Sabrina Carpenter didn’t let the criticism over her album cover for “Man’s Best Friend” hold her back for long.

The provocative cover image, depicting Carpenter, 26, on all fours while a faceless man pulls her hair, sparked outrage earlier this year. Social media users labeled it as degrading to women, and a domestic violence charity criticized it for portraying women as pets.

Carpenter has now shared her initial reaction to the controversy, revealing that she quickly managed to put it behind her.

In a recent interview with Variety, where she also features on the cover, Carpenter explained how she recognized the validity of various viewpoints during the debate, before moving forward.

“It meant one thing to me and 100 things to other people, and I was looking at it going, ‘That’s valid. Mine’s valid. What’s for dinner?’” she remarked.

Carpenter – who is now feuding with the White House over the use of her music in an ICE video – also insisted the interpretations made by critics about the cover wasn’t the message she was trying to convey.

Sabrina Carpenter addressed the backlash surrounding her Man’s Best Friend album cover and her transition into a raunchy figure in her new Variety cover story 

This cover of her on all fours as a man tugged on her hair drew the fury of various netizens 

‘Not to bypass the weight that it did carry for some people. I saw it and was like, “That is a great point. It wasn’t the point I was trying to make.”‘

Instead, the artwork was meant to signify oppression over women – as well as the turbulence she has faced in her own relationships.

‘It was about how people try to control women, and how I felt emotionally yanked around by these relationships that I had, and how much power you’re allowing yourself to give them.’

Carpenter quickly released an alternative cover for the album following the uproar – a more glamorous if tamer visual in which she worked a sexy retro gown while holding onto a male model.

But the cover wasn’t in response to the backlash.

‘Oh, girl,’ she told Variety with a wave. ‘I just wanted to take more pictures!’

The accompanying shoot saw Carpenter clad in a leopard print cover up – and posing in a way to left little of her legs to the imagination. 

She also worked perforated white dress as she posed on a balcony overlooking New York City.  

Carpenter, a former child star, has embraced a far sexier image since catapulting to singing stardom. 

The Espresso singer famously simulates sex positions while performing her song Juno during her Short n’ Sweet Tour.

She subsequently released this more glamorous, if tamer alternative cover – but Carpenter insists the move wasn’t done in response to the backlash

Carpenter exuded vintage elegance and sex appeal in her New York set shoot for the magazine

And her famously sexual Bed Chem routine even has a parental advisory warning that appears on screen during her tour. 

But not everyone is a fan of the NSFW displays. 

‘I think it wouldn’t matter so much if I wasn’t a childhood figure for some people,’ she told Variety. ‘But I also can’t really help that. It’s not my fault that I got a job when I was 12 and you won’t let me evolve.’

Now, in her mid-20s, Carpenter is embracing this chapter and the freedom it allows her. 

‘I want to remember this as a time in my life when I really didn’t hold back,’ she says. ‘I wore the skirts I wanted to wear; I spoke about things in a way that I won’t regret, because I was very open. I think that’s all that matters.’

Carpenter has previously responded to the criticism over her rather sexually-charged image.  

She was joined by a sweet tabby named Oscar for the shoot 

‘It’s always so funny to me when people complain,’ she told Rolling Stone of her sexy Juno stage routine. ‘They’re like, “All she does is sing about this.” But those are the songs that you’ve made popular. Clearly you love sex. You’re obsessed with it.

‘It’s in my show. There’s so many more moments than the ‘Juno’ positions, but those are the ones you post every night and comment on. I can’t control that. If you come to the show, you’ll [also] hear the ballads, you’ll hear the more introspective numbers.

Carpenter appears on the cover of the trade publication 

‘I find irony and humor in all of that, because it seems to be a recurring theme. I’m not upset about it, other than I feel mad pressure to be funny sometimes.’

In a subsequent phone call with Rolling Stone, the topic was broached again: ‘I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I truly feel like I’ve never lived in a time where women have been picked apart more, and scrutinized in every capacity. I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about every female artist that is making art right now.’

As the Rolling Stone reporter noted that Swifties were taking photos outside of Taylor Swift’s iconic Cornelia Street, Sabrina elaborated: ‘That’s what I’m saying.’

‘We’re in such a weird time where you would think it’s girl power, and women supporting women, but in reality, the second you see a picture of someone wearing a dress on a carpet, you have to say everything mean about it in the first 30 seconds that you see it,’ she continued.

Sabrina even wrote a song hitting back at the criticism she’s received online, Needless To Say, a vinyl-only bonus track for Short and Sweet.

Some of the lyrics state: ‘A pretty dress, an awkward angle/I bet you zoomed in close and held it up to show all of your friends.’

‘It’s something that keeps coming back,’ Sabrina told Rolling Stone. ‘We just have to grow thicker skin, but they don’t have to learn how to shut their mouths.’

Carpenter’s Variety interview was published after she slammed the White House for its ‘disgusting’ use of her hit single Juno in a disturbing TikTok post celebrating recent arrests made by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The video, released on Monday, shows a montage of individuals being detained by ICE agents.

Set to Carpenter’s sexually charged track, which is supposed to be about sex positions, the clip was captioned, ‘Have you tried this one? Bye-bye,’ alongside a heart-eyes emoji.

Carpenter wasted no time condemning the move as she shared a pointed message directed at the official White House X account.

‘This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda,’ the popstar fired.

The White House then hit back on Tuesday, with spokesperson Abigail Jackson hijacking the singer’s own lyrics once again to troll her.

‘Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country,’ Jackson said in a statement.

Jackson then referenced lyrics from the star’s track Manchild, adding: ‘ Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?’