Sabrina Carpenter explains meaning behind her controversial album cover

Sabrina Carpenter is offering her own perspective on the reaction to her Man’s Best Friend album cover.

In Variety’s new Hitmakers Issue, the Juno singer addressed the debate around the artwork, which shows her on her hands and knees as a man pulls her hair. 

Carpenter, 26, explained that the image came from a personal place rather than an attempt to provoke.

“It was about how people try to control women, and how I felt emotionally yanked around by these relationships that I had, and how much power you’re allowing yourself to give them,” she told the magazine.

The cover, unveiled in June, sparked backlash from some who felt it degraded women. Carpenter said she understood why people reacted that way, even if their interpretation didn’t match her intention.

“It meant one thing to me and 100 things to other people, and I was looking at it going, ‘That’s valid. Mine’s valid. What’s for dinner?’” she said.

She added that she wasn’t dismissing the concerns: “Not to bypass the weight that it did carry for some people. I saw it and was like, ‘That is a great point. It wasn’t the point I was trying to make.’”

During the interview, the Sugar Talking singer also reflected on growing up admiring female artists who embraced their sexuality. 

“I always thought, ‘When I grow up, then I get to embrace my sexuality more. I don’t even know what that means yet!’” she recalled.

Despite assumptions, Carpenter insisted she has limits. “People think, ‘Oh, she’ll say and do anything.’ No. I really do have boundaries with myself — you’d be surprised!”

The album went on to debut at No 1 on the Billboard 200, a response she described as “the most beautiful reception.”

When an X user questioned whether she had a personality “outside of sex,” Carpenter shot back: “girl yes and it is goooooood.”