Sabrina Carpenter leaves nothing to chance. At 26, the interpreter of “Espresso” offers herself a summer blanket on who caused a sensation: naked, hair spread out on the chest, fishnet stockings and heels on the feet. The photo, signed David Lachapelle, is part of a licked and outrageous aesthetic, orchestrated with the launch of its seventh album. A visual and media strategy that ignites social networks and relaunches the debate on female representations in the music industry.
Sabrina Carpenter naked in Rolling Stone: an assumed strategy
Asked about this exhibition deemed sulfurous, Carpenter defends his artistic approach. For her, it is a question of regaining control of her image, of freely exploring her sexuality and of emancipating the injunctions imposed on female artists. she retorts in the columns of. A way to reverse criticism and denounce a persistent hypocrisy.
This positioning is part of a claimed tradition. Carpenter readily quotes Madonna, Christina Aguilera or Rihanna as major influences. All used provocation As a lever of freedom, without ever dissociating background and form., she confides. This artistic consistency is also present in its single “Manchild”, already available since June 5.
A highly anticipated new musical outing
Produced by Jack Antonoff, Man’s Best Friend promises an immersion in the intimate, the disenchantment in love and the relationships of domination. The album, composed in the urgency of a tour, is based on a creative drive according to Carpenter: a raw formula, aligned with the intensity of the visual. No storytelling too smooth here, but direct speech, sometimes creaky.
And the bet already seems to be on the commercial level. The single “Manchild” ranked number 1 in the United Kingdom and IrelandTop 10 in Australia and New Zealand, Top 20 in Germany, Norway, Sweden and Austria. A rise in power that credits the singer beyond her media posture. Because Carpenter no longer wants to be reduced to a simple popstar for adolescents.
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A controlled provocation that divides
However, despite this success, the album cover continues to debate. The Guardian judge “retrograde”, Glasgow Women’s Aid talks about one. Conversely, The Independent sees in this visual a nose to the culture of the Male Gaze, where the singer becomes the author of the gaze. writes the British newspaper.
In this tumult, Carpenter does not try to justify himself, but to assert. She knows that each image, each word, will be dissected. And if the controversy is there, it is it just touches. By posing naked, shouting her choices, she may sign the most personal and radical soundtrack of her career.
