Sabrina Carpenter Is Putting Her Album-Cover Controversy to Bed
Over the summer, a lot of people collectively lost their minds over a Sabrina Carpenter album cover that showed her on all fours, looking straight into the camera and gently touching an anonymous man’s thigh while he grabbed a fistful of her hair. People were quick to call the Man’s Best Friend cover demeaning, regressive, and a brutal blow to the project of feminism. I thought it was fun, but what do I know? After previously saying that the image’s haters “need to get out more,” Carpenter has one last word on the matter.
In a new Variety profile, the singer spoke at length about the cover and people’s reaction to it. For the first time since the controversy, Carpenter explained exactly what she was going for. “You can be so in control and so not in control at the same time,” she said. “It was about how people try to control women, and how I felt emotionally yanked around by these relationships that I had, and how much power you’re allowing yourself to give them.”
Carpenter also reflected on the controversy in her characteristically chill way. “It meant one thing to me and 100 things to other people, and I was looking at it going, ‘That’s valid. Mine’s valid. What’s for dinner?’” she told the magazine. “Not to bypass the weight that it did carry for some people. I saw it and was like, ‘That is a great point. It wasn’t the point I was trying to make.’”
Following the backlash, Carpenter did release an alternative, less provocative cover, which sort of made it seem like she’d course-corrected after people deemed her the world’s top upholder of the patriarchy. Turns out that wasn’t the case. “Oh, girl,” Carpenter clarified, “I just wanted to take more pictures!”
If you are still upset about any of this, you have until EOD Friday to post your TikTok screed. After that, it will no longer be considered, as we all have to move on eventually. Case closed.
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