It’s official: Sabrina Carpenter is dropping a new album. Really Soon.
The pop icon took to Instagram to share the news and what we can only assume is the cover art for the album, or at the very least sets the tone for the new music.
“My new album, “Man’s Best Friend” 🐾is out on August 29, 2025,” she wrote, “i can’t wait for it to be yours x”
While the news of a new album from Carpenter has been celebrated, many found the image choice jarring.
Sabrina Carpenter’s brand has been built on female empowerment through an unabashed embracing of her sexuality and desires. A siren attitude, if you will. But her new album cover doesn’t quite hit this same mark, at least according to some fans.
The cover work depicts Carpenter on all fours being pulled by her hair, cut together with a photo of a dog, zoomed in on a collar that reads: man’s best friend.
“Sabrina, women are losing their rights…” one fan wrote on the cover reveal. Another wrote: “This imagery is despicable and sending women back decades. You are supporting female subjugation and abuse.”
A third added: “I will forever stand by your right to express yourself in whatever way you want @sabrinacarpenter . Likewise, I will forever speak up against all and any forms of patriarchy and disgusting ways men portray women, this cover included.”
Others argued that the satire of Sabrina’s statement was being missed altogether, stating her image choice highlighted still prevalent power imbalances and misogyny.
“You know she’s a POP QUEEN when people are quaking in their boots cause they don’t understand basic satire,” one follower began, “Trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly.”
We’re still left with the question: why does the image make so many feel uncomfortable?
Is there an element of tongue-in-cheek humour usually found in Carpenter’s work missing? Or is it the fact we can’t see the man in question while the ‘Please, Please, Please’ singer is on complete display and in a vulnerable position?
Carpenter’s intention behind the cover image likely won’t be revealed until her album drops in late August and fans can dissect her every track and lyric. And perhaps, this is where the issue lies.
Many assume the album will be about bad ex boyfriends or as her first track ‘Manchild‘ suggests, ‘sexy’ but ‘dumb’ men, leading to a deeply concerning link between the image and men’s bad behaviour rather than a BDSM kink.
Maybe, we’ll never learn the true meaning at all.
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