Earlier this month, when Sabrina Carpenter revealed the artwork for Man’s Best Friend, her surprise summer album due out in August, her fans began crashing out. The suggestive image of the singer on all fours, crawling toward a suited figure with his hands in her hair, became the discourse du jour, with fans and non-fans alike asking each other in earnest: Is the Sabrina Carpenter album artwork feminist?
I can’t speak to her intentions with the initial album art, however, based on the tone of her latest Instagram post, I’d say at the very least she didn’t expect to start A Whole Thing. On June 25, Carpenter shared an alternate album cover with fans, which she joked was “approved by God.” Both versions of the album, which will be released on August 29, are now available for preorder on her website. (Regardless of your opinion on the art, you have to give it up to her marketing team for capitalizing on the drama to announce the presale!)
The new artwork is a black-and-white photo of the 26-year-old wearing a beaded dress while dancing with a man whose face is turned away from the camera. A few more suitors in tuxedos loom in the shadows like shy boys at a high school dance. (See it here.)
Fans in the comments applauded Carpenter’s use of sarcasm to indirectly address the hoopla. One even referenced the singer’s memorable comeback-turned-T-shirt slogan, “Jesus was a Carpenter.”
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Though she may deflect with humor, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Carpenter opened up about the pressure she faces as a woman in the public eye.
“I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I truly feel like I’ve never lived in a time where women have been picked apart more, and scrutinized in every capacity,” she said. “I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about every female artist that is making art right now. We’re in such a weird time where you would think it’s girl power, and women supporting women, but in reality, the second you see a picture of someone wearing a dress on a carpet, you have to say everything mean about it in the first 30 seconds that you see it.”