The Sabrina Carpenter Man’s Best Friend discourse, explained

Fresh off debuting her brand-new single ‘Manchild’ live at Primavera Sound 2025, Sabrina Carpenter hit fans with another major news alert: Her seventh studio album, officially titled Man’s Best Friend, will be released on August 29, 2025, not even a year after the release of her Grammy-winning album Short n’ Sweet.

While some simply rejoiced at the prospect of new Sabrina Carpenter music so soon after such a significant project, many others took to social media to comment on the album’s title and accompanying visuals, starting a debate around hypersexualisation, misogyny and the male gaze.

Below, we break down the discourse and drama so you get the full picture.

When and how did Sabrina Carpenter announce Man’s Best Friend?

Sabrina Carpenter first announced her new album, Man’s Best Friend, on June 11, 2025. The star simultaneously revealed that the project would include ‘Manchild’ as its lead single and unveiled the cover art for the project. In the album art, which you can see below, Carpenter appears on her knees before a suited figure, which many have assumed to be a man given the title, who grabs her hair. The back cover of the album appears to be a photo of a dog wearing a collar with the album’s title in a heart-shaped pendant.

To coincide with the announcement, Carpenter also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, shot by David LaChapelle, wearing nothing but white stockings.

“If I really wanted to, I could have stretched out Short n’ Sweet much, much longer,” Carpenter said in her cover interview. “But I’m at that point in my life where I’m like, ‘Wait a second, there’s no rules.’ If I’m inspired to write and make something new, I would rather do that. Why would I wait three years just for the sake of waiting three years? It’s all about what feels right. I’m learning to listen to that a lot more, instead of what is perceived as the right or wrong move.”

What’s the controversy around Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend?

Though Carpenter has gained a reputation for sexually charged and explicit innuendos, the cover art for Man’s Best Friend has gained the star a fair share of criticism and a number of detractors who claim the image is degrading and even misogynistic.