Sabrina Carpenter Releases New Album “Man’s Best Friend”
Sabrina Carpenter has easily become one of the most recognizable pop stars after her first viral song, “Skin,” in 2021. Since then, she has had hits with over 1 billion streams on Spotify. Her ‘Short n’ Sweet’ album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, marking the 3rd biggest first-week debut behind Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” and Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Before her pop-star identity, she was known as an actress on Disney Channel, most famously for playing Maya Hart on the show Girl Meets World. Which explains her theatre kid-like acts.
Sabrina’s music is known for being playful and upbeat, falling within the pop genre, but it also incorporates a variety of other genres. She leans into dance-pop, disco, and R&B, often with playful beats and catchy hooks. Most of her songs can be described as witty and conversational, with lyrics that use humor to portray confidence. She’s also known for her storytelling approach, thanks to her experiences in theatre when she worked for Disney.
On August 29th, Sabrina released her most hotly debated album, “Man’s Best Friend.” This album sparked backlash from many due to its album cover because people believed that the cover was sexualizing women, some described it as “setting women back 100 years.” Fans argue that this is just Sabrina’s style and use the iconic Juno poses as evidence of this “style.” These are a set of signature sexual positions that Sabrina performs live when singing her song “Juno.”
“It’s kind of funny because everyone was so excited about her Juno positions, but then the second the cover dropped, people started hating on it. I honestly don’t think it’s that deep. I still love the album, and the cover doesn’t change how good the music is at all,” said junior Gabriela Agudelo.
The first song of the album, “Manchild,” is a song mocking immature male partners, wrapped in upbeat pop. This has been the most popular song from her album so far, reaching around 350 million streams and trends rolling around the social media platform TikTok. This has been done before with the song “Mama’s Boy” by Dominic Fike, which also gained a lot of attention on social media for trends mocking immature men.
The album is made up of twelve songs. Tracks like “Tears” turn something as simple as basic communication into a surprisingly attractive attribute, while “My Man on Willpower” critiques a partner’s lack of effort and emotional presence. “Sugar Talking” digs into the idea of manipulative sweetness, and “We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” captures the fragile balance of a relationship that always seems close to falling apart.
Other songs lean even further into playful satire. “Nobody’s Son” celebrates independence and refusing to be defined by someone else’s failures, while “Never Getting Laid” combines humor with a sense of longing. “When Did You Get Hot?” and “Go Go Juice” add flirty energy, while “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry” takes a more confident stance.
Towards the end, Carpenter showcases her wit with “House Tour,” a body-positive track, and closes the album with “Goodbye,” a biting breakup song that demonstrates confidence and healing, while mocking the partner for initiating the breakup yet regretting it.
“The whole album just pokes fun at common relationship situations, and it’s not hard to tell that she’s deliberately making fun of them, or at least I think so. This type of thing is just her humor,” said sophomore Isabella Beltran
Even through the names of each song, you can see the theme and realize that the album’s purpose is to mock the often-occurring relationship situations found today. This works in the same way a satire would, as Sabrina uses humor, sarcasm, and exaggeration to mock certain types of relationships and behaviors. Even though the songs are playful and funny, they’re also critiquing things like immaturity and bad communication.
This message is ideal for age ranges from 16-21 because they’re most prone to get into situationships (undefined relationships), friends with benefits, and in general just strange relationships. This album can teach girls to raise their standards and confidence, and gives examples of what they want to avoid in relationships, unlike what other people argue the album portrays.
Sabrina turns everyday relationship struggles into clever, catchy songs that are both funny and relatable. The album is playful while still shedding light on real issues, such as immaturity and communication. If you haven’t heard Man’s Best Friend yet, give it a listen and see what messages you take away from it.
