How does one top an album as popular as Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet?” For Carpenter, the answer comes in “Man’s Best Friend,” her seventh studio album, which, upon its release on Aug. 29, has divided the internet.
Platforms like Instagram and X are filled with users who claim all the songs sound similar and that Carpenter’s innuendo-filled lyrics are getting old. I think, however, “Man’s Best Friend” is a sonically cohesive and fun follow-up to the world Carpenter is building with her music.
Listening from start to finish, this album feels less like a collection of mega-hits and more like a sitcom. It gives the feeling of sitting on the floor ranting to your friends, if that rant were a produced show with laugh tracks and guest stars.
Some songs I have on repeat so far include the unhinged and cheerful “Go-Go Juice,” the Barbie Dreamhouse-sounding “House Tour,” the hilarious and lamentful “My Man on Willpower,” the sultry “When Did You Get Hot?” and my personal favorite, the sinister yet dreamy “Never Getting Laid.”
A true standout is the release-day single “Tears.” A disco-infused groove about being turned on by men doing the bare minimum, this song shows off Carpenter’s hilarious sexual lyrics and is accompanied by a scenic “Rocky Horror Picture Show”-inspired music video, which stars Carpenter alongside Colman Domingo in drag.
Strikingly, “Man’s Best Friend,” which came scarcely a year after “Short n’ Sweet,” doesn’t sound like it was shooting for the same obscene commercial success. The album is fun and an easy listen, so grab your “Go-Go Juice” and dance around to some man-hating anthems.
