By Eden Lozano
On Aug. 29 2025, Sabrina Carpenter released her seventh studio album, “Man’s Best Friend,” amidst a flurry of controversy over her artistic vision.
Before the release of her album, Carpenter released the album’s cover art, which depicts her on her hands and knees with a man holding her by the hair. The promiscuous position instantly made Carpenter the center of a conversation around feminism and the pitfalls of the patriarchy. In a society that is becoming increasingly conservative and misogynistic towards women, it’s no wonder why people see Carpenter as supposedly pandering to the male gaze.
And thus, comes the thesis of “Man’s Best Friend.”
The album itself is lyrically very similar to Carpenter’s work on her previous album, “Short n’ Sweet” – catchy, full of wordplay and innuendos, and deeply humorous. Carpenter is unafraid of spelling out the hard truths, even when she contradicts herself.
Carpenter’s first track, “Manchild,” sets up the album with a criticism of immature men while sardonically evaluating her pattern of partners. “Manchild” came as the first single off her album, predating the controversial reveal of the cover art. Despite the obvious theme of exhaustion over dating men, even this set up for the album came with questions on all sides over just how ironic Carpenter was planning to take “Man’s Best Friend.”
The second track, “Tears,” is more sensual than other tracks. Carpenter finds herself attracted to men who “treat her like [they’re] supposed to do” when they’re responsible and respectful towards her. It’s a humorous (but also very relatable) look at what modern women look for in a man: a guy who is nice, who does the dishes, who respects women – simple asks, really, but things that are increasingly difficult to find given the explosion of misogyny in our culture.
“My Man On Willpower,” which is one of my personal favorites, can be seen as a follow-up to “Tears.” The narrative of this track shows Carpenter’s partner becoming a little too respectful, to the point that he now seems less interested in her. This track depicts Carpenter’s lack of sexual gratification as a result of her partner restraining himself. Carpenter is disappointed by this stranger who “won’t touch [her] with a twenty-foot pole.” There is very much a fine line between respectful distance and total restraint.
The fourth track, “Sugar Talking,” confronts her partner’s words versus actions. Carpenter’s partner might talk a lot about what he can do for her, but he’s not physically there for her, which becomes the narrative of the song. He tries to buy her things to make up for his inaction, but it does nothing to fulfill her needs. This track is more sincere than the others, with a slower beat and a pleading tone to the lyrics.
“We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” deals with the ups and downs of a relationship. As the title suggests, Carpenter and her partner are very back and forth: getting into fights, threatening to break up, making up, and doing it all over again. It’s a song about loneliness and wanting to hold onto something questionable for fear of losing the little good that remains. At the end of the track, Carpenter sighs, tired of the vicious cycle she’s in.
If we follow the narrative so far of the album, “Nobody’s Son” (another favorite of mine) seems to follow Carpenter after her partner breaks up with her. The song expresses exhaustion with the dating scene and men as a whole. Carpenter looks to the parents of the son (her former partner) in question as the ones responsible for his poor behavior. Carpenter shares her grief over the breakup, including her act of crying in bed and witnessing her friends all in loving relationships. Carpenter notes in the second verse that her ex “discovered self control,” a callback to “My Man On Willpower.” Again, Carpenter is exhausted over being used and lusted over only to be forgotten by her partner soon after.
If any song could encapsulate the album’s narrative, I would point to “Never Getting Laid” as the closest pick. “Never Getting Laid” follows Carpenter’s dichotomous feelings post-breakup – wishing her ex-partner well whilst hoping he never goes outside or gets laid again. Carpenter doesn’t want her partner to necessarily be miserable, but she also doesn’t want him to love anyone else again, as shown by her displeasure at the thought of her ex with someone new.
“When Did You Get Hot” is a sillier song that follows after Carpenter’s breakup. After being without sexual gratification for so long, it follows Carpenter’s yearning for something new and exciting to switch things up.
“Go Go Juice” is the upbeat ninth track off the album. This song finds Carpenter drinking heavily to cope with her lack of a stable relationship. She sings about “just drinking to call someone” to fill a lonely night. She’s careless at this point, looking for some “good old fashioned fun [to] numb the pain.”
Carpenter’s tenth track, “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry,” is another favorite of mine. This song is slower, more dreamlike, and has a nostalgic feel to it, which represents the cycle that comes after terrible dates and lonely nights. “Don’t Worry” is very much a send-off to her former partner after things go wrong. A fantastic example of women in male dominated fields (emotional manipulation).
“House Tour” is full of Carpenter’s signature risqué metaphors. The tone shifts between “Don’t Worry” and “House Tour” gives the impression of Carpenter getting back up again, pushing herself back into dating and changing up her love life. Carpenter sings that her partner doesn’t have to love her right now because she’s not looking for that. Right now, all that matters is getting back into the swing of things.
“Goodbye” serves as Carpenter’s send-off for the album. This song is different from other tracks in, it seems to break the cycle that has been created – until she slips up and drops an “I love you” in the bridge. Even at the end of a relationship, it seems that Carpenter is still longing for love and comfort despite giving a very firm farewell to her ex.
“Man’s Best Friend” is a very cyclical album – listening to it over and over again presents the very real ups and downs faced by women who date men. I think what becomes clear upon listening to this album is Carpenter’s struggle with womanhood. What does it mean to be a woman under a patriarchy? How do you date men and hate them at the same time?
People make such a spectacle of Carpenter’s work due to her unapologetic takes on sexuality, but at the heart of her artistic vision is a very complicated journey. The things that make Carpenter so controversial are also the things that make her singular as an artist. She portrays all the feelings women are usually criticized for – the neediness, the sensuality, the exhaustion – and she does it in a way that is so obvious (and even humorous) that it frightens people.
This is not to say that Carpenter doesn’t toe the line between well-intentioned irony and playing into conservatism. The image she portrays is a slippery slope, and – if we’re being honest with ourselves – media literacy is so far down the drain these days that it’s impossible for Carpenter, or any woman at all, to survive public criticism unscathed. However, it’s also not hard to tell from “Man’s Best Friend” that Carpenter is simply trying to make sense of the world she’s living in amidst failed relationships, puritanism, and misogyny.
After many listens and careful consideration, I rate “Man’s Best Friend” at 4 out of 5 stars.