Pop star Sabrina Carpenter has recently received a great deal of backlash over her new “Man’s Best Friend” album cover. The picture shows Carpenter on her hands and knees with a man standing above, pulling her hair. The cover shows a misguided attempt to be provocative considering the demographics of Carpenter’s fanbase.
Carpenter’s simple response: “Y’all need to get out more.”
While I agree that many critics may have gone too far in their criticism in stating that Carpenter has “set feminism back 10 years,” I do think that the album cover shows a tone deafness to national tenor.
Carpenter explores feministic values in many of her songs, and I think it’s unfair to call her anti-feminist. In 2024, Carpenter provided a “moment of peace and safety” for women during her concerts. Her song “Because I Liked a Boy” discusses the disproportionate criticism women receive when it comes to relationships and breakups.
In general, Carpenter writes songs aimed to reach a female audience discussing female experiences.
Clearly, throughout her many years in the spotlight, Carpenter has supported women and served as a role model for young girls when it comes to confidence and being unabashedly yourself.
Therefore, while Carpenter may not have had intent to destroy the feminism movement with her cover, I believe Carpenter’s art was an unnecessary ploy to get people talking and generally ignores the age of her audience.
I’m sure Carpenter was fully aware that the cover would be provocative and divisive amongst fans and critics. I mean, how many sets of eyes does this art go through before being approved? Her tactic was successful in getting people talking about her new album. That being said, the publicity wasn’t worth it.
With the current debate in our country about women’s bodily autonomy, the regression in gender equality, and the push for women to take control and stand up for themselves, Carpenter’s album clearly pictures an old fashioned way of thinking by depicting herself as property. I mean, even the title, “Man’s Best Friend” (also known as a dog), implies Carpenter is depicting herself as a man’s dog – loyal, subservient, and lacking power.
Carpenter claims the cover is a metaphor for a young woman’s relationship with control and self-acceptance. She also claims the art is all about allowing yourself to make mistakes when it comes to knowing when you are in control.
“I think as a young woman, you’re just aware of when you’re in control as when you’re not, and I think some of those are choices,” Carpenter said.
I think metaphors can be powerful when done correctly and within the right context. Carpenter’s message falls flat as a result of her not catering to her audience. Can we really expect young, pre-teen girls to climb into Carpenter’s brain and unpack a diluted metaphor?
The majority of Carpenter’s audience are young, impressionable girls who aren’t necessarily looking to research and understand a metaphor in her album cover. It’s fair to expect a lot of Carpenter’s young listeners to take her album cover at face value and see it as a depiction of inequality and antifeminism, proven by the backlash she’s received so far.
Knowing this, Carpenter could have more clearly and effectively represented who she is and what her songs discuss in her cover art. For example, she could have switched the roles and been the one standing, a clear representation of her taking control and being in power as a woman.
Carpenter also stated that she was “surprised” by the backlash because her friends and family loved the art, which
many critics say portrays her as out of touch with reality.
Carpenter already has a massive following. She didn’t need to do anything exploitative to ensure people would listen to her work. Fans would have listened to her work either way.
If you’re a Sabrina Carpenter fan, her mistake doesn’t mean you need to stop listening to her work all together because you disagree with her messaging. On the other hand, it’s important to call out public figures mistakes so they can see the flaws in their actions. Fans should continue to call out Carpenter’s flaws and hope she can grow from this experience.
