Not as short, just as sweet - A review of ‘Man’s Best Friend’

Marcus Falcao / THE GATEPOST

By Antonio Machado Copy Editor The list of qualifications required to be a true pop star is ever-changing as different generations of musicians place value on different aspects of their personas and music. However, one particular trait has remained an absolute constant throughout countless legendary musicians - a resolute thirst for blood - a thirst Sabrina Carpenter has demonstrated she has tenfold. Carpenter has thoroughly adhered to the “It Girl Inc.” formula to pop superstardom, quickly following the release of her stratospheric, GRAMMY Award-winning “Short ‘n Sweet” with another album, “Man’s Best Friend.” Where her former record was a hodgepodge of different stories and sonic influences, “Man’s Best Friend” follows a strict narrative throughline and has a homogenous sound, feeling as though Carpenter took a few shots of espresso and locked in on the equation to grant her 15 more minutes in the spotlight. Carpenter is impossibly smart. In “Man’s Best Friend,” she uses her tongue-in-cheek, satirical songwriting to tell a story of the aftermath of knowingly staying in a doomed relationship, and like another famously misunderstood carpenter, her intelligence has gotten her crucified by the general public. Although riddled with some low-hanging lyrical fruit for the sake of comedy (“Did you just say you’re finished / didn’t know we started” on “Machild”), the record provides some profound introspection on behalf of Carpenter amidst the several, several punchlines. Carpenter sings about her inability to properly convey her feelings to her partner over the muddy indie folk of “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry,” easily the most vulnerable track on the record and a perfect follow-up to the upbeat country pop of “Go Go Juice,” wherein Carpenter drunkenly chants about drinking to call her exes - and simultaneously tells a much sadder story of constantly drinking her feelings away. The album is, at its core, about a breakup, but when someone hears a lyric like, “I get wet at the thought of you being a responsible guy,” they may be caught up dancing to the nu-disco single “Tears” and miss the underlying story of Carpenter’s frustrations with an incompetent partner, but when the production is as good as it is, it’s hard to blame anyone for missing her point. Carpenter clearly has the musical ear to make it far into the industry. Accompanied by frequent collaborators Jack Antonoff and John Ryan, she somehow makes this album sound both nostalgic and modern. Though the record consists primarily of a disco and R&B pastiche, taking heavy inspiration from the ’70s and ’80s, most tracks feature an underlying country twang, either instrumental or vocal, that creates a sonic cohesion and feeling of consistency throughout the record, but it’s really the way Carpenter delivers every lyric with a wink that ties the album together with a ribbon labeled “Best Pop Vocal.” The synth funk disco of “House Tour” is a hee-hee away from Michael Jackson, but Carpenter makes up for it when she giggles, “I promise this is not a metaphor,” before the not-so-subtle “I just want you to come inside / but never enter through the back door.” “I bet your light rod is bigger than Zeus’,” Carpenter blasphemes over the electronic R&B of “When Did You Get Hot?” - an immediate banger and one of the few sonic offshoots of the record where Carpenter jests about rebounding with someone who has just glowed up. The allure of this record lies solely on Carpenter’s charisma. She skillfully delivers each and every single joke with impeccable timing. There’s an auditory sigh or wink within almost every line, each one pumping the record’s heart. However, the jokes can be overdone at times, either being repetitive in subject matter or just simply too lowbrow, but not once do they ever sound bad. Antonoff, as of late, has been labeled as public enemy number one to most avid pop music fans, but he does some of his career-best work alongside Carpenter on this record. This album is riddled with sonic nuances and hundreds of moving pieces within every track - and that might be off-putting on a first listen, but it amounts to an incredibly compelling listening experience with time. “Man’s Best Friend” is more comedy special than “Pop Bible,” but that’s exactly what audiences want from Carpenter, and she knows exactly how to deliver. As a postmodern Blonde Bombshell, Carpenter really knows how to tell a postmodern breakup story - with a wink wink and a nudge nudge. Rating: B+ She’s a grower, not a shower ¶