Sabrina Carpenter Talks About Critics of Her ‘Sexual’ Music and Performances

Sabrina Carpenter makes her debut on the cover of Rolling Stone, photographed by renowned artist David LaChapelle. The striking image—Carpenter on her knees in lace stockings and stilettos, a man gripping her hair—visibly channels the dark-glam aesthetic of her forthcoming album Man’s Best Friend, using the language of submission to hint at a much fiercer message beneath the surface rollingstone.com.

In the feature interview, Carpenter directly confronts critics who label her music as overly sexual. With characteristic wit, she laughs off accusations that “all she does is sing about sex,” pointing out that her audience chose those very songs:

“It’s always so funny to me when people complain. They’re like, ‘All she does is sing about this.’ But those are the songs that you’ve made popular. Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it.” rollingstone.com

Far from pandering to the male gaze, Carpenter reveals that the cover shoot was conceived as a deliberate “bait-and-switch.” The imagery teases submissiveness, but the real power lies in the commentary: women refuse to be anyone’s pets, and sexual expression is a means of asserting agency and mocking double standards rollingstone.com.

The article also dives into her lead single “Manchild,” co-written with Jack Antonoff and Amy Allen. Released June 5, “Manchild” blends disco-pop grooves with pointed, country-tinged lyrics that skewering immature exes—lines like “Why so sexy if so dumb?” have propelled the track to No. 1 on Spotify’s U.S. charts, proving that Carpenter’s playfully scathing candor resonates deeply with fans rollingstone.com.

Finally, Carpenter traces the creative spark back to an impromptu Instagram Live session, where she spontaneously riffed on records by Dolly Parton, ABBA and Donna Summer. That freewheeling energy became the backbone of Man’s Best Friend: an album that pairs intimate confessionals with bold, ironic statements, cementing Carpenter’s evolution from Disney alum into a fearless architect of her own narrative rollingstone.com.