Belinda Carlisle blasts Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend album cover as she slams 'sexualised' female music stars
Belinda Carlisle has hit out at the sexualisation of female music stars, referencing Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend album imagery as a key example of how the music industry has "gone backwards" in its treatment of young women.
Belinda Carlisle has taken aim at the hyper-sexualised direction of modern pop, claiming the industry has “gone backwards” in the treatment of young women.
The Heaven Is a Place on Earth hitmaker accused the music business of failing young female artists, singling out Sabrina Carpenter’s recent controversial album release – Man’s Best Friend – as a key example of the problem.
Speaking as she promotes her new album Once Upon a Time in California, Carlisle, 67, told The I Paper: “All these young girls are being totally sexualised. It’s horrifying.
"Like Sabrina Carpenter and her album cover; I just don’t get it. I don’t think it’s empowering at all. I feel bad for her.
"Obviously, she’s getting attention, but it’s not the kind of attention that is sustainable. I wonder how she’s going to feel twenty years from now.”
Carlisle said she’s dismayed by the state of modern pop, where she believes genuine talent is being drowned out by “thongs” “twerking” and “all kinds of s***”, with young female artists being viewed for their sex appeal instead of their talent.
She said: “The music industry has gone backwards in terms of its attitude towards women. I see these singers who are really talented, then all of a sudden, I see them twerking, doing all kinds of s*** and wearing thongs on stage. Maybe I’m just too old and I don’t get it. I’m sure social media is a big part of it.”
The former Go-Go's singer also opened up about one of the most controversial moments in her career - posing for Playboy at the age of 43 - a decision she now admits leaves her with "really mixed feelings".
Belinda said: “I wish I hadn’t done Playboy aged 43. I thought the only way I could do it was if I was in character, like this cheesecake pin-up. The pictures were beautifully shot, and they weren’t vulgar, but looking back, I have really mixed feelings about them.”
Sabrina Carpenter's latest album, Man's Best Friend, has ignited a firestorm of controversy following the release of its provocative cover art.
The image depicts the Tears hitmaker kneeling on all fours in a black mini dress and heels, with an anonymous figure pulling her hair. Critics argue that the visual perpetuates harmful stereotypes, reducing women to submissive roles and promoting misogynistic tropes.
Glasgow Women's Aid, a domestic abuse charity, condemned the artwork as "regressive," stating that it "pictures herself on all fours, with a man pulling her hair and calling it 'Man's Best Friend' isn't subversion. It's a throwback to tired tropes that reduce women to pets, props, and possessions and promote an element of violence and control."
