Our favourite tongue-in-cheek pop star has responded to recent controversy surrounding her new album cover with an extremely on-brand reply. Sabrina Carpentershared a new visual for Man's Best Friend on her Instagram, and apparently they're 'approved by God', so everyone can stop barking!
The new black and white image shows her touching a man's arm as he's facing away from her. It's very reminiscent of the style of candid shot we would see of someone like Jackie Kennedy Onassis and former husband John F. Kennedy Jr. in the White House.
It's definitely very different to the first image of her on all fours, with a suited man out of shot yanking her hair, as she's affectionately touching his leg and staring to camera. The photo sent the internet into an absolute tailspin (pun intended) with many feeling the image promoted objectification and violence against women against the current backdrop of trad wives, abortion rights rolled back and increased online misogyny.
In turn, many pushed back saying the pop star frequently finds herself the victim of puritanical criticism when she's just trying to sing, and be funny and provocative. Many also argued kink and sexual empowerment allows for women to express their desires freely and the shame Carpenter got was unwarranted. The girlies were indeed fighting...
Carpenter shared the new album cover on Instagram along with both the original and new version available on vinyl, but only the original can be signed. ‘I signed some copies of Man’s Best Friend for you guys & here is a new alternate cover approved by God available now on my website,' the singer wrote along with a white-heart emoji when sharing the new album cover.
Although Carpenter has been relatively quiet since the discourse broke out on Man's Best Friend, there was a perfectly timed profile in Rolling Stone that came out around the same time but was done before the furore, where she shared thoughts on some of her wider critique. She said, 'There’s so many more moments than the "Juno’ positions", but those are the ones you post every night and comment on.'
The album is set to be released 29 August. But can you really leash this level of discourse in time?
Ruchira Sharma is Acting Senior Editor at Grazia, where she writes and edits features for print and digital. From online dating culture, to cryptocurrency and online conspiracy theories, she's most interested by how online life shapes society, and co-hosts the pop culture podcast Everything Is Content.