After a long day of classes, work and studying, I like to allow for a moment to myself. I like to indulge in music, from country to pop; music has always been a great outlet for me to elevate my mood. One of my favorite artists at the moment is Sabrina Carpenter. She is known for her libidinous style, often singing about her love life. 

Carpenter has previously released five albums that won multiple Grammys and VMAs, all while selling out world tours. But with her newest release, “Man’s Best Friend,” she really blew expectations out of the water. 

Before the album’s release, Carpenter teased the album cover, which received a lot of backlash. The cover pictures Carpenter on her hands and knees, with a man holding her by the hair. Internet users found it to be inappropriate, some stating that it would “set women back.” I believe the cover is a good representation of the album, as it effectively depicts how men often treat Carpenter as a pet rather than a partner. 

Don’t just take my word for it, Elizabethtown College student Vince Clay, too, had his short-lived shortcomings with the cover. “When Sabrina Carpenter first released the album artwork for her new album, I was disappointed at how politically tone deaf it was,” Clay said. “I felt that it needed strong, politically conscious lyricism to help justify it and carry the project. Upon further listening, I found that while the lyrics are not as politically conscious, the music and the songwriting are top-notch and are incredibly well written.” 

I find Carpenter’s newest album to be bold, unpredictable and truly exceptional. I never knew what to expect when a new song started playing. While I love the album as a whole, and no songs are worth skipping, I do still have my favorites. 

My favorite song on the album is track six, “Nobody’s Son,” and not just because it is relatable. Just reading the title, I assumed the song would be about a man being raised with no manners, no sense of how to respect women, and in a sense, it was. 

The song is about Carpenter’s struggle with finding a guy she can trust and count on. She uses the lyric “there’s nobody’s son, not anyone left for me to believe in” to communicate this. Throughout the album, she has a habit of blaming the way men are raised, criticizing their mothers along with them. In this specific instance, “And, yes, I’m talking ‘bout your baby,” is aimed directly at the parent of the song’s subject.

This song is not only lyrically excellent, but the choice in music behind the lyrics hoists the message. “Nobody’s Son” is one of the few sad songs found on the album, but it has one of the most upbeat rhythms. The song is written to be catchy, and the bridge is certainly an earworm, discussing post-traumatic stress responses she experiences due to her relationships with men, yet each line is backed up by a whip crack. This song tries to make light of an obviously devastating feeling. 

Carpenter tries other ways to make the best of a bad situation, writing an entire song about self-medicating with alcohol. The album’s ninth track, “Go Go Juice,” depicts Carpenter drinking alcohol, then calling and texting past lovers. 

I find the lyricism in this song to be exemplary as she plays on the idea of a drunk text and incorporates it throughout the song. There are intentional inconsistencies in the lyrics that symbolize her own inebriation. “Love when happy hour comes at 10 a.m. o’clock on a Tuesday,” the opening line begins with influenced speech, using multiple forms of time to display her point of view. 

This song displays self-medication in a very plain and blatant way: “Some good old-fashioned fun sure numbs the pain.” 

While I do enjoy this song, and I would not skip it in rotation, or even if it just came on the radio, it is my least favorite on the album. “Go Go Juice” is about trying to get the attention of an ex-boyfriend, and in indirectly naming them, she gets the attention from them on a much higher platform. Although I can’t help but wonder if that only gives power to the men who hurt her. I love this track, but I can not get behind the lines in the chorus in which she says, “Could be John or Larry, gosh, who’s to say? Or the one that rhymes with ‘villain’ if I’m feeling that way.”

I would overall rate this album a 9/10, although I may be biased. I find this collection to be masterful, touching on every emotion one may feel during a break-up, in a relationship, while single and when giving up. Although this album is laced with self-destructive behavior, behavior which could lead to her consistent pattern of going for a man who will treat her poorly, or as Carpenter may say, a “Manchild.”