The backlash against the album raises concerns over what responsibility female artists have with social activism. Basing an opinion on the album, however, is futile without taking the time to listen to it in its entirety.