Sabrina Carpenter is on the cover of Rolling Stone and defending some of her controversial choices, starting with the surprise announcement that her new album, “Man’s Best Friend,” is arriving just one year after the global smash success of “Short n’ Sweet.” The Grammy winner is still on her Short n’ Sweet Tour, which doesn’t wrap until just before Thanksgiving. Some fans are wondering if Carpenter is risking overexposure by releasing an entirely new album so soon after her last, but the singer doesn’t care.
“If I really wanted to, I could have stretched out ‘Short n’ Sweet’ much, much longer,” Carpenter said. “But I’m at that point in my life where I’m like, ‘Wait a second, there’s no rules.’ If I’m inspired to write and make something new, I would rather do that. Why would I wait three years just for the sake of waiting three years? It’s all about what feels right. I’m learning to listen to that a lot more, instead of what is perceived as the right or wrong move.”
“Not to be dramatic, but what can I do while my legs still work? I’m limber, let’s use it,” she added later about her career hustle. “My brain is sharp, let’s write. I try not to get sad about the fact that nothing lasts forever, but genuinely, it’s such a beautiful time right now. I want to soak it up and keep making things while I’m feeling this way.”
Carpenter also noted that many of her music icons, from Dolly Parton to Linda Ronstadt, would “release a 10-song album every year,” adding: “I’m like, ‘When did we stop doing that?’ Writers write, they make music, and they release music. I understand the beauty of disappearing. My last two albums both took two and a half years to make, and they needed to. I just think every project is different. It just has to feel right.”
During the Short n’ Sweet Tour, Carptener has faced backlash from people upset with her for simulating sex positions on stage when a lot of her fans are young girls and children. The tour’s most viral moment has become when Carptener sings “Juno” and does a funny sex act after she says the lyrics: “Wanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?” She also ends “Bad Chem” by pretending to have sex with a male dancer behind a curtain. Carpenter refuses to be shamed by parents.
“It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” she told Rolling Stone. “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. It’s in my show. 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. 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.”
Carpenter added, “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. I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about every female artist that is making art right now.”
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“Man’s Best Friend” drops Aug. 29. Head over to Rolling Stone’s website to read Carpenter’s latest cover story.
From Variety US