Entertainment
Sabrina Carpenter gives insight into her new music and viral debate over album cover
Sabrina Carpenter dropped her seventh album, “Man’s Best Friend,” on Friday – approximately one year after her Grammy Award winning album “Short n’ Sweet.”
“I was just going through a lot and I was like, ‘well, I could either, you know, sit and sulk about it, or I could write about it,’ and it doesn’t mean I have to put any of this out,” Carpenter told “CBS Mornings” about creating the album.
In an exclusive interview, the superstar spoke about her new music, songwriting process and the viral debate around her original album cover.
For “Man’s Best Friend,” Carpenter worked with familiar collaborators, including Jack Antonoff, John Ryan and Amy Allen.
“It felt like a band in a lot of ways. Like, someone’s on the drums, and someone’s over here playing the synth and then we’re on the tambourine. … Then I’m cutting vocals. We’re all doing gang vocals together,” she said regarding the album.
Carpenter described having “many different processes” while writing her songs – but highlighted lyrics and concepts come first.
“When I started, you know, becoming more sexual as a person, I think it’s just something that’s a part of life. You want to write about it,” she said. “I didn’t realize it was as taboo of a topic until I started writing about it more freely.”
The Grammy Award winner gave insight into a few of the songs on the new album.
For “Never Getting Laid,” she revealed, “that one was a bit of a turning point for me because I’m so used to writing bitter songs and this one felt like being bitter but with a lot of sweetness.”
She said “Don’t Worry, I’ll Make You Worry” “sounds like a threat, but it’s, like, it’s all just said with a wink. It’s said with, like, a pat on the back. I think that is the way that I communicate.”
While fans speculate who her music is about, Carpenter maintained she wouldn’t say.
“It’s more fun for people to picture in their head than the person I picture in my head, I think,” Carpenter said.
“I feel pretty transparent going into any of my relationships, that I write songs and I think they’re just as down for it. I think it’s also, most of the time, they’ve been pretty flattered when I … when they get a song written about them, good or bad.”
Carpenter admits that her music may not be for everyone, saying, “you don’t have to like what I do. I think there’s this weird misconception that every artist has to check every box for everyone to like everything about them.”
She just hopes her fans she’s speaking to through her music feel the connection and can relate.
“Then I’m happy,” she said.
The pop star has previously said she thinks of her life and music like a movie, saying “there’s like a lot of suspenseful music. There’s some cliff hangers sometimes. It’s truly an up-and-down.”
While describing her own life as versatile, she said she’s currently, “in a lovely place.”
Album cover debate
Prior to the release of her new music, a debate ensued over Carpenter’s original album cover for “Man’s Best Friend,” shocking the singer.
“I think between me and my friends and my family and the people that I always share my music and my art with first, it was … it just wasn’t even a conversation. It was just, like, it’s perfect. For what the album is, it’s perfect for, you know, kind of what it represents.”
The cover depicted Carpenter kneeling on the ground. An individual is standing next to her with Carpenter’s hand on the person’s thigh as they’re pulling her hair.
She said her intention was to keep the cover open to interpretation.
“My interpretation is being in on the control. Being in on your lack of control and when you want to be in control,” Carpenter said. “I think as a young woman, you’re just as aware of when you’re in control as when you’re not.”
She explained the album for her was about “the humanity of allowing yourself to make those mistakes.”
Carpenter said she tries to take the critical comments lightly.
“My fans that know me and know the person behind the music will look at that photo and they know exactly what it is. People that have no idea who I am absolutely look at that photo and go, like, ‘where are her parents?'”
“My parents actually saw the photo and they loved it,” she said.
Friendship with Taylor Swift
Carpenter opened for Taylor Swift on the Eras tour.
She’s also featured on a song in Swift’s upcoming album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” which will be released Oct. 3.
While Carpenter wouldn’t reveal anything about the song, she spoke about the opportunity, saying, “I’ve been looking up to her (Swift) since I was, … I remember the first time I heard a song by her. I was 8 years old on the school bus, and I was … just like my life was changed.”
She also expressed her excitement for Swift following the announcement of her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, saying she wasn’t surprised at how big the reaction was from fans.
“I’m just happy for them,” Carpenter said.
Drace Montgomery revealed why he is thrilled about Stranger Things season finale.
Montgomery starred as Billy Hargrove, step brother of Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) in season two and three and only in Max’s nightmares in season four.
In a conversation with the People magazine at the special screening of Dead Man’s Wire, in New York City, he shared what the hit series fans means to him and what he is most excited for as the series approaches its finale.
“Huge amount,” Montgomery explained of how much those fans still impact his life and career. “It’s been everything to me in my career and has made me who I am, and it is such an amazing experience.”
“The thing I’m most excited for is now that [co-creators Russ and Matt Duffer] are done with the show, they have so many other amazing ideas that I’m excited about — like, if people love Stranger Things, imagine what else they can do,” he said. “So I love that.”
Following Stranger Things conclusion, Duffer Brothers next project is The Boroughs, starring Geena Davis, will be a supernatural mystery set in a retirement community and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, starring Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco, is centered on a doomed wedding.
Both the series are soon to air on Netflix.
Meanwhile, Montgomery’s film Dead Man’s Wire follows true story of a 1977 kidnapping of a prominent banker.
Dead Man’s Wire, also stars Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, Cary Elwes, Myha’la and Al Pacino. It is slated for release on January 9, 2026.
We have listened to the chart-topping albums released in 2025 and given them their due recognition, but it’s important not to move on from the year without listening to the ones that stayed underrated.
The debut album of the band, Finneas and Ashe formed after collaborating in their solo musical careers. The musicians shared in their interviews that they had been working on the album for years, all while keeping it a secret, and it sure sounded like years’ worth of work.
- Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams
Paramore’s lead musician, Hayley Williams, released her solo album by surprise and blew fans away with the evocative lyricism and the classic Paramore vocals.
- From the Pyre by The Last Dinner Party
The British rock band released their second studio album this year, which offered the same powerful vocals as their debut, as well as the all-girl band’s imaginative lyrics.
- Forever is a Feeling by Lucy Dacus
Boygenius’ Lucy Dacus released her fourth studio album this year, which was much-awaited by fans after the release of her singles. The album featured a duet with Hozier, Bullseye, which became a special favourite among listeners.
- Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye) by Role Model
Role Model, aka Tucker Pillsbury, released the deluxe version of his 2024 album Kansas Anymore, with four bonus tracks, including Sally, When the Wine Runs Out, which became a cultural moment this year as he invited many celebrities as “Sally” during the tour set.
- Who’s The Clown by Audrey Hobbert
Audrey Hobbert, who has famously worked as Gracie Abrams’ lyricist, released her debut album this year and caused a stir in the industry, going on to perform several live performances and building an organic fandom within a span of a few months.
Addison Rae released her debut self-titled album this year, which became an instant hit among fans and earned her a Grammy nomination for the best new artist award.
Last week, at a New York bar called Old Mates, Australian icon Hugh Jackman sang a few songs by an American icon, Neil Diamond. He’s been doing a lot of this lately.
His new film, “Song Sung Blue,” is based on the real-life story of Mike and Claire Sardina, celebrity impersonators who teamed up to form a Neil Diamond tribute act by the name of Lightning & Thunder. Jackman was cast early on as Mike, and director Craig Brewer was still looking for someone to play Claire, when Jackman got an idea from watching TV: “Yeah. It’s this little-known show, ‘CBS Sunday Morning,'” he said.
In April 2024, “Sunday Morning” aired a profile of Kate Hudson and her blossoming music career.
Jackman was contacted by a friend and assistant, Michelle: “She texts me: ‘Are you watching “CBS Sunday Morning”?’ I said, ‘I’m not.’ Normally I am, by the way – that sounded sucky, but it’s true! I normally am! And I wasn’t – I turned it on, and there was Kate promoting her debut solo album. I texted Craig Brewer, the writer-director, and I said, ‘Kate Hudson is Claire. Claire is Kate.’ And he said, ‘Oh my God, perfect.'”
“Perfect” might be the right word: Hudson’s turn as Claire Sardina has already earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
Jackman said, “As much as i could see it and feel it, nothing prepared me from day one of rehearsal through to the end, ’til I saw the movie, of Kate’s performance. Because it was like, I could feel – you know, you just know, like, ‘Ah, she’s gonna be perfect,’ ’cause she’s amazing, and I love her, and I love her as an actress. But when there’s somehow an alchemy of a part to an actress at that time, when that all comes together? Magic.”
Focus Features
The performances are magical, but what happened to the Sardinas off stage was anything but: between gigs, they endured poverty, addiction, and some incredibly bad luck.
“They go through so much,” Hudson said. “And if it wasn’t a true story, it would almost be – you wouldn’t believe it, you know?”
The film is at its heart a love story, and you could say the two lead actors have chemistry to burn. Yet, Jackman and Hudson did not know each other well before the project began. “It’s become a bit of a joke,” said Jackman. “Because I remember when we first met, but she has no recollection. That’s the impression I made!”
And now? “Oh, well, very well,” said Hudson. “Except consummating. Beyond that, pretty, pretty much everything!”
CBS News 
Hudson was apprehensive when Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell watched the film: “Everyone loved the movie. My big thing was thinking, I was watching my mom watching it. I was like, ‘God …’ because I’m so, I guess, not the glamorous version of myself – or even honestly my version. You know, I was a bit heavier and didn’t see my skin person for a while, you know. I was like, ‘God, it must be so interesting for my mom to see her middle-aged daughter on the screen.’ She must have been like, ‘Oh my God, she’s middle-aged!'”
Still, it seems middle age has been good to Kate Hudson, even in a year that would put the gray in anyone’s hair. Last January, a wind-driven firestorm incinerated the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles, where Hudson has lived for most of her life. Her home is one of the few still standing, but her neighborhood is full of vacant lots where her friends’ houses used to be – and some of the places she treasured the most went up in smoke.
She showed us around what was left of the neighborhood: “Every time I drive by here, taking the kids from, like, baseball or soccer, you know, I drive by and I go, ‘Oh, that’s where mommy had her first kiss.’ And now you’re like … it’s not there. And that’s what I mean by, like, nothing lasts.”
CBS News 
But in the end, home is where you feel loved. For Hudson, it’s still her community in Los Angeles. And for Jackman, it’s his pub in Manhattan: “I come in here, I get a lot of, ‘Ah, Hughie, come over and have a beer, mate.’ I said, ‘Ah, I gotta go.’ ‘Ah, come on mate, don’t be a ****. Let’s go. Let’s have a beer. Buy me a beer. You can afford it!’ A lot of that.”
I asked, “Can you show up someplace and kind of be a regular dude?”
“Oh yeah,” he replied.
“You can show up here and be a regular dude?”
“Yeah, except I just have to be prepared for them to make fun of me!” Jackman said, “which is a sign of affection!”
CBS News 
Jackman was prepping for a little Neil Diamond tribute at Old Mates later that night, and just like in the movie, Jackman and Hudson did what Neil Diamond himself would’ve done: raise the roof.
Watch Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson perform “Sweet Caroline” at Old Mates:
One final note: Neil Diamond himself is not in the film, but Jackman says he loved it – and gave him the ultimate stamp of approval: “He put his arm around me like that, and I sort of leant, and he just kissed me on the forehead. And he said, ‘You did good, kid!'”
To watch a trailer for “Song Sung Blue” click on the video player below:
For more info:
Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Remington Korper.
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