Topline<\/p>\n
Sabrina Carpenter, one of pop music\u2019s biggest new stars, unveiled the cover art for her upcoming album \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d on Wednesday, quickly setting social media ablaze with both fierce criticism of what some feel is a \u201cdegrading\u201d cover, while others defend it as a clear work of satire.<\/p>\n
Sabrina Carpenter’s album cover for “Man’s Best Friend” has sparked some controversy. (Photo by … More Gilbert Flores\/Billboard via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Billboard via Getty Images <\/p>\n
Key Facts<\/p>\n
Carpenter announced<\/a> \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d in a social media post Wednesday, attaching the album artwork, which depicts her on her knees with her hand on a man\u2019s thigh, who is holding Carpenter\u2019s hair in his hand.<\/p>\n Another image Carpenter posted, which appears to be an alternate cover or the album\u2019s back cover, depicts a dog wearing a collar with a tag that says \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n The album cover immediately took social media by storm, drawing fierce criticism from social media users, columnists and a women\u2019s charity who have said the cover is degrading to Carpenter, or to women.<\/p>\n Fans defended Carpenter, whose pop music often has a wry or ironic undercurrent, as making satirical commentary on misogyny.<\/p>\n The album drops Aug. 29, and Carpenter has already released the album\u2019s lead single, \u201cManchild.\u201d<\/p>\n Chief Critics<\/p>\n Glasgow Women\u2019s Aid<\/a>, a Scotland-based advocacy organization for women experiencing domestic abuse, slammed Carpenter in a post on Instagram on Thursday calling the album cover \u201cregressive,\u201d and stating it evokes \u201ctired tropes that reduce women to pets, props, and possessions and promote an element of violence and control.\u201d A column in The Telegraph<\/a> Thursday complained in a headline that Carpenter\u2019s \u201cover-sexed, degrading new album cover has gone too far,\u201d and the writer Poppie Platt noted Carpenter has many young fans and said her marketing is \u201ctroubling,\u201d comparing it to TikTok trends like the \u201ctrad-wife\u201d aesthetic that promote subservience to men. Some of the most-liked comments on Carpenter\u2019s Instagram post of the album cover were critical. \u201cIs this a humiliation ritual? WTH is this cover,\u201d one comment, which garnered 8,000 likes says, while another commenter stated: \u201cExplain to me again how this isn\u2019t centering men? How this isn\u2019t catering to the male gaze?\u201d<\/p>\n Contra<\/p>\n Carpenter\u2019s fans praised her cover as satirical. \u201cI am a little concerned about people\u2019s inability to immediately clock that the cover is obviously a commentary on the way women are treated,\u201d one post on X<\/a>, which garnered more than 44,000 likes, states. The fan cited her single \u201cManchild,\u201d in which she pokes fun at men, as a hint the upcoming album may also be satirical. Entertainment editor at the U.K. publication Metro, Brooke Ivey Johnson, wrote<\/a> Thursday that Carpenter \u201cknew you\u2019d hate her kinky album cover \u2013 that\u2019s the point,\u201d defending her as an \u201cexpert in shaping a narrative\u201d and stating Carpenter\u2019s brand is \u201cbuilt around men being little more than background noise.\u201d Johnson called Carpenter\u2019s aesthetic \u201ca kind of satire: A knowing wink at how femininity is constructed, consumed, and commodified,\u201d citing her new single \u201cManchild\u201d as a \u201csatirical exaggeration\u201d of submissiveness to men.<\/p>\n Has Carpenter Responded To The Controversy?<\/p>\n No, Carpenter has not directly addressed the controversy over her album cover. But in a cover story in Rolling Stone<\/a> published Thursday, Carpenter addressed critics of her sex-positive stage presence, stating she feels she has \u201cnever lived in a time where women have been picked apart more, and scrutinized in every capacity.\u201d While performing her song \u201cJuno\u201d on tour, which contains the lyric: \u201cWanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?\u201d Carpenter mimics a different sex position during each performance, which has inspired a TikTok trend and also sparked detractors. \u201cIt\u2019s always so funny to me when people complain,\u201d Carpenter told Rolling Stone, stating there are \u201cso many more moments than the \u2018Juno\u2019 positions, but those are the ones you post every night and comment on. I can\u2019t control that.\u201d<\/p>\n Surprising Fact<\/p>\n The Recording Academy<\/a> announced Thursday morning it will introduce a \u201cBest Album Cover\u201d category for next year\u2019s Grammy Awards ceremony. \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d comes out one day before the Aug. 30 Grammy Awards deadline, making it eligible for nomination.<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n Carpenter\u2019s new album \u201cMan\u2019s Best Friend\u201d follows her breakout year, when her album \u201cShort n\u2019 Sweet,\u201d earned multiple hit singles and won her two Grammy Awards. The album\u2019s lead single \u201cEspresso\u201d was named by some publications as the 2024 song of the summer and topped the charts in many countries. Her string of hits continued with \u201cPlease Please Please\u201d and \u201cTaste,\u201d and she released a deluxe edition of the album in February with new songs.<\/p>\n Further Reading<\/p>\n How Sabrina Carpenter Dream-Come-True\u2019d Her Whole Life<\/a> (Rolling Stone)<\/p>\n