Carpenter is playful, biting and a little shameless in her new album.
Who’s a good pop girl? Sabrina Carpenter is.
Fresh off the massive success of “Short N’ Sweet,” Carpenter amps up the romp in “Man’s Best Friend,” a new collection of songs aimed at encapsulating the experiences of settling for the bare minimum. The title may carry the signature biting lens of the singer, but consider the album cover as the bone critics constantly picked on.
Carpenter, sharp as always, was one step ahead of the noise. In her album, she framed the project as a reflection of how vulnerable and unsteady love can make us: “This album reflects how unfortunately human it feels to experience love and loss, on top of the world one second, humbled the next—emotionally pulled on a leash and begging for treats [the bare minimum].”
It is in that confession—equal parts cheeky and gutting—that reassured me that “Man’s Best Friend” had bark and bite. That, despite getting shamed for setting women back (which is so not what she was doing), she still pushed forward.
(Because God forbid the collective experience we all go through sometimes with *shuffles papers* men)
And with this, I digress.
There’s a saying that goes, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But in this album, Carpenter takes inspiration from the pop disco era of four-piece band ABBA and the classic country touch of Dolly Parton, two completely different genres that she manages to weave together. She not only subverts the “old dogs,” but takes the tricks of the trade and makes them her own.
She opens the album with Manchild, a fun, country-inspired anthem about reeling in immature men without even asking for it. She begins the song with a resigned “Oh boy!” and spends the entire 3 minutes singing about her fate that she “likes her men all incompetent,” complete with a square dance and all.
Her previous album ‘Short N’ Sweet’ (2024) may have sealed her pop star status, but her new one proves she is anything but tame.
Carpenter’s shock factor is my favorite most of all, and listeners are in for a rude awakening when Tears is not about a cryfest. It follows the Espresso formula, where the chorus opens the song instead of the first verse—and what a chorus it is! The accompanying music video thrilled me to no end, especially since she lived a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” dream with the delightful Colman Domingo in Frank N’Furter drag. It’s classic Carpenter crass, except that she spells out what riles a woman in a good way – to be a responsible guy, that’s it. (Yes, the bar is that low).
My Man on Willpower was one of my first favorite non-single songs on the album (and the perfect third track to a brilliant three-track run). First of all, her intro reminds me so much of Dionne Warwick’s Wishin’ and Hopin’, a dreamy track about how to score a man. Fans of My Best Friend’s Wedding know the Ani DiFranco rendition, which featured in the opening credits of the film. But in Carpenter’s case, she lives at the end of Wishin’ and Hopin’ instead, and wishes her man to be returned. She sings, “He’s busy, he’s working, he doesn’t have time for me / My slutty pajamas not tempting him in the least / What in the f’d up romantic dark comedy is this nightmare?”
Sugar Talking is such a beautiful title for a song, and I liken its vibe to Peggy Lee or Blossom Dearie. But the song itself sounds as if Avril Lavigne’s Complicated got a country makeover (something along the lines of Johnny Cash’s I Walk The Line). Though this song has yet to grow on me, she does a great rendition of telling her man she’s fed up with her man’s fake charisma.
“One of us is lonely, one of us is only waiting for a call,” Carpenter must have thought as she wrote We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night. This song had ABBA’s One Of Us written all over it, especially the outro “We almost broke up, we almost broke up again / We almost broke up, we almost broke up again.” The accompanying guitar was such a plus, and it took me to that split-screen scene in Mamma Mia 2 with Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper.
I’m not sure if it’s confirmed but Nobody’s Son’s intro is so similar to Rufus’s “Tell Me Something Good,” except that Carpenter spells out a situationship that is anything but good. The song begins with a text from her guy: “Hi, I hope you’re great / It’s time we took a break.” She then continues in true funk fashion, “That boy is corrupt / Get PTSD on the daily,” which I consider to be one of my top 3 choruses in the album.
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The song then ends and transitions (ever so smoothly) to Never Getting Laid, which begins with a ‘70s-esque intro that is so beautifully perfect. It feels like one of those songs you see on karaoke, seagull visuals and all. Carpenter lets her signature humor come to play with, “Baby, I’m not angry, love you just the same / I just hope that you get agoraphobia someday.” She then wishes her lover a lifetime of never getting some, which is hilariously cheeky.
Though fans have called it an Ariana Grande-inspired track, I think the opposite. Carpenter touches on the ‘90s with When Did You Get Hot? It’s a smart, sassy, self-aware anthem about backpedaling on someone you overlooked before. I can imagine her teeth on the temple tip of a pair of glasses as she slowly embraces the single, double and triple take of attraction.
If she’s going to release a third single, Go Go Juice should be it. It is such a fun romp about drunk-calling your exes. Fans have speculated that the chorus is loaded with callbacks to her previous paramours. “Could be John or Larry / Gosh, who’s to say? / Or the one that rhymes with ‘villain’ if I’m feeling that way” In the order of presentation, John could refer to Shawn Mendes, Larry for Barry Keoghan, Gosh for Joshua Bassett, and Villain for Dylan O’Brien. But again, pure speculation.
Don’t Worry, I’ll Make You Worry is my least favorite, and even then I believe that it belongs in the album. I feel like it’s a filler song (and I know it may grow on me someday), but I really like the melody of it so that’s all I’m going to say on it now.
But she makes up for it with House Tour, a Barbie-esque dream pop song about touring her house (which is, in no way, a metaphor, wink wink). Fans may have been led to think pink here, but I could have sworn the B-52’s Love Shack was weaved into this? Really, really listen to the bridge, when she says, “My house is on Pretty Girl Avenue / My house is especially made for you!”
She ends the album on a strong note with Goodbye, a tribute to ABBA’s Fernando (with the ha ha ha’s from Angel Eyes, if I’m not mistaken – or could be Mamma Mia, too!). But unlike the reminiscent messaging of Fernando, she bids adieu (and in other languages) to her exes and says that they will lose her for life. I love the “Wait, no, shit, when did you get here? / Put on some clothes!” It felt very Looney Tunes’s “That’s all, folks!” in a good way, which was also how she ended her Short N’ Sweet tour too.
At the end of the day, “Man’s Best Friend” is Carpenter unleashed—playful, biting and a little shameless. Her previous album “Short N’ Sweet” (2024) may have sealed her pop star status, but her new one proves she is anything but tame.
What are you waiting for? Go fetch.
Stream “Man’s Best Friend” by Sabrina Carpenter on Spotify.
