Singer Sabrina Carpenter is ‘for the girlies.’ She’s a liberating breath of fresh air when it comes to sexual confidence, giving us anthems like ‘Please Please Please’ to blast on full vol when your situationship is acting up (“I beg you, don’t embarrass me, motherfucker.”)

Now, the ‘Espresso’ singer has released her hotly anticipated new album, Man’s Best Friend, which caused a stir online when it was first announced due to the album artwork. It shows Carpenter in a slinky black mini dress and heels, posing for the camera with her arm lounging halfway up a man’s suit leg as he grips her ponytail. 

The comments section quickly became flooded with fans’ thoughts. The first wave of reactions was overwhelmingly positive, with users commenting things like “New reason to stay alive just dropped” and “Texting everyone I know.”

But, pretty quickly, users came out to express disappointment with the artwork, with some calling it “triggering.” There were also comments from fans who felt as though the image reiterates ongoing narratives about Carpenter “catering to the male gaze” and “centring men” in her art. 

Carpenter thinks those who thought the cover was controversial “need to get out more.” In a recent interview with CBS Mornings, when asked about her reaction to audiences being shocked by the album artwork, she goes on to say that she was “shocked” because “between me and my friends and my family, and the people who I always shared my music and my art with first, it just wasn’t even a conversation.”

“It was perfect for what the album is. It’s perfect for what it represents. Everything about it to me felt so opposite of the world ending,” Carpenter adds.

@cbsmornings

#SabrinaCarpenter says she is taking online opinions of the cover art for her new album, “Man’s Best Friend,” with “a grain of salt.” “It’s perfect for what the album is, it’s perfect for, you know, kind of what it represents,” she told Gayle King. #mansbestfriend

♬ original sound - CBS Mornings

On her intentions with the Man’s Best Friend cover, Carpenter said it’s “up to interpretation.” To her? “It’s about being in on the control, being in on your lack of control, and when you want to be in control.”

She says that, as a young woman, you’re often just as aware of when you’re in control as when you’re not. Carpenter believes some of this control is a choice, and adds: “I think for me, this whole album was about the humanity of allowing yourself to make those mistakes, knowing when you’re putting yourself in a situation that will probably end up poorly, but it’s going to teach you something. So, there’s a lot of different meanings [to the album cover].” 

The reaction to the cover came before the world even heard the album, as Carpenter points out, and she says that it seems there was a lot of “pointing fingers.” Adding that her fans, who know the person behind the music, look at the photo and “know exactly what it is.” 

She says that people who don’t know her look at the cover and ask, “Where are her parents?” To which she says: “My parents actually saw the photo, and they loved it.” 

It’s what Carpenter does best, though, teasing the push and pull between being tongue-in-cheek and overtly making a statement. And as she said, fans that understand how she walks that line ‘get’ her art, and if she has a million fans, I’ll be one, and if she has a single cheerleader, you bet it’ll be me.