It’s been two months since Sabrina Carpenter first announced Man’s Best Friend, the follow-up album to her blockbuster breakthrough set Short n’ Sweet, dropping almost exactly a year after that four-week Billboard 200 No. 1 LP. Fans wondered if she was maybe returning too soon — especially since the hit singles and sold-out arena tour for Short n’ Sweet took her well into 2025 — and that hesitance could be felt in lukewarm early chatter surrounding this album’s initial release. But in the week-plus since, the tide has already begun to turn on the album, and now it seems like Man’s Best Friend might just be another W in Carpenter’s now-two-year-long pop winning streak.
With this Rollout Report Card episode, we look at everything surrounding Man’s Best Friend — both in the two months leading up to it, and now the two weeks since its unveiling — and how an album that many seemed ready to declare premature is now revealing itself to perhaps be its predecessor’s equal, both commercially and artistically.
As we hand out our letter grades for all the most important factors in Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend rollout — from the live performances and music videos to the new songs and overall “albuminess” — we also answer the most important questions surrounding the new era: What makes this album such a consensus grower? Was the album cover worthy of the discourse it provoked? Should “Tears” (or another second single) have come out before the full album? Why were the VMAs seemingly intent on hyping her performance as little as possible? Did Sabrina Carpenter really do a Nardwuar interview? And perhaps most importantly of all: What else can she do before year’s end to really shore up her case for being the Greatest Pop Star of 2025?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from this fascinating album campaign, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Destination Tomorrow
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Also, please consider giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.
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