REVIEW: Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Man’s Best Friend’ Reclaims and Encourages Sexuality
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY NINA KUDLACZ ☆
Sabrina Carpenter released Man’s Best Friend on August 29, an album of disco pop anthems featuring cheeky, risque innuendos over addictive melodies and instrumentals.
Carpenter is reviving pop with this album, which sonically scratches the ABBA itch many know and love.
The album blends genres while using bedroom metaphors to explain all the places the men in her life are lacking. Her breathy yet seductive voice makes her suggestive lyrics seem tame and innocent.
In her early days of fame, Carpenter raised a generation of young women on Disney Channel. Now, having come a long way, she is teaching them how to unleash their inner confidence and embrace their sexuality.
With this album, Carpenter is reclaiming women’s ability to talk about their relationships and sexuality the way men do, both in songs and in life.
After the discourse around the original album cover, which displays Carpenter on her knees while a man holds her hair, Carpenter leaned into the sensuality of life and love even more.
In an interview with Gayle King, Carpenter said the cover is about being aware of when you have control and knowing when you don’t. The album encapsulates the theme of taking back the power, and for Carpenter, it's about the humanity in allowing yourself to make mistakes.
The first track on the album “Man’s Best Friend” was released on June 5 and was the only single for the album. Carpenter performed it on her Short n’ Sweet tour, which sparked a TikTok dance trend for the bridge of the song. The song features country influences with a modern twist.
In “Tears,” she describes her desire for a man taking responsibility in a relationship over a groovy discotheque track with a prevalent bassline. In the music video for “Tears,” which features Colman Domingo, Carpenter kills off yet another man, in keeping with the running joke about the action’s presence throughout all of her other music videos.
“My Man on Willpower” explores the disconnect in sexuality between Carpenter and her partner. The disco pop sound of the first two tracks continues through this song before track four, “Sugar Talking,” which takes listeners back to Carpenter’s last album, Short n’ Sweet, with its R&B references.
Track five, "We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night," dives into the trials and tribulations of an on-an-off relationship, where at least the sex is good. Carpenter’s heavenly falsetto on the track makes her raunchy lyrics sound innocent.
Halfway through the album, “Nobody’s Son” brings listeners right back to the sparkly nightclub sound they heard earlier on. The catchy melody softens the raw and relatable lyrics about being single and Carpenter’s inability to find a good man.
The album simmers down with “Never Getting Laid,” as Carpenter wishes nothing but the worst on her ex-lovers. She brings back the R&B vibe to sing her manifesto before a slow piano outro rounds out the song.
“When Did You Get Hot?” picks things right back up again before leading into another upbeat banger, “Go Go Juice.” Both songs are about scenarios that many young women can relate to–realizing someone you used to know is suddenly super hot, and getting drunk for no reason other than calling your exes. This is also known as girlhood.
The bridge of “Go Go Juice” is undeniably addictive. It features a breakdown in the bridge that could get any listener up, out of their bed and dancing.
The album flips a switch with "Don't Worry I'll Make You Worry," a calming, guitar-heavy track featuring layered harmonies and Carpenter's admission to all her toxic traits in a relationship.
“House Tour,” which could be straight out of the Barbie soundtrack, catches the listener's attention immediately with cheeky sexual innuendos against a retro discotheque sound.
The final song, “Goodbye,” is not only Carpenter’s farewell to the album, but also to any past partner in her life. With musical theater references, the disco pop song highlights the high production quality of the album while tying in its running theme: the trials and tribulations of dating men.
Man’s Best Friend may as well be called ‘Carpenter’s best work’ as she solidifies herself as an undeniably talented playful popstar who is embracing and reclaiming her sexuality while normalizing it for women everywhere.
