ALBUM REVIEW | Man’s Best Friend – Sabrina Carpenter

Man’s Best Friend is Sabrina Carpenter’s seventh studio album, out now via Island Records. It follows the successful 2025 Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy Awards winner, Short ‘n Sweet.

Preceded by the lead summer single “Manchild,” a provocative song that went straight to the top of the charts in the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland, the new record features twelves tracks enterily produced and written by Carpenter, Jack Antonoff and John Ryan.

The album blends pop songs such as “Tears“, “My man on willpower”, “When did you get hot?”, “House tour” and “Go go juice”, a country pop jam, with tracks like “Sugar Talking”, “We almost broke up last night”, “Nobody’s son” and the Mamma Mia inspired “Goodbye” that bring the feeling of mini-narratives, as if Carpenter was performing them on a Broadway stage. Although lyrically, many of the songs revolve around the same themes, each song stands out on their own through finely tuned production.

The project also features a couple of slower-paced songs like “Never getting laid” and “Don’t worry, I’ll make you worry” that show love’s messier side, celebrating and embracing vulnerabily.

The Promotion of Man’s Best Friend

Of course, Man’s Best Friend is more than just music. The original cover art sparked debate from the moment it was released. Showing Carpenter on her knees while a man holds her hair (much like a man would hold the leash of a dog, the animal considered as man’s best friend), the cover art was deemed as a vulgar image of women by some, and a provocative yet very feminist reclamation of power by others. Rather than harming the release, the controversy only fueled its fire and allowed the hype to grow bigger. The 26-year-old eventually released a couple of alternative versions of the artwork, that she captioned as being “approved by God” in an Instagram post.

The tracklist release also followed the artistic direction chosen for the album: it was both provocative and creative. Instead of opting for a standard picture-posting reveal, Carpenter invited her fans to participate directly, giving them the opportunity to unveil song titles through Instagram posts of them posing with their dogs. By doing so, Carpenter created even more buzz around the album but also deepened the sense of community that she’s been cultivating within her fandom since her very first album release back in 2015.

Man’s Best Friend highlights Sabrina Carpenter’s growth as an artist. Allying her doll-like persona to cheeky lyricism, Carpenter proves she knows how to use pop in a smart and entertaining way.