Pop star’s latest album cover slammed for depicting ‘humiliation ritual’
Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album cover has drawn criticism from fans and media personalities alike.
The “Espresso” singer shared the cover art for her new album, “Man’s Best Friend,” on Instagram Wednesday, June 11.
The cover shows the 26-year-old on her hands and knees, with one hand on the leg of a man who has her by the hair.
In an interview with Rolling Stone that was done before the album cover was revealed, Carpenter said she was “living in the glory of no one” knowing anything about the upcoming project.
“I can not care,” Carpenter told the outlet. “I can not give a (expletive) about it, because I’m just so excited.”
While World Music Views said on Facebook “Man’s Best Friend’s” cover “suggest a tongue-in-cheek commentary on power dynamics, gender, and self-possession,” many fans found it repulsive, offensive and degrading to women.
“Are we really gonna use ‘irony’ as an excuse here?,” one Instagram user commented on Carpenter’s post. “There’s NOTHING ironic about this picture.”
“It’s not a very empowering image for women,” another user commented. “I think it’s a mistake since most her fans are women and as a DV (domestic violence) survivor, I find it uncomfortable and I’d rather see her empowered than like that.”
Other comments included “this cover art is so disgusting,” “Sabrina this is not the slay you think it is,” and “is this a humiliation ritual?”
The backlash over the cover for “Man’s Best Friend” was a topic of discussion on “The View” this week.
Alyssa Farah Griffin compared the criticisms to that of other major artists, such as Brittany Spears and Janet Jackson.
“Oh boo-hoo, it sounds like the ‘90s to complain about an album cover,” she said. “They’re always provocative, you want to grab people’s eyes.”
Griffin also defended Carpenter by citing her music — including the album’s lead single “Manchild” which just dropped last week — as being “all about women’s empowerment.”
Sara Haines then chimed in saying, “It’s an important distinction that she’s choosing it and she’s the powerful one.”
Joy Behar, however, mentioned that messages like these are “subtle” and that people often miss the deeper meaning.
“People just see pictures. They don’t know the fine print a lot of times,” she said.
“I think that imagery is important and even if her lyrics are strong and she’s a feminist, I just think about young girls seeing that who may not understand the brand,” added Sunny Hostin, who admitted to not knowing about Carpenter beforehand.
Whoopi Goldberg compared the cover to a scene from the 1984 comedy “This Is Spinal Tap,” in which Fran Drescher’s character, Bobbi Flekman, tells Tony Hendra’s character, Ian Faith, about the backlash over an “offensive” and “sexist” album cover involving a naked woman on all fours wearing a dog collar.
“The girl is doing her thing,” Goldberg said. “God bless her.”
This is not the first time Carpenter’s work has sparked controversy. In 2023, the pop star received backlash when she filmed scenes of her dancing provocatively on the altar at the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Brooklyn, New York. The scenes were used in the music video of Carpenter’s hit song “Feather.”
Despite the church’s pastor claiming he was unaware of the shoot, Carpenter told Variety that she had advance permission, jokingly noting, “Jesus was a carpenter.”
“Man’s Best Friend,” which serves as the follow-up to Carpenter’s 2024 Grammy-winning album “Short n’ Sweet,” will be released on Aug. 29.
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