Sabrina Carpenter responds to claims of ‘Man’s Best Friend’ artwork “reducing women to pets”: “I can not give a fuck about it”

A women’s charity has criticised Sabrina Carpenter over the cover artwork for her new album ‘Man’s Best Friend’, and the singer has shared a response to the backlash.

The ‘Espresso’ pop star is due to release the follow-up to last year’s hugely successful ‘Short N’ Sweet’ on August 29 (pre-order/pre-save here). She has already previewed the record with the single ‘Manchild’.

Yesterday (June 12), Glasgow Women’s Aid – which supports women, children and young people experiencing domestic abuse – shared a response to the provocative ‘Man’s Best Friend’ cover.

The artwork depicts Carpenter kneeling on the floor as an unidentified person stands beside her and pulls on her hair. She is wearing a black dress and high heels, striking what some have perceived as a dog-like pose – reflecting the album’s title.

“Oh Sabrina!” Glasgow Women’s Aid began. “Sabrina Carpenter’s new album cover isn’t edgy, it’s regressive.

“Picturing herself on all fours, with a man pulling her hair and calling it ‘Man’s Best Friend’ isn’t subversion. It’s a throwback to tired tropes that reduce women to pets, props, and possessions and promote an element of violence and control.”

It added: “We’ve fought too hard for this. We get Sabrina’s brand is packaged up retro glam but we really don’t need to go back to the tired stereotypes of women.

“Sabrina is pandering to the male gaze and promoting misogynistic stereotypes, which is ironic given the majority of her fans are young women! Come on Sabrina! You can do better!”

During a new cover interview with Rolling Stone, Carpenter shared her thoughts on how she feels about the opinions of others regarding the artwork.

“I’m living in the glory of no one hearing it or knowing about it, and so I can not care,” she said. “I can not give a fuck about it, because I’m just so excited.”

Fans are divided over what message Carpenter is trying to send with the ‘Man’s Best Friend’ art. Some suggested that the photo is “tongue-in-cheek”, and that the star is “taking the piss”. Others argued that the singer was “reclaiming her power” and “sexuality”.

However, there has also been backlash over the cover being inappropriate for young fans. “Not an empowering image for young girls,” someone wrote on Facebook.

One fan on Reddit said: “Irony’s not always clear, and in a misogynistic culture it can totally backfire.”

Another called the artwork “gross”, while someone else said: “People are feeling too comfortable degrading women again and even if this cover was intended to be ‘satirical’, it really doesn’t show it.”

A third user commented: “If the album is an excellent exploration of female sexual liberation and how men treat women like dogs, then the cover works amazingly. If it falls short of that, I think it gets a lot harder to defend this album in any other way than [to] let Sabrina do what she wants.”

Elsewhere, a fan wrote: “People hate it when women don’t express their sexuality in a way that is appropriate to them. So, lots of people hate how openly sexual her music is. Others like it because it is empowering – until there’s a power dynamic they don’t like. Then it’s degrading. But both of those people are trying to control women.”

In a separate post, someone shared: “Man’s best friend double meaning for dogs and female dogs are bitches so it’s a play on the ideology of men being so dependent on women,” one commenter said. “Her cover shows her being in a submissive role but in reality she’s the one who has actual control.”

Spinal Tap – Smell the Glove (1982)

Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend (2025) pic.twitter.com/ODanW67s3i

— Creature (@Blacklagoonirl) June 11, 2025

Another comment read: “She literally kills a man in every single one of her videos. She’s probably doing some kind of reclaim. Her merch background is even updated to blood splatters! Either way, I’m living for it!”

Responding to Glasgow Women’s Aid, a follower argued: “Hear me out, she’s doing what she wants to do instead of pandering to the idea that women can’t express their sexuality without it being for the sole benefit of men.”

Additionally, many people have compared the ‘Man’s Best Friend’ artwork to that of Spinal Tap’s fictional record ‘Smell The Glove’ (see above). One scene in the 1984 music mockumentary saw the fake band run into trouble after their record label deemed the cover “very offensive” and “very sexist”.

“You put a greased, naked woman on all fours, with a dog collar around her neck and a leash, and a man’s arm extended out up to here holding onto the leash, and pushing a black glove in her face to sniff it,” says AR rep Bobbi Flekman (Fran Drescher) in the film. “You don’t find that offensive?”

Back in March, Carpenter sparked controversy with her pre-watershed performance at the BRITs 2025. One part saw the pop star kneel in front of a male dancer, who winked at the camera as she disappeared offscreen.

She had previously responded to complaints about her embracing her sexuality onstage, saying: “Don’t come to the show.” In January, Carpenter hit out at Stock, Aitken & Waterman’s “regressive” comments after they criticised her outfits and “lazy” sexualised lyrics.

“My message has always been clear – if you can’t handle a girl who is confident in her own sexuality, then don’t come to my shows,” she said at the time.

In other news, the full line-up for Sabrina Carpenter’s huge shows at London’s BST Hyde Park 2025 has been revealed.

The upcoming appearances will follow the UK and European leg of her ‘Short N’ Sweet’ tour, and her recent bill-topping set at Primavera Sound in Barcelona.

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