On Friday, Aug. 29, Sabrina Carpenter released her seventh studio album, “Man’s Best Friend.” The album sticks to the fun, playful pop sound and some-what simple lyrics and rhymes that Carpenter is known for. It’s raunchy, though, not shying away from innuendo or explicitness, and building both sonically and thematically on her previous album “Short n' Sweet,” exploring sex, relationships and men.
It’s strange then, that such an inoffensive pop album and generically adorable pop-star have been the center of so much discourse.
It all started with the album cover depicting Carpenter on all-fours next to a man’s legs. He has one hand in her hair, she has one hand on his knee. The pose, coupled with the album title, “Man’s Best Friend,” sparked controversy, with some feeling as though Carpenter was debasing herself or trying to appeal to men. They worried the snarky, man-eater days were over and Carpenter had sold out and was for men now.
I think that these people were being dramatic. Firstly, how weak do you think the feminist movement is that one woman in one photo for the cover of one pop-comedy album could set it back? Second, what’s innately anti-feminist about a woman posing herself in a suggestive pose, having her hair lightly tugged?
It belies an interesting social assumption — that men are something that happens to women. Women can’t choose and enjoy men; if they are with men, then they have either been coerced or they are bad, dirty, dangerous women who don’t know right from wrong. It’s an almost puritanical idea, so it’s odd to hear it in the mouths of generally progressive people. Why do we assume women can’t like or want sex? Since when is sex inherently degrading?
The title turned out to be ironic, as “Man’s Best Friend” ribs plenty on men. Its first track, “Manchild,” is all about incompetent men who cannot be good partners or do basic life tasks. “Never Getting Laid” displays Carpenter in an almost lounge jazz style, wishing agoraphobia on the man who left her.
To that end, another label I’ve heard slapped on Carpenter is “manhater”. I don’t think that’s true either; she makes fun of men, sure, but she likes them a lot. What she doesn’t seem to do is respect them. But since when, especially in music, has respect been a necessity for liking?
There’s been a lot of different words thrown around for what Carpenter is doing to men on “Man’s Best Friend” — she’s centering them, she’s de-centering them, she’s hating them, she’s pandering to them, blah blah blah, the list goes on and on. The one word I haven’t seen is the one that actually applies: she’s objectifying them.
“When Did You Get Hot?” is a song telling the story of Carpenter starting to like a man she’d overlooked when they were younger because he’d been unattractive. The song has no undertone of guilt; only impatience. “Go Go Juice” is a song about drunk dialing an ex; but it implies that for Carpenter, all men are interchangeable. Their personalities don’t matter, it’s all about what they have to offer — wink wink, nudge nudge.
Carpenter wants men, but she doesn’t revere or care about them by and large. It bears resemblance to the ways that men, in almost all music genres, have sung about wanting a beautiful woman. It’s refreshing to hear Carpenter do it. Even though songs that generalize and objectify is nothing new, it is new to see a woman do it this bluntly and this often.
My personal favorite song is “Don’t Worry, I’ll Make You Worry”. It’s one of Carpenter’s comparatively melancholy and contemplative songs, featuring a slow, steady drum beat, whispery vocals and an indie-esque acoustic guitar instrumental. The song explores Carpenter’s
excitement to be a bad partner who makes her lover feel unstable and insecure. She sensually promises to leave him a “shell of a man”. It’s an unusual track, which is what I like about it.
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When you look beyond the gender politics and the sexual content, the story of the album seems to be an unending see-saw between being hurt by a partner, souring on romance, entering a new relationship and being the one to hurt your partner, losing them and wanting to be better, just to get in another relationship with someone who hurts you. It’s sad, and it’s telling.
“Man’s Best Friend” is a musically light album, but don’t let that deceive you. It’s positioned at a pivotal time, plays with some nuanced themes and new ideas, and it’s sparked some interesting conversations. I recommend you give it a listen and really listen.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
