Man’s Best Friend
Sabrina Carpenter spent the decade after her debut single, 2014’s “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying,” patiently finding her voice. Her persistence finally paid off in 2024, when the absurdly catchy singles “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please” launched the former child star into a whole new realm of pop stardom. Her sixth album, August 2024’s *Short n’ Sweet*, reintroduced the pint-sized singer as a sharp-witted diva with a honeyed voice and a fondness for campy innuendo—and earned Carpenter her first two Grammys (Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Performance). Just over a year after *Short n’ Sweet*’s release, the biggest breakout pop star of 2024 fires off its follow-up, *Man’s Best Friend*, which carries on her streak of concise 12-track records that draw from her love of ’70s disco and ooze snarky, self-deprecating charisma. “Oh, boy,” Carpenter chuckles to begin lead single “Manchild,” which taps the usual co-writers (Jack Antonoff and Amy Allen) for a country-tinged ode to the incompetent, unavailable men she can’t seem to shake. Romantic disappointment prevails, though the 26-year-old maintains her sense of humor as she wishes an ex a lifetime of celibacy on “Never Getting Laid” and drunk-dials old flames on the twangy “Go Go Juice.” Steeped in the nostalgic sounds of her heroes (Dolly Parton, the Carpenters, ABBA, the Bee Gees), Carpenter’s lyrics approach the drudgery of modern dating with a wink and a well-timed dirty joke. “I promise none of this is a metaphor,” she sings on the New Jack Swing-inspired “House Tour,” then she carries on: “I just want you to come inside.”
Delivering formally classic, facepalm-clever pop songs with a heavy wink, Sabrina Carpenter’s new album takes her persona to its apex, and maybe as far as it can go.
Pop's pithiest lyricist hones the fun and flirty persona that's made her a superstar - NME reviews Sabrina Carpenter's 'Man's Best Friend':
Arriving like a victory lap, the deceptively dense Man's Best Friend keeps Sabrina Carpenter’s wit as diamond-cut and flagrantly horny as ever.
Sabrina Carpenter's seventh is as brainy as it is raunchy, with clever wordplay superseded only by inspired form.
There are some sensational songs on the pop star’s follow-up to ‘Short n’ Sweet’, but too much of the rest struggles for lift-off
Read our review of Sabrina Carpenter’s new album Man’s Best Friend – a sex-positive, witty, and irresistibly fun pop record that cements her megastar status.
Sabrina Carpenter returns with an adventurous new album that leans into her now-trademark sense of humour and innuendo, with mixed results.
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A pint-sized pop colossus, Sabrina Carpenter’s decade long rise afforded her time to perfect a deliciously saucy elixir. A kind of post-post-modern
If possible, Sabrina Carpenter's 'Man's Best Friend' is even hornier than the singer's previous album.
Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter album review by Sam Franzini for Northern Transmissions. The artist's LP is out via Island Records
The controversy-courting star is in perfect alignment with producer Jack Antonoff, on detailed and utterly delightful tracks that make her previous hit album seem rudimentary in comparison
Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend review: A clear step in the right direction, but still not reaching her full potential.
Sabrina Carpenter’s ambitious LP lacks the sense of fun that crackled through Short n’ Sweet