Sabrina Carpenter's sexual expression is causing backlash once again, this time due to the sexual nature of her new album cover.
The singer shared the cover for Man's Best Friend on her Instagram, which depicted her on her knees with undeniable bed hair and her hand on a man's thigh – and his hand is pulling at her hair. An alternative cover image shows a dog wearing a collar with a tag that says Man’s Best Friend.
A women's charity has has called the image “regressive” as well as degrading to the singer herself and women more widely. One critic posted on X: “How sad you have to degrade yourself like this to get attention from the public. What happened to wanting people to notice your talent?”
‘My body was completely different. I didn’t fit in any of my clothes.’
This isn't the first time that Sabrina has faced this kind of backlash. She has come under fire from critics numerous times for a combination of two complex reasons – her looks promoting “girlhood” combined with her overt sexuality. These two factors then lead to a rather disturbing expectation from “fans” that she maintain her innocence, even if it's not the authentic reality that underpins her sexual identity.
It's yet another example of female sexuality being vilified and shamed, instead of embraced and celebrated. Sabrina has clearly worked on this album concept with a group of professionals, and has consented for this take on submissive kink to be part of her identity. And it's important to reiterate that she is consenting to this kink. We are infantilising her if we are asking her to hide sexual messaging from her art, as well as if we assume that she didn't have the agency in the first place to choose this kind of imagery to promote her music.
Critics have argued that the cover imagery gives license for men to emulate, inflict and justify non-consensual abuse. Others have insisted that it’s another example of female singers operating beneath the male gaze. In a time of such polarising political events and violence against women and girls being dubbed an epidemic, those who have felt triggered by Sabrina’s album cover have been hit hard, which is of course understandable.
But the question is, is it the job of a young woman to be a permanent role model, a mirror that reflects perfection with no nuance or exploration?
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If a young female singer wants to unashamedly claim her sexuality and write lyrics about the trouble with and power dynamics of dating men – we are still recovering from the genius of Manchild, which is said to be based on her relationship with ex-boyfriend Barry Keoghan – more power to her. And that's the thing. Power. Sabrina has it. She isn't being coerced or forced into the sexual acts depicted on her album cover. Just like other male and female performers that have come before her, she has the right to explore her sexuality within her art – she is not a children's entertainer, or obligated to cater to any particular preferences from her fans.
Back in March of this year, the singer's performance at the BRITs was cut by ITV bosses due to the fact she emulated a sex act by kneeling in front of a guard on stage. Viewers reportedly threatened to call Ofcom over this performance. Meanwhile, Sabrina herself posted a six-word response to criticisms of her performance on Instagram: “i now know what watershed is!!!!”
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According to Western beauty standards, the Espresso singer is about as close to perfection as you can get. She embodies all the facets of girlhood that we are told to pursue and covet from a young age: a petite figure, long blonde hair, long lashes, a feminine, youthful exterior accentuated by frilly, fussy clothes.
Even though Sabrina is a prime example of this feminine ideal, her expression of it is not necessarily met with praise. Often, she's branded too much. Too girly, too suggestive, too sexual. It's a tight-rope men don't have to walk; the one between attaining validation and beauty and the backlash for using such tools in the wrong way.
Sabrina is not the first pop star to be criticised on the basis of her sexuality. Unfortunately, we've seen a long history of famous women – particularly pop stars – being vilified and hounded about their sexual identity, whether it's made public or not.
A media campaign was made over Britney Spears' virginity, while stars such as Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez became caught up in Disney's “purity culture” in the Noughties, which saw them and boy band the Jonas Brothers sport promise rings to convey that they had promised to not have sex before marriage. So, obsessions with a famous musician's sexuality, and fan culture's assumption that it's our place to judge, have been around for a while.
Miley Cyrus faced similar backlash when she pivoted to a more overtly sexual style and performance. After ditching her teen Hannah Montana persona, she was shamed for exploring her queer identity and how she displays her body on stage. Her decision to pose naked while straddling a wrecking ball for her 2013 music video saw her labelled a “bad role model” for fans.
Now, it's Sabrina's turn. Part of the singer's schtick is her cutesy persona, bubblegum pink lingerie and bouncy blonde blow drys – a kind of Barbie aesthetic. Controversially, a recent shoot for W Magazine shows Sabrina lying in a garden being soaked by sprinklers, which was likened to a scene in the 1997 film adaption of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, telling the story of a middle-aged man who becomes infatuated with a 12-year-old girl.
A now-viral Substack claimed: “Your fave is selling a pedophilic fantasy.”
This theory is rather nebulous given the entire point of Nabokov’s book – and subsequent adaptations – is to critique the sexualising gaze of his perverse protagonist. Suppose Sabrina references Lolita, as Lana Del Rey has done before her. Is it too much to imagine that she might, too, be critiquing the predatory gaze that followed her first foray into stardom at age 11?
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Nevertheless, this made Sabrina's sexual identity fair game for critics, even though she has played the game and ticked every requirement when it comes to society's perfect feminine example. Society may say it's fine (empowering, even) for a woman like Sabrina to be sexually liberated in theory, but in reality, it's impossible for any famous woman to keep up with the ever-moving goalposts.
Famous men, on the other hand, rarely receive the same level of vitriol. When Sabrina mimed oral sex on stage earlier this year, she was labelled a “literal weirdo” and fans claimed they were “afraid of her” – but male performers mimicking sex acts (Chris Brown) and dancing suggestively with female fans (Ne-Yo) has become so commonplace as to be expected.
The fact that fans of a 25-year-old female performer feel “afraid” of seeing evidence of her sexuality and find it “weird” is an indictment of our refusal to give women the sexual liberation they deserve, on stage and otherwise.
Is it possible that Sabrina Carpenter, a Disney child star just like Miley Cyrus, is doing a very similar type of rebrand by satirising her audience and mainstream media's perception of her? After all, women – particularly those in the spotlight – struggle to shed the stereotypes and judgments that society pile on them as it is, maybe she just decided not to fight directly back against it, instead mirroring back our own discomfort at her sexuality. Which isn't her problem at all. Her rebranding, like Miley's, jumped from Disney-level innocence to sexual adventure, and both stars were criticised for it.
Whether you're offended by Sabrina Carpenter's specific brand of cutesy horniness or not, it's clear that female pop stars remain vilified for embracing their sexuality, while their male colleagues do not. But maybe it is Sabrina, this time, who is having the last laugh.
