The girls, the gays, and the glam squad get ready. Pop’s reigning princess Sabrina Carpenter just flipped the script on a quiet Wednesday morning with the announcement of her seventh studio album, provocatively titled “Man’s Best Friend.” And no, this isn’t about your golden retriever.
From Donna to Dolly to Dominance
It all began on Instagram Live, a setting that’s become Carpenter’s preferred stage for unleashing chaos with glitter. Casually flipping through vinyl from the holy trinity of disco and country, Donna Summer, ABBA, and Dolly Parton, Carpenter made her way to the pièce de résistance: her own damn record.
But she wasn’t just teasing tunes. “Man’s Best Friend” lands August 29, almost a year to the date after the sugar-coated chart massacre that was “Short n’ Sweet.”
Artwork That Bites Back
Now let’s talk about that album cover because subtlety is dead, and Carpenter came to bury it. The artwork features the blonde bombshell on all fours while a faceless figure in black slacks (daddy?) grabs a full, unbothered handful of her iconic platinum hair. It’s giving power play. It’s giving femme fatale. It’s giving, “Don’t pet me unless I say so.”
It’s already sparked think pieces, stan wars, and at least five college theses in feminist media theory.
‘Manchild‘ Breaks the Internet
The lead single, titled “Manchild,” a glitter-dipped gut punch co-written with hitmakers Jack Antonoff and Amy Allen, dropped like a champagne cork last week and detonated across the internet. The track shot to No. 1 on both Spotify U.S. and Spotify Global within hours, proving that Carpenter is not here to play unless it’s with your ego.
The single arrived hand-in-hand with a visually arresting, film-school-worthy video helmed by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia. Imagine Barbie if she were raised on revenge, not sunshine. Glamorous, vengeful, and utterly in control.
Queen of the Streaming Empire
“Man’s Best Friend” follows 2024’s multi-platinum smash, “Short n’ Sweet,” which turned Carpenter from pop star to streaming deity. Every single off that album, “Espresso,” “Please Please Please,” and “Taste”, entered Spotify’s exclusive Billions Club. All three. That’s not a flex, that’s a chokehold.
And oh, by the way. “Short n’ Sweet” sold 10 million albums globally and earned Carpenter six Grammy nominations on her first go-round. She took home two:
- Best Pop Vocal Album
- Best Pop Solo Performance (for “Espresso,” naturally, a summer anthem that doubled as a personality trait)
If there was any doubt she was the new queen of bubblegum-and-barbed-wire pop, this era is coming to shatter it and pour lip gloss on the remains.
Back on Tour, Bigger Than Ever
In true pop overlord fashion, Sabrina is not slowing down. This fall, she’s launching a second leg of her sold-out North American “Short n’ Sweet” tour, an arena-sized love letter to fans and stagecraft.
Kicking off October 23 in Pittsburgh, the tour will blaze through Nashville, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, where it wraps up on November 23. But get this:
- FIVE sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden
- SIX at Crypto.com Arena in L.A.
We’re talking Taylor Swift-level mayhem but with more hairspray and less heartache.
