Quakertown, Pennsylvania singer/songwriter & actress Sabrina Carpenter releasing her 7th studio LP. The niece of Nancy Cartwright also known as the voice of Bart on the Fox Corporation’s flagship property’s longest running animated series The Simpsons, she herself began by starring in the Boy Meets World spinoff Girl Meets World alongside Milo Murphy’s Law on The Walt Disney Company owned Disney Channel. She later signed to Hollywood Records for her first 4 full-lengths Eyes Wide Open, EVOLution, Singular & Singular II until moving over to Island Records for Emails I Can’t Send. Her previous album Short n’ Sweet solidified herself as a modern pop superstar & Man’s Best Friend has now arrived following tributes from by the current NXT Women’s North American Champion Sol Ruca, the current WWE Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio alongside former 2-time WWE women’s world champion Liv Morgan, former AEW Women’s World Champion Blake Monroe, former 3-time WWE women’s world champion & former TNA Knockouts World Champion Naomi, former 2-time NXT Tag Team Champion Kit Wilson and of course the current WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton.
Pop rock, synthpop, urban cowboy & soft rock all blend together for the self-produced lead single “Manchild” with co-production from Jack Antonoff singing about immature men whereas “Tears” finds herself becoming addicted to her new lover’s maturity over a dance-pop/nu-disco instrumental reminiscent of her smash hit “Espresso”. “My Man on Willpower” sings about a male who has too much self control & not understanding it returning to a pop rock sound leading into “Sugar Talking” making it clear that she isn’t have the sweet chit chat.
“We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” embraces a heavy country pop vibe to sing about living in a continuous circle of becoming on the verge of ending her current relationship only for all to be forgiven in the morning leading into “Nobody’s Son” singing to the parents of a corrupt man asking them if they could raise him to love her. “Never Getting Laid” divides itself into 2 different halves hoping this fuckboy becomes agoraphobic while “When Did You Get Hot?” becomes astonished by seeing a former acquaintance undergoing a significant makeover.
The country pop influences make a return on “Go Go Juice” sings about getting drunk only to make a bunch of phone calls assuring that nobody’s safe while “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry” sings about making this individual worry more than other woman ever has. “House Tour” compares her home on Pretty Girl Avenue to Disneyland in the sense that it’s where all dreams come true & once “Goodbye” properly wraps things up by explaining that the meaning of the word to her is losing her for life, “Such a Funny Way” feels like an epilogue deluded by someone telling her he loves her when he clearly didn’t.
Before I get to my concluding thoughts on Man’s Best Friend, I want to say that the controversy that surrounded its tame artwork was soft to me when the PARTYNEXTDOOR 4 cover art already exists. Regarding the music itself: Sabrina Carpenter’s thematically more promiscuous than Short n’ Sweet was experimenting with country pop, dance-pop, pop rock, soft rock & urban cowboy heavier winding up with mixed results containing more highs than lows.
Score: 3/5
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