Poll: Is Sabrina C.'s new album cover satire or not?

[AyeshaErotica 1,704]

13 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

It's really rare online to be able to have different opinions from someone but be able to discuss them in such a mature and open way, and I just wanted to say that I am grateful for it and to thank you for it.

to me it looks more like it was shot with an iphone and then fed through Instagram filters 

You're not salty like sodium but sweet like coca cola 'cause your comment is sooo sweet. I nominate you both for the Most Civilized Argument Award in the Gagadaily Awards 2025. Indeed, StrawberryBlonde is very open to different opinions. 

Spoiler

Too bad the only catergories are Nastiest User Award, Most Shady Post Award, Leaked Info Award, Most Posts Award and Biggest Bîtchfight Award

That would be pretty poor if they didn't have a professional camera and used an iPhone. But yes, it was probably a modern camera, and the effects were added later. 90s cameras are not common anymore in 2025. In Stupid Love, we can see how unnatural, distorted, evenly polished, computer-animated iPhone quality is and inferior to a professional camera that photographers and movie studios use. And actually it was only used because Apple pays money for advertising its products. This here is a pic, left side has a 90s effect (added later) and right side is modern. Sabrina's cover has a 90s touch by photo quality like this. By theme it is still timeless and still modern. 

 

 

14 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I've never seen this artwork. I've seen that style but not this was specifically. What's the context behind it because on it's own, I don't quite understand it.

It shows a hot woman whose boyfriend or husband is at work. After work, he doesn't go to her, but instead has an affair with another woman. There is a small probability that he actually works overtime. The woman, however, is naïve (a special word with two dots) and doesn't believe he's having an affair. The picture dates from 1965, a time when women rather believed this.

This is another artwork:

It leaves it open to interpretation, whether the woman is betrayed by her boyfriend and has reserves and harbors resentments towards her boyfriend or whether she betrays her boyfriend [as in another artwork she declines the offer of Jeff and goes to another party instead].

 

Edited June 17 by AyeshaErotica

[StrawberryBlond 14,832]

22 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

Firstly, I'm really appreciative and grateful that you're engaging in polite, respectful and intelligent debate. No fighting, no name-calling, no belittling or bullying, etc. It's really rare online to be able to have different opinions from someone but be able to discuss them in such a mature and open way, and I just wanted to say that I am grateful for it and to thank you for it. I especially like that even though we might disagree you're still here discussing because you're open to understanding how others think and to share your thinking too – this is what makes the world better and I'm very glad we're doing our small part by having these types of exchanges. 

With regards to the breakdown of the shoot, I'd be shocked if Sabrina never discusses it in an interview. The silence about the image, and her dropping it like this without context, was purposefully intended to generate buzz imo. She wants to see what people think, how they will react, and will then share more about her thoughts behind it. It's a common marketing strategy in music to announce something and not really explain it at first, like when Lorde said her album would be called "Virgin" and then revealed the album cover was an X-Ray of her (?) body. She then elaborated on that but not in the og announcement. 

I do think it's highly unlikely she is the man. She's like 5ft tall, and the hand feels very male, as you said. The fact she is looking at the viewer though is clearly her breaking the fourth wall, it shows an awareness that there is a camera/viewer, and that's important to factor into any interpretation of the image imo, because there is now a third party in the image: the viewer (or cameraman, depending on how you want to interpret it). It's not just man + woman anymore, there's someone else involved in the story. Also she did a Rolling Stone interview lately where she complained about people criticising her about only singing about sex then calling them out for only listening to the songs that are about sex, basically. So this could also be her way of defying and confronting the fans, saying: "this is what you expect of me. This is what you ask me to do for you". The more we talk about this and look at it, the more things there are to unpack imo and I don't think I'm just pulling these hypotheses out of thin air, the fact the image has so much room for interpretation is a sign, to me, that it's ambiguous and successful in its original aim, which was to puzzle and provoke (at least, that's my assessment on the intent, since so much of modern media relies on shock-value and viral moments). I don't necessarily get a "I'm so turned on" vibe from this image the same way you do, mainly because I feel like there are so many better ways she could have expressed that if that was the message she was going for so the fact it's more subtle and ambiguous is a clear indicator, to me, that the goal was for it to not be straightforward at all.

There are actually several ways an artist could not be the focus in a composition like this. If the man were sitting in a chair in the middle of the cover, and Sabrina were on the floor to the right, for example, it would be framed around him and centered on him. If she were turning away from the camera and was the one without a face, she also wouldn't be the focus. If she was only partially in the frame (either just her leg, or just her head), she also wouldn't be the main focus. In fact, if she were looking up at the man, he would be the focus too in a way, since our gaze would instinctively want to follow hers and it would make us question his identity and wonder about who he is. Contrary to your statement, she doesn't need to be absent from the image to not be the focus, but here, she is literally right in the middle, full-figured, and looking right at us. That's the most "in focus" someone can be on an album cover.

Lana has amended those songs but when they were released people still had various thoughts and she wrote them those way for specific reasons. I'm sure there are other songs in her catalogue that are similarly controversial despite not having been amended, like F*cked my way up to the top, Lolita, etc. Even Born to Die could be interpreted as an ode to suicide by the wrong critic. The point being that art speaks to different people in different ways, it always has and always will. In fact, the best art is the one that speaks to many people in many different ways: if everyone just saw and thought the same things when looking at an image, there would be no purpose for discussion, connection and interaction and society as we know it would probably collapse after a while.

I think there's also a double standard where you're choosing to look at Lana's problematic output as "art" but you're unwilling to grant Sabrina that same clemency. I'm not too sure what Sabrina has done to you to not deserve to be categorised as an artist in the same way that you obviously regard Lana Del Rey, but I think it's dismissive of her skills and ability, despite her being a very talented lyricist. In fact, the credits for her album "emails I can't send" do show she barely wrote any of the melodies or produced any of the songs, but wrote lyrics for every single song (and wrote them on her own for two of them). These were lyrics she wrote alone:

"God, I love you but you're such a dipsh*t. Please ****ing fix this. 'Cause you were all I looked up too, now I can't even look at you."

These are lyrics that live in the same world as all her other lyrics, and as this album cover imo. Just like Lana had carved a lyrical world for herself filled with drunk truckers and American flags, Sabrina's world is filled with manchilds, dipsh*ts, motherf*ckers, etc.

With regards to Gaga's quote, that may have been true in the 2010s but I feel like in a post-Beyoncé and post-Taylor Swift and post-Lana Del Rey world, that's simply not true anymore. I mean if Lana's label had that much control, her career would still be filled with chart topping songs and albums. She doesn't care about chart success and has enough power now to be able to just do whatever she wants and release music how she wants and when she wants, and most importantly, the music she wants. When UV came out (or was it L4L?) there were label execs who wanted to force her to work with guys like Max Martin until those guys told them that her music was already great as is. Taylor Swift has (for better and for worse) redefined the power dynamics between established artists and labels in a way her peers are most likely all taking notes from. In the early 2010s, Beyoncé created her own record label to be able to have full artistic and creative control over her projects, and now owns the masters to all the albums she has made since 4 (2011). This also means no label is going to hold her to a release schedule or force her to scrap an album or duet with Ed Sheeran, these are all choices she has agency over. Artists are much more empowered in 2020 than in 2010, partially because social media has given them a direct connection to their fans in a way that artists pre-Instagram and Facebook didn't really have. Back then, they really did rely on label promotion and connections to radio etc. to achieve success.

Sabrina has released 6 (soon to be 7) albums in the last 10 years, so your statement that her releasing albums within a year of each other "is no coincidence" feels uninformed considering that's now the third time she's done that in her career. If she had never had such short gaps between albums before, sure. But she just happens to be prolific. 

As for the sexualisation of her image, you're also forgetting she's 26 and was a former Disney Child Star. There is kind of an inevitable phase these child stars go through where they feel a need to divorce themselves from their tween image and provoke audiences with sex appeal. I also find this album cover less sexually-charged than most of the photoshoot for Short n' Sweet, personally, mainly due to wardrobe. There's actually a vinyl variant of that one that is eerily similar to this cover, except that there's no man in it and she's wearing way less clothes. And somehow this image makes me a lot more uncomfortable because it doesn't feel like she's making any form of social statement or discourse in it. If she were wearing this outfit in the "Man's Best Friend" cover, I'd probably have a totally different understanding of the image too.

"I saw a comment saying that her image is that of a p*rnstar and her whole career revolves around sex now and how sad it is."

Like she said in Rolling Stone, that's what audiences are asking for. I suggest you read the full interview, it adds a lot of context on this specific topic.

I honestly cannot imagine a single label exec thinking this album cover was a safe choice. They likely would have preferred her alone on the floor in lingerie again. This 100% feels like an artistic choice on the artist's part to me, specifically because she's fully dressed (even wearing shoes) and the pose is so uniquely specific that it warrants some level of creativity that most label execs aren't really capable of mustering tbh. The image doesn't make people uncomfortable because it's sexual, it makes people uncomfortable because it hints at power dynamics that are pervasive and exist in our world and this mirror to society is uncomfortable. That's the opposite of sexy, and record labels don't find that easy to sell imo.

Thanks so much for that really sweet compliment. I like to think that I refrain from all the things you mentioned as part of my moral code. I believe it makes a person's argument less credible and less people are willing to listen to it when they resort to mudslinging tactics. So I'm pleased you recognise that. My aim is never to change people's minds, it's great if I do, but that's just a bonus. My ultimate aim is to make sure people know why they have their beliefs and test how strong they are. So many people don't know why they hold the opinions that they do when asked. So thank you for noticing all that. 

If she does explain it, I just can't help but think that it'll sound like the interview you quoted where she basically says it's not her fault what people make popular or it's not her fault they've got dirty minds. This response is so over-used and cliche and I've always found it very weak. If this is the image and lyrics you give us and you promote this era extensively, it must be because you want us to buy into it. If we didn't, you'd complain about that. She deliberately chose at least 3/5 singles to be about sex and then got crazy payola deals for them, so we didn't "choose" the sex songs to be successful, she chose them to be singles and thus more likely to be promoted and sell. Everything is deliberate, it's all meant to sell, so don't blame the consumers. Just be upfront and you say you write sexy songs because you want to and it's a free country and whatnot. And she says it as if everyone has made these songs successful. Most people who criticise her work aren't fans of it, that's the whole point. 

Your theory of her saying "this is what you expect from me" by her expression is certainly interesting. Though it doesn't change how I feel about it, it doesn't change the actual image. And certain people won't be interested in the deep meaning behind it anyway. I wasn't arguing that she's literally not in focus, just that she's not the one that draws my attention. It's like the image of a woman with a tall male shadow looming over her. The woman may be the one in the central focus, but my eyes are transfixed on the foreboding, larger than life threat. 

I understand that my views can come across rather hypocritical and perhaps they are somewhat. The reason I see Lana as a higher grade of artist is because her lyrics are far more poetic, intelligent and paired with superior melodies, she's the opposite of basic, she raises the bar. Sabrina, while I'm not denying what she does to be art (because art doesn't have to personally appeal in order to be considered art), it is very by-the-book pop, there is no reinvention of the wheel, it's just all very safe and formulaic. She's not a bad lyricist but I think for her lyrics to be called clever and genius is extremely overblown. I do like the fact that she writes her songs, however, plays guitar, her call back to 80's pop sounds and the coquette (though sometimes overly Lolita-esque) style.

It depends which label you're on. Some are just more restrictive than others. Lana and Gaga being on Interscope is a great fit for them, they're known to be a very flexible label that let their artists do their own thing for the most part. I do know Capitol is one of the most money hungry ones and RCA are known to just let artists fester for years without promoting them. And a lot of labels can be ruthless when they're golden goose stops laying. I know Sabrina has always released albums frequently but SnS was her big break and when that happens, most artists drag that out for at least 2 years, lots of singles, re-release, extended world tour. But she's really not giving us time to breathe here and it just seems like a bit too much too soon and it just seemed like Atlantic were worried that she'd be forgotten about if she waited much longer. Manchild sounding exactly like songs from her last album show she's still in that headspace.

It is an unfortunate pipeline that a lot of child stars fall into that they feel the need to shock with sex as adults, at least Sabrina's waited until a much more acceptable age to do it compared to Miley who was experimenting with that stuff at 17. That interesting that you have more of an issue with that variant. I've seen that image before and yes, while she might be scantily dressed and posed suggestively, she looks gorgeous and is being sexual completely independently. I'm trying to get my hair to sit like that and I wish my thighs could carry off that garter belt! It just a sexy image, nothing more to say. Granted, if this was the cover to a title like Man's Best Friend, I would feel slightly icky but ultimately wouldn't mind, there would almost be something tragically beautiful about the image (and yes, very Lana-esque!) if that were the case. The Sabrina in this one looks like she's more comfortable than the hair pulling one anyway. I can't deal with gratuitous and exploitative displays of sexuality, let's put it that way. Madonna's covert art to an album literally titled Erotica was just a close up drawing of her facial features. Even she knew when less was more.

That is a good point, labels prefer generically sexy covers as opposed to uncomfortably sexy covers. I've mentioned that it'll be interesting to see how many physical copies this album sells if the art has put people off that much and there's no variants to give us choice. But I think we've also seen that risky sexual choices can be lucrative these days. I think of Miley's Wrecking Ball video, Rihanna's Birthday Cake remix with the man who beat her, Christina's Dirrty music video and many more. Choices that were deemed so risky that many branded them career enders but they just made these stars even bigger. Ariana just got two #1 singles after breaking up a marriage. Then you've got deeply concerning success stories like 6ix9ine (a convicted child abuser) getting to #1 on Billboard, Drake's album going to #1 after Kendrick accused him of the unthinkable and suchlike. It really shows that the public sadly don't care about how controversial an artist gets and as long as it's good music, they don't care about the artist's personal life choices or controversial image. Marketing controversy as cool is what continues to work. 

9 hours ago, AyeshaErotica said:

It shows a hot woman whose boyfriend or husband is at work. After work, he doesn't go to her, but instead has an affair with another woman. There is a small probability that he actually works overtime. The woman, however, is naïve (a special word with two dots) and doesn't believe he's having an affair. The picture dates from 1965, a time when women rather believed this.

This is another artwork:

It leaves it open to interpretation, whether the woman is betrayed by her boyfriend and has reserves and harbors resentments towards her boyfriend or whether she betrays her boyfriend [as in another artwork she declines the offer of Jeff and goes to another party instead].

I just wondered if it was part of a bigger storyline, seeing as it's the style of a comic book. On it's own, it's nothing special enough that you'd want to hang it in your home. 

[salty like sodium 1,873]

On 6/18/2025 at 4:41 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

Thanks so much for that really sweet compliment. I like to think that I refrain from all the things you mentioned as part of my moral code. I believe it makes a person's argument less credible and less people are willing to listen to it when they resort to mudslinging tactics. So I'm pleased you recognise that. My aim is never to change people's minds, it's great if I do, but that's just a bonus. My ultimate aim is to make sure people know why they have their beliefs and test how strong they are. So many people don't know why they hold the opinions that they do when asked. So thank you for noticing all that. 

If she does explain it, I just can't help but think that it'll sound like the interview you quoted where she basically says it's not her fault what people make popular or it's not her fault they've got dirty minds. This response is so over-used and cliche and I've always found it very weak. If this is the image and lyrics you give us and you promote this era extensively, it must be because you want us to buy into it. If we didn't, you'd complain about that. She deliberately chose at least 3/5 singles to be about sex and then got crazy payola deals for them, so we didn't "choose" the sex songs to be successful, she chose them to be singles and thus more likely to be promoted and sell. Everything is deliberate, it's all meant to sell, so don't blame the consumers. Just be upfront and you say you write sexy songs because you want to and it's a free country and whatnot. And she says it as if everyone has made these songs successful. Most people who criticise her work aren't fans of it, that's the whole point. 

Your theory of her saying "this is what you expect from me" by her expression is certainly interesting. Though it doesn't change how I feel about it, it doesn't change the actual image. And certain people won't be interested in the deep meaning behind it anyway. I wasn't arguing that she's literally not in focus, just that she's not the one that draws my attention. It's like the image of a woman with a tall male shadow looming over her. The woman may be the one in the central focus, but my eyes are transfixed on the foreboding, larger than life threat. 

I understand that my views can come across rather hypocritical and perhaps they are somewhat. The reason I see Lana as a higher grade of artist is because her lyrics are far more poetic, intelligent and paired with superior melodies, she's the opposite of basic, she raises the bar. Sabrina, while I'm not denying what she does to be art (because art doesn't have to personally appeal in order to be considered art), it is very by-the-book pop, there is no reinvention of the wheel, it's just all very safe and formulaic. She's not a bad lyricist but I think for her lyrics to be called clever and genius is extremely overblown. I do like the fact that she writes her songs, however, plays guitar, her call back to 80's pop sounds and the coquette (though sometimes overly Lolita-esque) style.

It depends which label you're on. Some are just more restrictive than others. Lana and Gaga being on Interscope is a great fit for them, they're known to be a very flexible label that let their artists do their own thing for the most part. I do know Capitol is one of the most money hungry ones and RCA are known to just let artists fester for years without promoting them. And a lot of labels can be ruthless when they're golden goose stops laying. I know Sabrina has always released albums frequently but SnS was her big break and when that happens, most artists drag that out for at least 2 years, lots of singles, re-release, extended world tour. But she's really not giving us time to breathe here and it just seems like a bit too much too soon and it just seemed like Atlantic were worried that she'd be forgotten about if she waited much longer. Manchild sounding exactly like songs from her last album show she's still in that headspace.

It is an unfortunate pipeline that a lot of child stars fall into that they feel the need to shock with sex as adults, at least Sabrina's waited until a much more acceptable age to do it compared to Miley who was experimenting with that stuff at 17. That interesting that you have more of an issue with that variant. I've seen that image before and yes, while she might be scantily dressed and posed suggestively, she looks gorgeous and is being sexual completely independently. I'm trying to get my hair to sit like that and I wish my thighs could carry off that garter belt! It just a sexy image, nothing more to say. Granted, if this was the cover to a title like Man's Best Friend, I would feel slightly icky but ultimately wouldn't mind, there would almost be something tragically beautiful about the image (and yes, very Lana-esque!) if that were the case. The Sabrina in this one looks like she's more comfortable than the hair pulling one anyway. I can't deal with gratuitous and exploitative displays of sexuality, let's put it that way. Madonna's covert art to an album literally titled Erotica was just a close up drawing of her facial features. Even she knew when less was more.

That is a good point, labels prefer generically sexy covers as opposed to uncomfortably sexy covers. I've mentioned that it'll be interesting to see how many physical copies this album sells if the art has put people off that much and there's no variants to give us choice. But I think we've also seen that risky sexual choices can be lucrative these days. I think of Miley's Wrecking Ball video, Rihanna's Birthday Cake remix with the man who beat her, Christina's Dirrty music video and many more. Choices that were deemed so risky that many branded them career enders but they just made these stars even bigger. Ariana just got two #1 singles after breaking up a marriage. Then you've got deeply concerning success stories like 6ix9ine (a convicted child abuser) getting to #1 on Billboard, Drake's album going to #1 after Kendrick accused him of the unthinkable and suchlike. It really shows that the public sadly don't care about how controversial an artist gets and as long as it's good music, they don't care about the artist's personal life choices or controversial image. Marketing controversy as cool is what continues to work. 

I just wondered if it was part of a bigger storyline, seeing as it's the style of a comic book. On it's own, it's nothing special enough that you'd want to hang it in your home. 

It's a good moral code to have and it makes these conversations genuinely rewarding to have. And agreed, the point isn't to convince others your truth is above theirs. You're on the right track, baby, you were born (to die) this way!

I honestly doubt her reply in an interview would be that shallow. I'm not a Sabrina Carpenter fan but I think she's smart enough to have ideas and things to say about this specific image. With regards to the rest, she doesn't necessarily promote the songs she likes the most, the label tends to pick what becomes a single or not. Artists can fight in some cases but there are many famous instances of stars as big as Madonna and Mariah Carey (at the height of their careers) having to promote singles they didn't want because a label exec picked a choice they disagreed with. To your point though, they chose the songs they thought they could sell to consumers and consumers are buying the songs that are being sold. It is a chicken and an egg situation but she isn't wrong when she says that the audiences ultimately are in control and overall do prefer sexual songs. That's how songs like WAP go to #1. That doesn't mean ALL audiences like that, but the general tendency across the industry is that sex sells, unfortunately.

You are right that the people who criticise her aren't fans though, so I think she mixed them both there. 

I get what you're saying, for me it's more the fact the image can be read in a variety of ways to a variety of people make it a successful image. It's almost like an inkblot test at this stage. There are many images that can only be read a limited number of ways but this one does open itself to a lot of different options. I do understand not everyone will care about the meaning behind it, but that's kind of the same with every art form. In a pop song not everyone really cares about the lyrics (which is why sometimes they don't make any sense at all tbh). It's interesting to me your attention is drawn to the man – and totally valid to. I'm a designer by trade so I also see this image in a different way because part of my job can be to crop artwork in a way that draws focus to different parts, so for my eye this image is designed to make me focus my attention on the artist. But I totally get why your attention is drawn to the man instead! 

Honestly the fact you're open to acknowledging you might be enforcing a double standard re: Sabrina v. Lana is good enough for me. We all have our own biases and beliefs but being open to them is already much better than most people are capable of so that's already a great step imo. I agree Lana is a better lyricist (than most artists tbh, she really strives at writing fantastic poems and disguising them as songs). Her melodies are also incredible and don't need much to stand out, even just piano arrangements stay gorgeous. I agree Sabrina's music fits more within a mold, I still think she has a more unique persona and identity in the industry currently than an artist like Ava Max, Addison Rae or Katy Perry – to me she has a very specific way of writing her lyrics that reads as "Sabrina" (although I guess you could argue that Sabrina, Olivia and Chappell lyrically overlap as well). These three artists specifically feel like inheritors of both Taylor Swift's confessional narrative type of writing and Ariana Grande's more playful and sensual type of writing (songs like Thank U Next, 7 rings, etc.)

I definitely wouldn't call Sabrina a genius, but some of her lyrics can be quite clever (not all of them though ).

With regards to the release schedule, I don't think it's necessarily a direct correlation in that sense. Rihanna and Ariana are two artists who were known to be extremely prolific as well and have had many peak eras that were followed by an album the following year. Even Lana Del Rey had a very busy career start, with BTD followed by Paradise followed by that Gatsby song, the Maleficent and Big Eyes songs, and UV then Honeymoon within the span of 4 years (+ tours). I think some artists just like releasing music faster than others. Also Sabrina is a friend/fan of Taylor and has likely been taking notes of her release schedule for the past few years (which did help her become even more successful and famous by constantly being in the public eye). To me Manchild actually sounds more like trend chasing the current country trend and sounds more like Chappell Roan's Good Luck Babe than SnS (I dislike the song for this reason), but I don't think it sounds that much like her past album and I also don't think Sabrina necessarily is the type of artist who wants or needs to reinvent their sound every album cycle. (Tbh, Lana stopped changing her sound since Chemtrails, and it's always been quite consistent anyway. Ariana has also had a very consistent style since Thank U, Next).

 

For the variant, I dislike it more precisely because it's just a picture of her trying to look sexy, without any additional layers of subtext and satire. I prefer images like this one here (Man's Best Friend) because I find it more interesting, divisive and provocative and as a result, it's an interesting image to me. The other picture is just "oh ok it's a sexy blonde girl in lingerie". There isn't really much additional meaning that can be unpacked from it, and no one will be having paragraph-long debates about it on a forum. I guess I find the image more boring: "oh great, another sexy blonde girl in lingerie, I've never seen something like that before". The MBF album cover, however, isn't something I've seen before for a major pop release, and suddenly that piques my interest because I'm curious what the artistic intent was (assuming there is one). I also think your comment on "less is more" is interesting, since to me, that's exactly what Sabrina is doing here by wearing a black dress that isn't overtly sexualised (instead of being naked or in lingerie, which probably were also considered as options at some point). We're not even seeing any cleavage due to the pose, yes the dress is a bit short but it does cover her entire backside though, so it's also not too short either.

You raise good points, I'd be shocked if they don't make variants for this. I'm guessing this is her preferred cover but there will be another cover that's more safe at some point made available. And you're right, controversy has often been rewarding, even just Madonna's Like A Virgin performance on MTV when her dress malfunctioned ended up making her even more famous. But they probably could have sold an equally sexually-provocative image that wasn't also uncomfortable and it would have been an easier sell for the label, imo, so this feels like it has to be intentional since, like you said, the image could also hurt sales by making people too uncomfortable or ashamed to buy it.

[Chesescake 3,999]

On 6/18/2025 at 11:41 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

I just wondered if it was part of a bigger storyline, seeing as it's the style of a comic book. On it's own, it's nothing special enough that you'd want to hang it in your home. 

It's one of the pop art pieces drawn by Roy Lichtenstein called M-Maybe. Based on its title, I think you can just take it at face value. Artist make little art all the time.

But if you want a deeper meaning. Then Its print machine style can be connected to the art movement's ironic commentary toward consumerism or the use of pop culture as a way of challenge traditional art, as the response to the rise of industrial technology and such.

Edited June 23 by Chesescake

[StrawberryBlond 14,832]

20 hours ago, salty like sodium said:

It's a good moral code to have and it makes these conversations genuinely rewarding to have. And agreed, the point isn't to convince others your truth is above theirs. You're on the right track, baby, you were born (to die) this way!

I honestly doubt her reply in an interview would be that shallow. I'm not a Sabrina Carpenter fan but I think she's smart enough to have ideas and things to say about this specific image. With regards to the rest, she doesn't necessarily promote the songs she likes the most, the label tends to pick what becomes a single or not. Artists can fight in some cases but there are many famous instances of stars as big as Madonna and Mariah Carey (at the height of their careers) having to promote singles they didn't want because a label exec picked a choice they disagreed with. To your point though, they chose the songs they thought they could sell to consumers and consumers are buying the songs that are being sold. It is a chicken and an egg situation but she isn't wrong when she says that the audiences ultimately are in control and overall do prefer sexual songs. That's how songs like WAP go to #1. That doesn't mean ALL audiences like that, but the general tendency across the industry is that sex sells, unfortunately.

You are right that the people who criticise her aren't fans though, so I think she mixed them both there. 

I get what you're saying, for me it's more the fact the image can be read in a variety of ways to a variety of people make it a successful image. It's almost like an inkblot test at this stage. There are many images that can only be read a limited number of ways but this one does open itself to a lot of different options. I do understand not everyone will care about the meaning behind it, but that's kind of the same with every art form. In a pop song not everyone really cares about the lyrics (which is why sometimes they don't make any sense at all tbh). It's interesting to me your attention is drawn to the man – and totally valid to. I'm a designer by trade so I also see this image in a different way because part of my job can be to crop artwork in a way that draws focus to different parts, so for my eye this image is designed to make me focus my attention on the artist. But I totally get why your attention is drawn to the man instead! 

Honestly the fact you're open to acknowledging you might be enforcing a double standard re: Sabrina v. Lana is good enough for me. We all have our own biases and beliefs but being open to them is already much better than most people are capable of so that's already a great step imo. I agree Lana is a better lyricist (than most artists tbh, she really strives at writing fantastic poems and disguising them as songs). Her melodies are also incredible and don't need much to stand out, even just piano arrangements stay gorgeous. I agree Sabrina's music fits more within a mold, I still think she has a more unique persona and identity in the industry currently than an artist like Ava Max, Addison Rae or Katy Perry – to me she has a very specific way of writing her lyrics that reads as "Sabrina" (although I guess you could argue that Sabrina, Olivia and Chappell lyrically overlap as well). These three artists specifically feel like inheritors of both Taylor Swift's confessional narrative type of writing and Ariana Grande's more playful and sensual type of writing (songs like Thank U Next, 7 rings, etc.)

I definitely wouldn't call Sabrina a genius, but some of her lyrics can be quite clever (not all of them though ).

With regards to the release schedule, I don't think it's necessarily a direct correlation in that sense. Rihanna and Ariana are two artists who were known to be extremely prolific as well and have had many peak eras that were followed by an album the following year. Even Lana Del Rey had a very busy career start, with BTD followed by Paradise followed by that Gatsby song, the Maleficent and Big Eyes songs, and UV then Honeymoon within the span of 4 years (+ tours). I think some artists just like releasing music faster than others. Also Sabrina is a friend/fan of Taylor and has likely been taking notes of her release schedule for the past few years (which did help her become even more successful and famous by constantly being in the public eye). To me Manchild actually sounds more like trend chasing the current country trend and sounds more like Chappell Roan's Good Luck Babe than SnS (I dislike the song for this reason), but I don't think it sounds that much like her past album and I also don't think Sabrina necessarily is the type of artist who wants or needs to reinvent their sound every album cycle. (Tbh, Lana stopped changing her sound since Chemtrails, and it's always been quite consistent anyway. Ariana has also had a very consistent style since Thank U, Next).

 

For the variant, I dislike it more precisely because it's just a picture of her trying to look sexy, without any additional layers of subtext and satire. I prefer images like this one here (Man's Best Friend) because I find it more interesting, divisive and provocative and as a result, it's an interesting image to me. The other picture is just "oh ok it's a sexy blonde girl in lingerie". There isn't really much additional meaning that can be unpacked from it, and no one will be having paragraph-long debates about it on a forum. I guess I find the image more boring: "oh great, another sexy blonde girl in lingerie, I've never seen something like that before". The MBF album cover, however, isn't something I've seen before for a major pop release, and suddenly that piques my interest because I'm curious what the artistic intent was (assuming there is one). I also think your comment on "less is more" is interesting, since to me, that's exactly what Sabrina is doing here by wearing a black dress that isn't overtly sexualised (instead of being naked or in lingerie, which probably were also considered as options at some point). We're not even seeing any cleavage due to the pose, yes the dress is a bit short but it does cover her entire backside though, so it's also not too short either.

You raise good points, I'd be shocked if they don't make variants for this. I'm guessing this is her preferred cover but there will be another cover that's more safe at some point made available. And you're right, controversy has often been rewarding, even just Madonna's Like A Virgin performance on MTV when her dress malfunctioned ended up making her even more famous. But they probably could have sold an equally sexually-provocative image that wasn't also uncomfortable and it would have been an easier sell for the label, imo, so this feels like it has to be intentional since, like you said, the image could also hurt sales by making people too uncomfortable or ashamed to buy it.

My top 5 criteria for maintaining a respectful argument are: no shouting, no swearing, no belittling, no slurs, no threats. That way, if your opponent is still mean to you, then you know that it's not you, it's them.

This response has been said too many times by too many artists, though, there's nothing original about it. There's only so many times we can say: "If you don't like it, don't engage." For the most part, that's true in regards to disgruntled adults but a lot of concern comes from parents who are concerned their children are seeing this because Sabrina is on every major pop playlist and her songs appeal to very young people. When her shows don't have age restrictions when she's onstage asking for a fan's age and they say 16 and she responds asking if they're horny, that's a problem. It's too easy for people without kids to say: "It's up to you as the parent to stop them seeing and hearing this stuff." You should know that's literally impossible. Her raunchy album covers are on supermarket shelves. She's played on the radio. All her music is online to be streamed for free. And even if you put parental controls on all your kids devices, they can totally disable them or have a friend or a school mate who's got a phone with full access. Kids are watching hardcore p*rn videos in school, deliberately or accidentally. This is a wild world and you can't control the beast of the internet. She could absolutely amend herself for public consumption. Make award show performances age appropriate, put censored covers for sale in public, don't do overly raunchy photoshoots, do adult-only shows. Gaga did a sold-out stadium in Korea composed of only adults, it's do-able. But her label don't want that as the money is made from the youth demographic. I don't say all this to disapprove of all adult orientated songs. I loved adult orientated songs. But they absolutely should be marketed at adults with every attempt to keep it away from children's eyes and ears. 

Oh, it's certainly a successful image for the traffic and talking points it gained. But has it been for the good? It just seems to have got people riled up in a bad way and painted Sabrina in a bad light. We know for singers that there can be such thing as bad press. Even Madonna had to pull back and tone things down when it all got too much. Most women's eyes are subconsciously looking for threats all the time, we apparently even have better peripheral vision than men to detect outside threat. We run a safety scan on men when we're around them and sometimes have to rely on vibes. For me, this image just can't stop being dark and scary looking no matter how many times I look at it. As a true crime fanatic, I've seen my share of really dark sh*t and some of it never leaves you. When you see traces, echoes, of this dark imagery in day-to-day life aimed at the general populace like it's fun and sexy, it just chills me. Was there, God forbid, some inspiration? I don't know which way round disturbs me more.

I agree she has carved out a unique identity for herself. She even utilises that colour theory (associate yourself with a colour so the public always associate it with you like Olivia with purple, Nicki with pink and Sabrina with powder blue). Anyone who makes music similar to hers in future will definitely have her be cited as the inspiration. But yeah, savvy marketing like this is pretty well known. Just because you've picked up on it and do it yourself doesn't make you a genius. If she can successfully reinvent herself and get successful in the future, that's definitely more akin to being a genius. I think it's different for Lana to release albums every year as she has that old school work ethic that artists in the 60's and 70's had - make albums all the time because that's what artists do, regardless of how successful they are, hence why she does next to no promotion. But you can tell when it's capitalism in action. Sabrina had barely put out the re-release when she announced this new album and doesn't even finish her tour until the end of the year. She didn't even go to countries she easily could have toured in, likely because her label wanted her to move onto the next era where she can then tour everywhere more extensively with that tour.

Granted, the MBF's cover is more interesting but not in a way that many of us like. We tend to prefer album covers that make us feel good. Controversy for controversy's sake just isn't my cup of tea. For how controversial Miley's Bangerz album was, she went surprisingly normal for her cover art just like Madonna. I'd much rather see an image of a woman being independently sexy than in a situation where I'm concerned for her. If there's one slightly more acceptable part of her routine of performing sex positions onstage, it's that she always did them solo. Makes it harder to work out what position it is but at least she isn't getting overly exploited. But when she's doing an Eiffel Tower DP with 2 guys at her Paris show, that's too much. And yes, her outfit may be fairly conservative but when the actual image portrayed is this strong, it gets cancelled out.

I honestly thought that there were always going to be variants release eventually, that the cover controversy would be ridden out for a week in silence then planned variants would be announced, now we're past 2 weeks. Is it going to be a month, more? She tended to put out variants well into the album's release last time. Just saying they may have to be announced earlier now, for collectors if nothing else. 

19 hours ago, Chesescake said:

It's one of the pop art pieces drawn by Roy Lichtenstein called M-Maybe. Based on its title, I think you can just take it at face value. Artist make little art all the time.

But if you want a deeper meaning. Then Its print machine style can be connected to the art movement's ironic commentary toward consumerism or the use of pop culture as a way of challenge traditional art, as the response to the rise of industrial technology and such.

I had seen these works before but I didn't know if they were all connected to be a chronological storyline and therefore meant to be looked at in a specific order. It's definitely sarcastic art for sure. the kind that makes you purse your lips and make a silent nod like "Yeah, that's the way it is..."