Is Sabrina Carpenter a Man’s Best Friend or Worst Nightmare? – Man’s Best Friend Album Review

By Kayla Harper 

You’re cozied-up on a Tuesday night, three bottles of wine deep, in your favourite pajamas exchanging dating horror stories with the girls, or maybe you’re just listening to Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album, Man’s Best Friend. 

Man’s Best Friend takes a satirical and humorous approach to failed relationships and dating.  One of Carpenter’s strongest in terms of thematic cohesivity as each track digs the hole deeper and twists the knife.  Twelve tracks dedicated to making the best of heartbreak and men’s immaturity –Carpenter truly meant it when she said if she were to describe the album in three words she would use: “man’s worst nightmare”.

However, Man’s Best Friend doesn’t just poke fun at the boys, Carpenter has never been one to shy away from exposing her own flaws and owning them, this record is no different, demonstrated in songs like “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry” and “We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night”, as well as throughout the lyrics of other songs.

An almost cinematic instrumental, reminiscent of the 70s, carries through each track on the album enhancing Carpenter’s expressive vocals, which emphasize the humour in her lyrics.  Man’s Best Friend almost feels like a concept album, or many stories that take place on the same night, experiences shared and exchanged among different characters.

The only song that sticks out happens to be the lead single “Manchild” which still sounds like it belongs on Short n’ Sweet.  Lyrically it fits in the themes of Man’s Best Friend, but sonically it sounds like a deluxe track off of Carpenter’s Grammy-winning sixth album.  It’s not until later on in the record on “Go Go Juice” and “Goodbye” that some of the pop-country twang prominent in “Manchild” makes a reappearance, but it still doesn’t tie it together enough.   However, opening the album with “Oh boy” (“Manchild”, Man’s Best Friend, 2025)  is genius and iconic considering the contents of the following tracks.

Man’s Best Friend  sparked a lot of controversy when it was first announced as the album’s cover was believed by many to be inappropriate and misogynistic.  Of course, Carpenter meant it to be satirical, however, it might have been the first joke she made that didn’t quite land, that’s okay because most of them do.

 

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After listening to Man’s Best Friend, I can confirm a better cover would have been to reverse the roles of the man and Carpenter in the photo (she should’ve been the one pulling his hair).  Anyway, Man’s Best Friend exceeded my expectations upon first listen, and I actually liked it better than I liked Short n’ Sweet after the first listen -it had to grow on me a lot, but Man’s Best Friend is an instant hit.  It had my sister and I laughing throughout our first listen.