Sabrina Carpenter Responds To Criticism That She Only Sings About Sex

Ever since Sabrina Carpenter unveiled the provocative cover art for her new album Man’s Best Friend, the internet has exploded with takes about the pop star’s image. The chatter is nothing new for Carpenter — her Short n’ Sweet Tour sparked a viral meme about how far she leans into sexual imagery. But for Carpenter, this tunnel-vision focus on her sexier songs is laughable.

“It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” Carpenter said in her June 12 Rolling Stone profile. “They’re like, ‘All she does is sing about this.’ But those are the songs that you’ve made popular. Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it.”

To her point, Carpenter’s popularity skyrocketed when she introduced her cheeky “Nonsense” outros, dropped her double entendre-filled smash “Espresso,” and filled her Short n’ Sweet album with horny bops. Prior to this recent mainstream success, Carpenter released five albums that were more buttoned-up, often contemplating relationship drama without venturing into the bedroom.

As Carpenter has been touring Short n’ Sweet, it’s the sex-forward stage moments that go viral, like her ever-changing suggestive position in the middle of “Juno” and her boudoir performances of “Bed Chem.” But although those sets get a lot of attention online, they don’t define the entire concert.

“There’s so many more moments than the ‘Juno’ positions, but those are the ones you post every night and comment on. I can’t control that,” Carpenter said. “If you come to the show, you’ll [also] hear the ballads, you’ll hear the more introspective numbers. I find irony and humor in all of that, because it seems to be a recurring theme. I’m not upset about it, other than I feel mad pressure to be funny sometimes.”

She sees this societal need to hone in and criticize her sexuality as indicative of a larger issue with how women in music are perceived. “I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I truly feel like I’ve never lived in a time where women have been picked apart more, and scrutinized in every capacity,” Carpenter says. “I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about every female artist that is making art right now.”