After the massive success of her sixth studio album “Short and Sweet,” Sabrina Carpenter’s hard work of 10 years finally paid off, winning her two Grammy Awards and establishing herself as the breakout artist of 2024. This success granted her full creative freedom for her following album “Man’s Best Friend.”

The album was released on August 29, and in contrast to “Short and Sweet,” Carpenter’s mission for this album was completely different.

“I made this album for me,” Carpenter said, “If you don’t like it, it means I did something. This album is not something that is so digestible. There’s something about this album that I knew was going to take a second, simply because of how much is going on. It’s up and down and the instrumentation is so vivid, lush, and full of strange things.”

“Man’s Best Friend” is not an album where songs are unrelated to each other, it’s quite the opposite. The album follows Carpenter’s narrative of being in a relationship with someone who is immature, or as she describes a manchild, and keeps giving her mixed signals.

Even though it describes relatable and mundane feelings, ranging from crushing on someone in “When Did You Get Hot?,” to someone who she knows is not good for her in “We Almost Broke Up Last Night” or getting the bare minimum in  “Tears,” she manages to keep through lines of the core story of the album, giving it a cinematic feeling.

Now, it’s time to go on an intimate house tour of “Man’s Best Friend.”

First floor: Sarcastic rage meets disco sound

Sabrina introduces the album with this era’s only single, “Manchild.” The singer keeps her catchy melodies, and upbeat rhythm that reminds us of some of her other songs like “Busy Woman.”

With a strong narrative, her use of language and lyrism mimics a real-life conversation with the iconic lyrics “Why so sexy if so dumb and how survive the Earth so long?” She manages to introduce the theme of the album, which could be synthesized by the lyrics “Manchild why you always come a-running, taking all my loving from me?”

Carpenter is known for her blunt lyrics and “Tears” is a great representation of her signature style. With lyrics that could be taken out of a TikTok comment section, she manages to encompass pure Gen-Z humor in a song. In contrast to the first track, “Tears” is pure comedy, and its joke-fulness would probably scandalize older generations. However, that doesn’t mean she didn’t take inspiration from 70s records and incorporated lots of country disco elements into her own work.

Still, Carpenter doesn’t really pay mind to the negativity asshe warned the audience in a recent interview saying: “This album is not for those clutching their pearls.” Carpenter has been judged before for making her songs sensual; however, she has decided to empower herself in that sensuality.

Second floor: Taking off her cool

When paying attention to the lyrics, listeners may notice that Sabrina sheds the layers as the album progresses. In the song “My Man on Willpower” there’s a lyric that says, “The joke can be over now,” and even though in the context of the song she’s talking about her romance ending, I argue this song represents a transition from comedic, to vulnerable in the album.

With relatable lyrics like “He used to be literally obsessed with me, I’m suddenly the least looked after girl in the land, my man on his willpower is something I don’t understand,” the story goes from female rage to showing her emotions. Carpenter sings about the deep insecurity she feels after this guy switches up on her andaccompanies those feelings with an upbeat melody that contrast the lyrics.

Sabrina also uses her vocal power in songs like “Sugar Talking” to express emotional resolution. Produced by Jack Antonoff and John Ryan, the songs also include cinematic arrangements that blend guitar solos with strings and transition seamlessly into the next track. An example of this is the ending of  “Never Getting Laid,” which feels as if it was taken out of a musical production.

Third floor: Goodbye!

Carpenter likes to have fun expressing uncomfortable feelings and her own responsibility in these romances through fun beats in “Nobody’s Son.” Even though the lyrics highlight her fear of ending up alone, the song is upbeat. She follows a similar structure in “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry,” where anxiety and avoidant attachment is paired up with dreamy instrumentation.

Giving the listeners a nostalgic feeling of disco in “House Tour” or a clear ABBA reference in “Goodbye,” the singer wraps up the album with a resolution that can only be described by her own words, “Can’t call it love then call it quits…You’re not bilingual, but you should know, Goodbye!”

“If you’re staying inside and you’re thinking about how everything’s going wrong, everything’s going to go wrong. And I think my whole life is truly happening out there,” Carpenter said. “So, it’s like switching on that mindset of being like, you know what, just because you deal with something that’s difficult and maybe really hurts you doesn’t mean that you’re damaged. Doesn’t mean you can’t do it again. Doesn’t mean you can’t open yourself up.”

Carpenter gets her message across, remembering her own worth and having fun doing it. She makes it clear that this is not an album about an immature guy, but about a woman who is empowered in her self-worth and turns her lessons into art.

Vivien Noe is a Staff Reporter at The Prospector, and may be reached at [email protected]