Sabrina Carpenter boasts raunchy innuendoes in disco-tinged ‘Man’s Best Friend’
Sabrina Carpenter’s new album was full of her famously flirty lyrics. However, some songs addressed deeper themes of heartbreak and resentment while still hanging onto her catchy sound. Emma Soto | Contributing Illustrator
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If you’ve spent some time in online music discourse in the last year, then you know that Sabrina Carpenter has been unavoidable.
Last year, her hit “Espresso” made headlines and topped charts as the “song of the summer,” while her viral concert moments like “Juno” arrests and pre-chorus poses filled social media feeds, securing Carpenter’s place in the “pop girlies” spotlight. The Grammy award-winning “Short n’ Sweet” era was, as its title implies, just that.
But this summer was much different for the singer-songwriter, who found herself at the center of deep controversy after unveiling the cover art for her next work. The cover, featuring Carpenter on her knees at the feet of a male silhouette, was criticized for promoting misogyny and female objectification.
The pop superstar’s response was simple: “Y’all need to get out more.”
Carpenter’s “Man’s Best Friend” was released to listeners on Friday, highly anticipated by super fans and critics alike. The album boasts 12 new tracks and a runtime of just over 38 minutes. Similar to Carpenter’s response to the controversy, the album is shameless in its celebration of sex and laughter. Its tracks are chock full of racy innuendos, taboo themes and so much disco.
The work opens with “Manchild,” a prereleased single that came to streaming platforms on June 5. The song is a disco ball diss track tinged with country, hammering home its subject’s shortcomings over and over. The track has striking similarities to the song “Please Please Please” from the artist’s previous album, sharing its synth pop sound and disappointed lyrics.
As if anticipating backlash, Carpenter shifts in the bridge from addressing her subject to speaking directly to the listener. Like an aside, Carpenter assures her audience, “I swear they choose me, I’m not choosing them.”
“Tears,” “Sugar Talking” and “When Did You Get Hot?” are erotic anthems about sex and laughter, central to the work’s character. If “emails i can’t send” was a flirt with intimacy and “Short n’ Sweet” was a warm embrace, this latest album is sex itself.
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“Tears” is a song about feeling turned on at the thought of a person simply being respectful. It’s a lighthearted commentary on the addictive feeling basic human compassion has on someone who doesn’t receive it all that often. The song received an official music video, starring Colman Domingo, that draws clear inspiration from cult films like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“Sugar Talking” speaks to sensual expectations —Carpenter’s fed up with the men in her life for being all bark and no bite. She encourages them to find that bite, comedically taunting, “it’s your seventh last chance, honey, get your sorry ass to mine.”
Ahead of its release, Carpenter warned that this album is “not for the pearl clutchers,” and these songs are prime reasons why. They’re unapologetically honest about Carpenter’s intense sexual desires. Her racy words are lyrical manifestations of her every thought: the good, the bad and the sensual.
Other songs on the album touch on themes like heavy drinking and resentment, although still infused with heartbreak and horniness. “Go Go Juice” implores the aforementioned pearl clutchers to rip them off and dance with some liquid courage (although the night might end with regretted phone calls).
In “My Man on Willpower,” Carpenter flips the script from “Tears,” now saddened by the same respect that originally had her enthralled. “We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” covers the most vulnerable moments of this heartbreak, although Carpenter still manages to slip in her cheeky sarcasm.
“Goodbye,” the album’s closer, sends a clear message in its title and lyrics by including several variations of goodbye — Carpenter sings “goodbye,” “sayonara,” “adios,” “arrivederci” and more. Despite this message of good riddance, after hearing the prior tracks, listeners know she finds it hard to actually keep her distance.
The song is strikingly reminiscent of prime ABBA. With “Voulez-Vous”-esque “ahas” sprinkled through the song and layered vocals that build through the chorus, Carpenter shows clear inspiration and maybe even a reference to her theater kid roots.
Carpenter didn’t reinvent the wheel with “Man’s Best Friend,” and no one expected her to. The singer-songwriter has clearly found her niche in mixing disco-pop elements with comedic innuendos and impressive vocals.
Despite this, the album is, at its core, about Carpenter’s messy way of dealing with heartbreak. It’s a collection of songs that detail desire and position the singer as a self-aware provocateur.
Coming out of an era that brought Carpenter’s work to an extensive audience, it’s no surprise the star sticks to what works: sex sells and Carpenter knows that.
As she joked in an Instagram post, her life’s been “26 years of jokes not landing.” But with “Man’s Best Friend,” the humor, sex and heartbreak land exactly how she intends.
