Carly Simon Backs Sabrina Carpenter’s Bold Album Cover Amid Controversy

Carly Simon has stepped into the spotlight to defend Sabrina Carpenter’s provocative album cover for Man’s Best Friend, dismissing the backlash as overblown. The iconic singer, known for her own boundary-pushing artistry, argues that Carpenter’s bold imagery is far from shocking in the grand tapestry of music history.

The controversial cover features Carpenter in a black mini dress, posed on her hands and knees with a man seemingly grabbing her hair. Fans were quick to react, with some calling it “disgusting” and “uncomfortable,” while others praised its audacity, urging Carpenter to “be iconic.” Simon, in a recent Rolling Stone interview, compared the uproar to past album covers, like The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, which raised eyebrows with its overt sexual undertones. “She’s not doing anything outrageous,” Simon said. “It seems tame.”

Simon knows a thing or two about stirring the pot. Her 1975 album Playing Possum, photographed by Norman Seeff, featured her in a lacy black dress and leather boots, kneeling in a pose that sparked its own wave of controversy. “People definitely had a reaction,” Simon recalled, noting that media outlets like Time and Newsweek dubbed it one of the sexiest covers of its time. Yet, she sees parallels with Carpenter’s artistic choices, viewing them as a natural evolution of creative expression.

Carpenter, a former Disney star, has been no stranger to pushing boundaries. Her Short n’ Sweet world tour has drawn both gasps and applause for its risqué performances, including a Paris concert where she and her dancers mimicked a three-way act dubbed the “Eiffel Tower” during her song Juno. Social media erupted, with some fans decrying the moves as inappropriate for her younger audience, while others celebrated her bold transition into adulthood.

The debate underscores a broader tension: where does artistic freedom end and public sensibility begin? Carpenter’s choices, much like Simon’s decades ago, challenge norms and invite scrutiny, proving that music remains a powerful canvas for provocation and dialogue.