“Do you have to take off your pants to sing well?”: Netizens divided over Sabrina Carpenter’s outfit while performing ‘Manchild’ on SNL

Sabrina Carpenter hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) on October 18 and performed multiple songs, including Manchild, released on June 5 this year. She also sang an uncensored version of her Man's Best Friend track, Nobody's Son.

Carpenter hosted the SNL on Saturday and said a monologue, discussing the controversy surrounding the cover for Man's Best Friend. The album, released on August 29 this year, showed her on all fours with a man figure pulling her hair. This led to some backlash, with many claiming that it was too sexual.

After defending her stance on the cover, the singer performed two tracks from this album, Manchild and Nobody's Son. Some fans online, however, were displeased with Sabrina Carpenter's outfit during her performance of Manchild.

One X (formerly Twitter) user wrote:

"Do you have to take off your pants to sing well ?"

Luke

@hailluek

Do you have to take off your pants to sing well ?

Another wrote,

the silencer 🔇💋

@swiftssstarsss

@PopBase @SabrinaAnnLynn Overly sexual once again 😂🤡

Another commented,

Lana 🫧

@suestormhub

She's trying so hard pandering to male gaze eww

Some fans, however, praised Carpenter's creativity and look, as one user wrote,

Nevada

@thecheeries

I love when a popstar is popstaring #sabrinanightlive #SNL

Another commented,

Karla 🇲🇽 • Method Acting Apologist •

@Artisticneed

She’s so cool and fun and talent and most importantly she has VISION

Another tweeted,

Ari🖤

@ariiiiirose

Her constant creative abilities will keep her relevant for yearsssss

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Sabrina Carpenter addresses backlash over album cover of Man's Best Friend

2025 MTV Video Music Awards - Arrivals (Image Source: Getty)

Sabrina Carpenter faced a lot of criticism after the album cover for Man's Best Friend was released. Many claimed it was too sexual, especially coupled with her "juno" positions.

The singer responded to these critics in her monologue on Saturday Night Live on October 18, saying:

“Some people got a little freaked out by the cover. I’m not sure why? It was just this: me on all fours, with an unseen figure pulling my hair. But what people don’t realize is that’s just how they cropped it."

She joked:

"If you zoom out, it’s clearly a picture from the 50th anniversary special of Bowen [Yang] helping me up by the hair. After Martin Short shoved me out of the buffet line, saying something like, ‘Daddy need his mini quiche.' "

She then spoke about the criticism of her public image and added:

“Everyone thinks of me as this horned-up pop star, but there’s really so much more to me. I’m not just horny. I’m also turned-on, and I’m sexually charged, and I love to read. My favorite book is the encyclopedia. It’s so big, and it’s hard.”

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Sabrina Carpenter featured on Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl

Along with releasing her new album earlier this year, Carpenter also featured on Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl. She featured on the title track of the album, released on October 3, and is the only feature on it.

In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on October 6, Taylor Swift spoke about Carpenter's feature and said:

“All of a sudden, the song comes together. And the first thought I had was Sabrina Carpenter. She’s like… Quintessential showgirl. She’s such a funny person. She is so tough in the right ways and soft and vulnerable in the right ways to be an artist that is dealing with the kind of just absolute mayhem that gets kind of, these artists get subjected to when you’re putting out art publicly.”

Swift said that she wrote the second verse of the song for Carpenter, as she "loves to write like a clever little jab at men".

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