Review Summary: Diminishing sweetness
Man’s Best Friend was off to a somewhat muted start when “Manchild” felt like the 5th or 6th single from the only-12-months-old
Short n’ Sweet, instead of the shiny lead single for a big new project. While it’s a solid tune, and rightfully a hit, the lyrics, melodies and instrumental palette felt recycled from Sabrina’s most recent chart-topping album, which is still all too present in listener’s memories. And it’s that lack of evolution or progression that fairly straightforwardly sums up the major issue with
Man’s Best Friend.
Sabrina Carpenter’s biggest drawcard is her persona, encompassing her pin-up image, her eyelid-batting stage presence, and perhaps most essentially, her
“did she just say that??” lyrics.
Man’s Best Friend delivers on that promise, with such hits as “Tears run down my thighs” (“Tears”) and “I just want you to come inside / But never enter through the back door” (“House Tour”). It’s what you’ve come to expect, anticipate and enjoy, but unfortunately it’s just about all her new album has to offer in its thrills.
Jack Antonoff seems to have trouble pushing an artist out of their comfort zone when they’re at their peak (the most egregious example being
The Tortured Poets Department), and it results in
Man’s Best Friend feeling like a selection of
Short n’ Sweet B-sides. “Go Go Juice” is a barnyard-pop romp but less-exciting than “Juno”, “Goodbye” thematically rehashes “Don’t Smile” as an album-closing farewell, and “Nobody’s Son” is just “Please Please Please (Less Pleasing Version)”. When there are glimpses of originality, like on the Portishead-goes-pop “When Did You Get Hot?”, it jolts you out of the monotony of the album’s mid-tempo malaise, but only briefly.
We know that Sabrina Carpenter is clearly capable of much more creativity and originality, just look at
Short n’ Sweet. It’s unfortunate then that
Man’s Best Friend seems to have been conceived in too short a time, and with diminishing sweetness.
