Sabrina Carpenter’s cover for her new album, Man’s Best Friend, is stirring up controversy — and fans are divided. On June 11, the singer released the cover art for the album along with the announcement, which was a photo of herself on her knees as, what looks to be, a man pulling her hair.
At first, fans flooded the comment section to hype up Carpenter with comments like “mother is feedinggggg,” “the gag this is about to be,” and other positive messages. But what started out as excitement over a new batch of Sabrina bops to blast quickly turned into discourse and controversy in the comments. In the midst of a second Trump presidency, and the “tradwife” aesthetic rising in popularity, many internet users aren’t buying into what the cover art is, in their opinion, selling. “This cover makes me uncomfortable… especially in times like these. Absolutely tone deaf,” one fan wrote.
On TikTok, users echoed similar concerns. “I get that it’s supposed to be satire, I get that it’s supposed to be irony, but I don’t think that just because it’s supposed to be satire, that kind of excuses the execution of it,” one creator, @bacobell_, said in a TikTok. “I get the concept, but I don’t think it’s a time to be making jokes about like, being a dog for men.”
The comments on the video echo the same sentiment, with one fan writing, “I get it, but I have a zero tolerance for harm against women. Jokes are always the base in creating normalization,” and another commenting, “Considering the current political climate, it just seems very harmful to me. It’s kind of dehumanizing to be honest.”
However, other fans are flocking to Carpenter’s defense. In a video posted by creator @brittonrae, she goes into detail about how the cover is supposed to be a critique of how “societal norms and pressures” lead women to “diminish themselves.”
Fans of Carpenter also have a theory that the “man” on the cover of the album isn’t a man at all, but is actually Carpenter in a suit. “Omg remember the suit from the met gala after party 😭😭😭 I bet you’re right and that is her holding herself,” one fan commented. Another wrote, “I genuinely thought it was a woman’s hand holding her hair. The way the suit sits and over the hand and stuff is very large.” However, there’s no confirmation of who the faceless person on the cover is at the time of publication.
For now, Carpenter hasn’t explicitly commented on the backlash. However, she told Rolling Stone for its July-August cover story that she “can not give a f*** about it,” in regard to potential pushback on the album.
Whether or not you think that the controversy is justified, there’s no denying that it is sparking legitimate and important conversations about gender roles, sexuality, and the treatment of women in the music industry. Maybe the lyrics on the album will tell a larger story, but until then, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.