Sabrina Carpenter’s album-cover post is creating new controversy.
We had a good few months, but unfortunately I have to set the “Days Without People Being Weird About Sabrina Carpenter” ticker back to zero. Someone always has something to say about the pop star, usually because she’s having fun acting like a woman who would make a cartoon sailor’s eyes burst through his binoculars. That’s illegal, according to some commenters who feel Carpenter is setting feminism back 100 years. Previously, these people were upset that the singer was pantomiming getting Eiffel Tower–ed during a concert in Paris. Now, they’re mad at her for daring to have a risqué album cover for the forthcoming Man’s Best Friend.
Following the release of the song “Manchild,” Carpenter announced that Man’s Best Friend would be coming out this August. Accompanying the announcement was an image of Carpenter looking straight at the camera while on all fours in a black minidress, stroking someone’s leg (presumably a man) as he grabs her hair.
In a brilliant bit of timing, Carpenter’s Rolling Stone cover came out right as the discourse surrounding her album cover was peaking. In the profile, she addressed the comments she gets about infusing sexuality into her pop-star persona.
“It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” she told the magazine. “They’re like, ‘All she does is sing about this.’ But those are the songs that you’ve made popular. Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it. It’s in my show. There’s so many more moments than the ‘Juno’ positions, but those are the ones you post every night and comment on. I can’t control that.”
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“I find irony and humor in all of that, because it seems to be a recurring theme,” Carpenter added. “I’m not upset about it, other than I feel mad pressure to be funny sometimes.”
The idea that Carpenter might be having a laugh, or that the album cover might have a different meaning within the context of the album, has been largely rejected by the people complaining about it. Could it be that she’s referring to the idea of men treating her like a dog (man’s best friend)? It might not even be that deep; maybe she’s just 26 years old and wanted to take a provocative photo — God forbid!
One thing is for sure: No one is allowed to tell these people what Madonna was up to in the ’90s. If a slightly submissive photo is sending them reeling, who knows what would happen if they laid their eyes on the Sex book.
