Sabrina Carpenter Shares Inspiration Behind Controversial Album Cover

Sabrina Carpenter is addressing the controversy over the cover for her latest album, and sharing the inspiration behind the artwork.

The "Manchild" singer sat down for a cover story with Variety for its Hitmakers Issue where she was asked about the drama and public outcry from some critics in regards to the cover art for her album Man's Best Friend. The cover features Carpenter on her hands and knees as a faceless man standing just out of frame grabbed a handful of her hair.

When she first revealed the cover ahead of the album's August release, it immediately sparked backlash among some who viewed it as degrading to women, per People. The "Espresso" hitmaker, however, had a different view.

"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 said.

While she cheekily hit back at the criticism by revealing an alternate cover "approved by God" in June, Carpenter told Variety that she saw some of the comments as valid while still holding true to her own meaning.

"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, adding, "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.'"

Carpenter was revealed on Thursday (December 4) to be the top pop artist of the year in the 2025 iHeartRadio Rewind as well as the biggest artist overall, with more than 2.7 billion total audience spins and streams from iHeartRadio stations around the country and on the iHeartRadio app.

Check out which other artists were among the most popular with iHeartRadio listeners in 2025 as well as the songs that we couldn't get enough of over the past year.