I’m sure we’re all aware by now that Sabrina Carpenter just released a brand-new song, “Manchild.” It’s taken the world by storm.
The song, which came out on June 5, debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. And a few days after the song came out, she announced her new album, Man’s Best Friend, is coming out August 29. Yep, Sabrina is TOTALLY BACK.
Well, since then, she’s gotten a bit of heat from the internet — for one, because the Man’s Best Friend album cover depicts her kneeling on the floor (like a dog) while someone standing up (supposedly a man) pulls her hair. One tweet with almost 50K likes reads: “women face horrific domestic abuse and degradation at the hands of men every single day worldwide, but she wants to profit off of imagery of herself being degraded, comparing herself to a dog. pandering to men will never be feminist.”
But that’s not the only thing Sabrina is getting backlash for; people are also upset about this one lyric in “Manchild.” So let’s talk about it.
In the song, she ends off the first verse by singing: “It’s all just so familiar, baby, what do you call it?” and then answers her own question with: “Stupid / Or is it slow? / Maybe it’s useless? / But there’s a cuter word for it. I know,” and proceeds to sing the word “manchild” in the chorus.
Now, people on TikTok and X have been calling out her usage of the word “slow” in the song. Some are referring to the word as a slur, and others are pointing out that even if it’s not directly a slur, it’s “still used as a replacement for the r-slur sometimes.”
Buuuut on the other hand, there are a ton of people coming to Sabrina’s defense. They’re saying that there are much more derogatory songs (and terms) we should be calling out instead, and that it’s just a fun, lighthearted lyric.
Anyway, the internet is, as per usual, totally divided on this. And the whole discussion is veryyy interesting. So tell me: Does Sabrina’s usage of “slow” in “Manchild” rub you the wrong way? Or do you think the internet is once again being a bit too hard on her, and we should just enjoy the fun song? Let’s chat in the comments below.
