The pop star releases a “less risque” version of the controversial artwork
From the moment Sabrina Carpenter hit the Hollywood scene and slowly climbed to the top, she has been anything but short of controversy. The 26-year-old Pennsylvania singer has recently unveiled the cover of her upcoming studio album, Man’s Best Friend, via an Instagram post. She has been facing strong backlash over the provocative cover, with many saying it romanticizes violence, dehumanizes women, and “is as degrading as it gets.”
The singer, also a former Disney Channel actress, has reached massive popularity over the past two years and is part of a new wave of pop stars, joining the likes of Benson Boone and Chappel Roan. Born in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, she began posting singing videos on YouTube at just ten years old. From 2014 to 2017, she played Maya Hart in Disney Channel’s popular show Girl Meets World, and guest-starred in several other projects, including an episode of the Netflix series Orange is the New Black.
In 2012, at just 13 years old, she signed a deal with Hollywood Records, although no major music breakthrough came. In 2021, she signed a new deal with Island Records, and her first Billboard 100 entry followed shortly after. Carpenter’s music is notoriously bold and sexually explicit, with the singer receiving songwriting credit on most of her tracks. While her earlier work was often described as ‘bubblegum pop’, her later works feature a more mature sound, although just as catchy and melodic as her previous works.
Carpenter’s latest studio album, Short n’ Sweet, was released in 2024, producing hits like “Please Please Please” and “Espresso,” both of which became massively successful and coined Sabrina Carpenter as one of the biggest pop stars of the new generation. Not only did the album debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, but the singer also recently won two Grammys — Best Pop Vocal Album & Best Pop Solo Performance for “Espresso.”
Less than a year later, Carpenter is back with her seventh studio album, the cover of which is the center of the latest controversy. Posted on Instagram on June 11th, the cover shows Carpenter bent down on all fours, wearing a short black dress and high heels, touching the knee of a man in a suit standing in front of her. The man is pulling her hair, and we can’t see his face, but what we do see is Carpenter seductively looking into the camera. The post reads: “My new album, ‘Man’s Best Friend’ *dog paws emoji* is out on August 29, 2025. I can’t wait for it to be yours x. Pre-order now.”
Whether it’s Instagram, Reddit, or Twitter/X, the Internet is flooded with thousands of reactions to the cover, especially from women, who feel particularly offended by the message Carpenter is trying to send to the world. Gen Z-oriented platforms like TikTok are also full of videos of women sharing their take on what makes the cover so degrading, with the most popular videos now having millions of views.
“Explain to me how this is iconic, please. It makes me uncomfortable…” one user writes on Instagram, while another one says: “Will be having a conversation with my nine-year-old daughter about whether we can continue to support Sabrina’s music. Girls already have enough misogynistic imagery to contend with these days. We don’t need a popular tween pop star to reinforce the message.”
One particular TikTok theory, which has recently been gaining a lot of traction, suggests that Carpenter might be portraying both figures on the cover (remember that we cannot see the man’s face), implying that the cover might be much more than just a simple play on stereotypes. If proven true, this theory would bring an unexpected twist to the whole situation and help salvage Carpenter’s crumbling reputation among her female audience.
The situation is heightened by the fact that Carpenter’s primary audience is teenage girls, who are going through their most formative years, and as such, Carpenter’s actions have a significant and lasting impact on them. This is a known issue in the industry: fans putting celebrities on a pedestal, wanting to be just like them–good or bad. If your favorite singer smokes weed, you’ll think weed is cool and be more inclined to smoke it as a result. If your idol is also an avid gambler, you’ll be pulled towards this behavior more, even if it means playing free casino games just for fun. And if they’re seemingly promoting the idea that women are like pets and should be controlled by men, chances are you’ll eventually adopt this thinking as well–especially as a young teenage girl.
Just recently, Carpenter has come forward to address the growing backlash, releasing an alternate album cover on Instagram with the caption: “Here is the alternate album cover approved by God.” With the album’s release date set for August 29th, fans still have a few weeks to see how the situation unfolds and whether more drama is on the horizon. Despite the backlash, one thing seems to already be clear: With 82,000 comments under the Instagram post alone (and counting), Carpenter is proving that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
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