Man's Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter // Album Review
Coming just a year after Short n' Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter is already back with a follow-up record and it's clear she's striking while the iron's hot. Man's Best Friend feels like a playful extension of the persona she's been building, with a level of her signature humor and self-awareness that lies within each song.
Much of the inspiration behind this album stems from her on-again-off-again relationship with her ex-boyfriend. It chronicles the emotional highs and lows she was experiencing in real time, and Man's Best Friend feels like it was a creative outlet born from that turbulence. It also became a space for her to experiment with sounds she hasn't explored before. Sabrina worked on the entirety of this album with her frequent collaborators, producers John Ryan and Jack Antonoff, as well as songwriter Amy Allen. Her previous releases were made with a much bigger team of songwriters and producers, but it's clear that this was a much more intimate and streamlined process. They started working on it very soon after completing Short n' Sweet and felt motivated to continue writing after the positive reception she received from that album. "It actually made me write more because I felt more understood," she told Interview Magazine. "As long as the songs are honest to me, that's what's important."
The album cover and title set the tone immediately in a way that is ironic, cartoonish, and undeniably provocative. It hints at deeper themes of how she feels she is treated in relationships, often feeling reduced to something to own or possess. That metaphor is sharp and thought-provoking, suggesting a potential for some sort of satirical commentary. Surprisingly, the music itself doesn't dig into those ideas as much as one might assume. While the cover sparked controversy, as expected, what stood out more to me was how largely inoffensive many of these songs are. There's very little in the way of cultural critique or personal insight that the visual branding of Man's Best Friend seemed to promise. Sabrina absolutely could have leaned into that metaphor more boldly, but instead, the album mostly plays it safe. She keeps it fun and flirty, as always, but it is undeniably surface-level at times and could have benefitted from something deeper as well.
With the release of the album's lead single, "Manchild", Sabrina went all-in with her new country direction, one that she only flirted with on parts of Short n' Sweet, but fully committed to here. It's an interesting pivot for an artist like her to take, despite how prevalent (and profitable) country-pop crossovers have become in recent years. Admittedly, I didn't love it on first listen, but I've come to appreciate how it sets the tone for Man's Best Friend thematically. "Oh, I like my boys playing hard to get, and I like my men all incompetent," she sings in the bridge. "And I swear they choose me, I'm not choosing them, amen, hey, men". It's self-aware and very funny, as she channels songs like Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" or "That Don't Impress Me Much".
Throughout the album, Sabrina slips in and out of a stylized fake country accent, often even within the same song. It almost always comes off as forced and is overall such a strange artistic choice when her natural singing voice is so gorgeous and expressive. The exaggerated twang doesn't necessarily feel authentic to her, and while it might be part of the campy persona she's playing with, it doesn't always land. "Go Go Juice" is a prime example of this, while it is a fun and lively piece of the tracklist, it dives into honky-tonk energy and ends up feeling more like a parody than anything else.
The album is kind of all over the place, jumping from country to disco, to slow ballads, to '90s R&B, to pure pop. Despite that genre-hopping, it still generally feels cohesive as a full body of work, though at times lyrically it comes off as half-baked and rushed. Despite delving more heavily into country influences than ever before, both sonically and narratively, the album doesn't generally stray too far otherwise from the blueprint of her previous release. It even follows a similar tracklist flow and pattern as Short n' Sweet, but this time, it's missing the standout hit like "Espresso" or "Please Please Please" to define the album. Having two singles like that back-to-back is like capturing lightning in a bottle, and I don't expect her to replicate that with every release. Still, most of these songs don't quite measure up to her previous work overall. One of the things that made Short n' Sweet so strong was that even beyond the massive hits, the non-singles were just as memorable and ended up organically gaining traction over the past year. That balance of commercial success and artistic depth is hard to achieve and while Man's Best Friend has its moments, it doesn't quite reach that same level.
Sabrina knows her strengths as an artist and leans into them with unwavering confidence, especially in the first half of the album. The second track, "Tears", especially encapsulates everything that makes her such a distinct force in pop right now. Her signature charm and humor are front and center, making it one of the most memorable moments on the record. It's funny, catchy and full of innuendo, as all of her best songs tend to be.
She describes this fantasy of being treated right that's exaggerated to the point of absurdity. "I get wet at the thought of you being a responsible guy," Sabrina sings in the chorus. "Treating me like you’re supposed to do, tears run down my thighs."
That theme flows seamlessly into the next track, "My Man on Willpower", which shifts back into a country-inspired sound and explores the fallout of that same relationship. Her boyfriend, once obsessed with her, is now distant and emotionally unavailable. "My man on his willpower is something I don't understand, he fell in love with self-restraint and now it's gettin' out of hand," she sings in the chorus. "He used to be literally obsessed with me, I'm suddenly the least sought after girl in the land".
The bridge is especially biting as she sings, "My man's in touch with his emotions, my man won't touch me with a twenty-foot pole, my man's forgotten his devotion, where he's gone, God only knows." It's clever and sarcastic in a way that allows her personality to shine through, while still serving the emotional arc of the record.
The middle stretch of Man's Best Friend is dominated by slower ballads, many of which tend to blur together sonically. They're not necessarily distinct or memorable in a major way, and as a result, the momentum built by the album's sharp, playful opening begins to taper off. Rather than aiming to be anything groundbreaking, these tracks feel more like they more so served as a personal outlet for Sabrina to process the emotional aftermath of a complicated relationship, one marked by cycles of hope and disappointment.
"Sugar Talking" stands out vocally, but lyrically it goes in a much simpler, sarcastic direction. Lines like "Say you're a big changed man, I doubt it, yeah, your paragraphs mean shit to me" and "You're havin' these epiphanies, big word for a real small mind" stand out as highlights. The song captures the frustration of being lovebombed and then discarded, as she keeps giving him second chances only to end up feeling exactly the same as before. "We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night" continues to follow the same emotional turbulence, as she chronicles the back-and-forth of this relationship that was long past its breaking point. "You say we're driftin' apart, I said, 'Yeah, I fucking know'", she sings in the bridge. "Big deal, we've been here before and we'll be here tomorrow". With this song, Sabrina blends the slight country influence of Dolly Parton with the pop theatricality of artists like Olivia Newton-John and ABBA, all of whom are artists that she has drawn from many times in the past.
"Nobody's Son" then shifts into a more playful tone as Sabrina processes the aftermath of her heartbreak with her signature dry wit and sarcasm. "That boy is corrupt, Could you raise him to love me, maybe? He sure fucked me up," she sings in the bridge. "And yes, I'm talking 'bout your baby."
"Never Getting Laid" is another standout moment of cheeky emotional honesty, a song in which Sabrina wishes her ex well, but not too well. "Baby, I'm not angry, I love you just the same, I just hope you get agoraphobia some day," she sings in the chorus. "And all your days are sunny from your windowpane, I wish you a lifetime full of happiness, and a forever of never getting laid." The sweet melody paired with the passive aggressive undertones is just so quintessentially Sabrina.
The latter half of Man's Best Friend picks back up with some of the most vibrant and memorable tracks on the album. It feels like Sabrina has finally gotten the heavy emotions out of her system and is ready to move on with more of a confident and carefree burst of energy. "When Did You Get Hot?" is a clear standout. It sounds like a modern take on '90s pop and R&B influences, reminiscent of the style Ariana Grande has explored time and time again throughout her career. The concept of the song stems from running into someone you haven't seen in years and having a revelation of "You were an ugly kid, but you're a sexy man".
In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Sabrina said it was "...a good example of a song that wouldn't have been on the record if we didn't take the time to sit down and, like, actually try things, and actually try different versions of that song. That we could borrow little elements from 'House Tour' and little elements from 'Tears' that could make that song feel like it belongs with everything else." It's such a hilarious concept and they executed it so well. Every lyric is packed with Sabrina's signature humor and delivered with so much attitude that it instantly elevates the entire track. Lines like "Congratulations on your new improvements, I bet your light rod's, like, bigger than Zeus's" and "Sorry, I did not see the vision, thank the Lord, the fine you has risen" are just a few standout examples of her ability to blend wit and charm into playful, self-aware lyricism. Her talent for crafting pop songs that are sharp, memorable, and full of personality, without ever taking themselves too seriously, is something she's always excelled at.
"House Tour" is my absolutely favorite for all of those reasons as well. It has a glittering '80s disco sound and feels like it could have been on the Barbie soundtrack in the best way possible. She's never been known for subtlety, and lines like "I promise none of this is a metaphor, I just want you to come inside" proves she's fully embracing the playful innuendo. It fills the same space on the album that "Juno" did on Short n' Sweet, it's just pure campy fun from start to finish. The verses are packed with funny hyper-specific details of pineapple air fresheners, Chips Ahoy, and the fortune she spent on her wax floors. The outro is so infectious and especially a highlight, "My house is on Pretty Girl Avenue, my house was especially built for you, some say it's a place where your dreams come true, my house could be your house too".
The song came together quickly on the last day Sabrina and her collaborators Amy Allen, John Ryan, and Jack Antonoff were all staying together to work on the album. In her Apple Music interview, she said, "There's only so many ways that you can sort of make that a great song, and I had this idea of a house tour and I'm the house. It comes sometimes just like lightning, in a moment. It's a very quick process, and we leave, and we come back, and we’re like, 'So, it's actually good, I think.'"
The closing track on Man's Best Friend, aptly titled "Goodbye", is the perfect send-off both for the album and for the chapter of Sabrina's life that inspired it. It's unapologetically dramatic and theatrical, "To show you just how much it hurts, I wish I had a gun or words" is one line that proves just how far she's willing to go. Sabrina has never shied away from wearing her influences on her sleeve, and the pop grandeur of "Goodbye" especially feels as if it could have been an ABBA record. The verses are packed with all the ways to say goodbye in different languages, all tied together in a really funny and clever way. She sings, "Well, sayonara, adiós, you're not bilingual, but you should know goodbye means that you're losing me for life," and my personal favorite, "But I'll say, 'Arrivederci, au revoir,' forgive my French, but fuck you, ta-ta." It's the perfect way to close out the overall narrative of the album in a lighthearted yet cathartic way.
Man's Best Friend feels like a fun little detour for Sabrina artistically, taking it as an opportunity for her to experiment with new genres and continue building on the momentum of her previous work, while still giving herself the space to figure out what she wants to say next. There are plenty of highlights that showcase some of her best characteristics as an artist overall. Still, it largely feels like a transitional project, in the best way, as she blends playful self-awareness with her signature charm and humor in a way that is so distinctly her own.
Thanks for reading! I have written about Sabrina Carpenter's music many times over the years, all of which are linked here and below. Check out my review of Short n' Sweet and the deluxe version of the album, as well as Fruitcake, and many more coming soon.
Photo Credit: Sabrina Carpenter, Island Records
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