Maps of Music

Man's Best Friend (2025)

Where the lyrics of Man's Best Friend take you, and where it was really made.

The cover that set off the backlash stayed on the album, and Carpenter answered the criticism with an alternative cover she jokingly called "approved by God".

Key places

Recorded at Electric Lady Studios (2025)

Recording site Electric Lady Studios — The album's source page lists Electric Lady Studios in New York City as one of its recording locations. The album was finished in Los Angeles and New York. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Tamarind Recording (2025)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The album's source page lists Tamarind Recording in Los Angeles as one of its recording locations. The point uses the city center because the exact studio building is not given. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Man's Best Friend: seventh studio album by American singer Sabrina Carpenter
• Released August 29, 2025 through Island Records
• Primarily a pop and soft rock record that blends retro-inspired styles
• Follows Short n' Sweet (2024)
• Carpenter's record producer debut: she co-produced all tracks with Jack Antonoff and John Ryan

Background

• June 11, 2025: teased the album in an Instagram Live, flipping through records by Donna Summer, ABBA and Dolly Parton
• Worked with only three previous collaborators: Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff and John Ryan
• Writing sessions began soon after Short n' Sweet was finished, with no plan for a next album at first

Recording

• Carpenter said the writing and recording process felt like a band
• She and Amy Allen sang melodies and lyrics during long walks
• Antonoff and Ryan built the arrangements for each track
• Recording locations listed: Electric Lady Studios in New York City and Tamarind Recording in Los Angeles
• Work began in Los Angeles, continued in London, and finished in Los Angeles and New York

Cover

• The cover revealed June 11, 2025 drew criticism for appealing to the male gaze; some read it as satire
• Alternative cover released for pre-order June 25, which Carpenter jokingly called approved by God
• The original artwork stayed on the album, and Carpenter defended it in an interview with Gayle King for CBS Mornings

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter was born on May 11, 1999, in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and raised in East Greenville.
• She began studying voice at age six and posted YouTube covers of Christina Aguilera and Adele songs around age ten.
• In 2008 she entered the online singing contest The Next Miley Cyrus Project and placed third in 2010.
• She signed with Hollywood Records in 2014 and released her debut EP in April 2014.

Members

• Solo artist.

Career

• Breakthrough as Maya Hart on the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World (2014–2017).
• Early albums Eyes Wide Open (2015), Evolution (2016), Singular: Act I (2018), and Singular: Act II (2019) had limited success.
• She joined Island Records in 2021 and released Emails I Can't Send (2022), which included the hit singles "Nonsense" and "Feather".
• Short n' Sweet (2024) topped the US Billboard 200, won two Grammy Awards, and produced the global number-one singles "Espresso" and "Please Please Please".
• Man's Best Friend (2025) also topped the Billboard 200 and produced the US number-one single "Manchild".
• She has acted in films including The Hate U Give (2018), Tall Girl (2019), and Work It (2020), and played Cady Heron on Broadway in Mean Girls (2020).
• She has won two Grammy Awards and six MTV Video Music Awards.

Reception

At release

• Received generally positive reviews on release, with praise for the production and Carpenter's vocals
• Criticism focused on the sexual and mature lyrics, and some critics found the songwriting lacked depth
• Metacritic: weighted average of 75 out of 100 from nineteen critic scores
• AnyDecentMusic?: 6.8 out of 10 from twenty-one reviews
• Rolling Stone noted Carpenter was in break-up mode, still horny and self-aware, and praised her innuendo-laden wit
• The Guardian (Shaad D'Souza): overuse of profanity and innuendo noted, but the rest of the album judged finely tuned
• Slant Magazine (Sal Cinquemani): criticized the depth and dexterity of the lyrics and their reliance on expletives and puns
• Clash: praised the expansive production textures, the pop of Manchild and the disco of Tears
• Pitchfork: album showed Carpenter at her apex, but began to approach self-parody

Records

• Number one on the charts in 19 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom
• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, her second album to do so in the United States
• First tracking week: over 366,000 album equivalent units, of which 224,000 were pure sales
• United Kingdom: over 85,500 units, the biggest album debut by an international artist in 2025
• Certified Platinum by the RIAA on November 13, 2025 after surpassing 1,000,000 units sold
• Six nominations at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Carpenter selected "Tears" as the second single and released it with the album as the second track.
• Some journalists compared the "Tears" video to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
• Carly Simon, whose 1975 album faced similar controversy, defended the cover and said it seemed tame.
• Carpenter described the artwork as an accident.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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