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The controversial cover of Sabrina Carpenter‘s new album Man’s Best Friend has gotten people talking, including the women on The View.
On Thursday (June 12), the ladies shared their takes on whether the artwork — which features the pop star down on all fours, pawing at a man who holds a fistful of her hair — is subversively feminist or just plain sexist. For Alyssa Farah Griffin, it’s the former.
“Oh, boo-hoo,” she began of the criticism surrounding Carpenter’s visual. “If you listen to her music, she’s a feminist. It’s all about women’s empowerment. Her newest single, ‘Manchild,’ is literally just about men who are useless who refuse to grow up.
“It reminds me of Britney Spears in the ’90s … are we still doing that?” Griffin added.
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Sunny Hostin, on the other hand, isn’t convinced. “I’ll admit, I don’t know who she is,” she said of Carpenter. “I had never heard of her music. I don’t know anything about her, but I don’t know. I think imagery is important, and even if her lyrics are strong and she’s a feminist, I think about young girls seeing that who may not understand.”
The women’s conversation echoes a much broader discussion happening online about the Man’s Best Friend cover, which Carpenter unveiled Wednesday while announcing that the new LP would drop Aug. 29. The two-time Grammy winner has long had a reputation for being cheeky and a little risqué in her lyrics and performances, from her NSFW “Nonsense” outros to the striking of various sex positions while performing the explicit track “Juno” on her Short n’ Sweet Tour.
But while the Internet is torn over whether Carpenter’s submissive position on the Man’s Best Friend cover is funny or degrading, Whoopi Goldberg was more concerned with something else. “I would’ve bit him,” the actress said of the singer’s pose on The View. “If you’re down there, you bite.”
As for the Girl Meets World alum, Carpenter has her own thoughts on leaning into her sexuality through her pop persona. “It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” she told Rolling Stone in a recent cover story. “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.”
Watch the women of The View debate Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend cover below.
SABRINA CARPENTER ALBUM COVER SENDING WRONG MESSAGE? ‘The View’ co-hosts weigh in after some were unhappy with the pop star’s upcoming album cover for ‘Man’s Best Friend’ where she’s on all fours next to a man who has her by the hair. pic.twitter.com/ny4IvFGaKA— The View (@TheView) June 12, 2025
Nelly and Ashanti rekindled their romance in 2023, about 10 years after originally breaking their relationship off. It’s been a busy two years since, with the couple tying the knot and welcoming their son, Kareem “KK” Haynes, in July 2024. The “Body On Me” collaborators are set to pull back the curtain and give fans […]
Selena Gomez took to social media on Thursday (June 12) to wish her little sister, Gracie Elliot Teefey, a happy 12th birthday. “Happy birthday to my baby sissy,” the superstar captioned an adorable slideshow of photos taken over the years with the budding tween — including shots of the sisters dressed in matching costumes at […]
Bruce Springsteen has shared a thoughtful tribute to Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys legend who died this week at the age of 82.
Posted on Instagram Thursday (June 12) — one day after Wilson’s family announced that he had passed away following a difficult battle with dementia — The Boss’ tribute began by calling the late singer-songwriter “the most musically inventive voice in all of pop, with an otherworldly ear for harmony.”
“He was also the visionary leader of America’s greatest band, The Beach Boys,” Springsteen continued. “If there’d been no Beach Boys, there would have been no ‘Racing In The Street.’ Listen to ‘Summer’s Gone’ from The Beach Boys’ last album That’s Why God Made The Radio and weep.”
“Farewell, Maestro,” added the rocker. “Nothing but love and a lovely lasting debt from all of us over here on E Street.”
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Springsteen is just one of many living legends who has shared remarks following Wilson’s death. Elton John, Bob Dylan and Carole King have also posted tributes, while several younger stars — Clairo, Gracie Abrams and Maggie Rogers, to name a few — have also paid respects.
Paul McCartney, who inducted Wilson into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000, wrote on Instagram, “Brian had that mysterious sense of musical genius that made his songs so achingly special … I loved him, and was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while.”
Springsteen has long maintained his appreciation for Wilson’s work. “There’s no greater world created in rock and roll than the Beach Boys,” the guitarist said in 2021 documentary Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, according to Far Out. “The level of musicianship, I don’t think anybody’s touched it yet.”
In 2015, Springsteen made a surprise appearance at Wilson’s concert in New Jersey, joining the icon on stage. Two year’s later, Wilson’s official Facebook account shared a photo of the two men together, with the caption: “Bruce Springsteen makes it a point to see Brian when he’s in New Jersey. Here’s Brian and Bruce before tonight’s show at the Count Basie Theatre.”
See Springsteen’s post below.
In collaboration with Billboard, Montauk Yacht Club has announced the return of its Marina Music Series, kicking things off with NEIL FRANCES on June 21 and continuing with Paco Versailles on July 5, with more talent announcements yet to come. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The […]
Tyler, The Creator opened up about the backlash to his 2015 album Cherry Bomb, saying it was the greatest thing to ever happen to him. In a sit down with Instagram for their new video series “Ask It Anyway,” Tyler opened up about the heavily criticized project. He said it was mostly a consequence of […]
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) and Luminate unveiled a new certification program on Thursday (June 12) to celebrate commercial success in the independent sector. One Star will signify 50,000 album sales, while Two Star marks 100,000. The Three Star award is a big jump up, equating to 300,000 sales.
In a statement, Dr. Richard James Burgess, CEO of A2IM, said the “certification was created to recognize real achievement on terms that truly reflect how the independent sector operates.”
“Independent artists are integral to the sustainability and creative output of the music industry,” Rob Jonas, CEO of Luminate, added in a statement. “As technology rapidly advances, Luminate remains dedicated to providing accurate, contextualized data. Our collaboration with A2IM on this new certification process aims to highlight and celebrate the independent artists who music is truly resonating.”
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While the Recording Industry Association of America also awards artists that pass certain sales benchmarks, those thresholds are set at a higher level: Gold signifies 500,000 units, Platinum marks 1,000,000, and Diamond amounts to a whopping 10,000,000. (Ten downloads or 1,500 on-demand streams count as one album sale.)
Albums can still perform enviably well even if they don’t reach those numbers. A2IM certified an initial batch of 36 records on Thursday, and Three Star titles included Thundercat’s Drunk, Jamie xx’s In Colour, and John Prine’s The Tree of Forgiveness. Cavetown’s Lemon Boy and Muna’s Muna earned Two Star nods, while Deafheaven’s Sunbather and Gregory Porter’s Be Good got One Star.
“There is an idea out there that I’ve tried to bat down during my time as A2IM CEO — the idea is that independent is small,” Burgess told Billboard recently. “It never has [been].”
Holy pop! According to a new deep dive published by The New York Times, the newly named Pope Leo XIV is related to two of pop music’s biggest names: Madonna and Justin Bieber.
In assembling a detailed family tree for the Chicago-born religious leader — who was elected the new head of the Catholic Church in May following the death of Pope Francis — the publication found that Leo is distantly linked to the two singers through a shared ancestor born about six generations back.
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“Through one Canadian ancestor, Louis Boucher de Grandpre, who was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, the pope is related to numerous Canadian-derived distant cousins,” the explainer reads.
In addition to the “Baby” singer and the Queen of Pop, the same ancestor also links the Pope to Justin Trudeau, Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton and Jack Kerouac, according to the publication.
Of all those famous names, Madge’s inclusion is arguably the most ironic. The icon has been criticized by the Vatican on numerous occasions, most famously after she released her 1989 “Like a Prayer” music video, which featured a make-out sesh with a sexy Jesus figure. In 2022, she hilariously tweeted at Pope Francis asking to “meet up one day to discuss some important matters,” adding, “I’ve been ex communicated 3 times. It doesn’t seem fair.”
Now that she and the Pope are family, however, Madonna — who is Italian and grew up Catholic — might have a better shot.
As for Bieber, the “Peaches” singer has long been open about being religious, telling fans in 2021 that he is a member of the Christian church Churchome. In recent weeks, Bieber has made references to his faith while sharing cryptic posts on Instagram, telling fans on June 3, “Who are you to tell someone what someone should or shouldn’t have … God decides what we deserve.”
The Pope formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was put in charge in early May after a two-day conclave. He is the first American to ever assume the position in the Catholic Church’s nearly 2,000 years of existence.
Ty Dolla $ign‘s EZMNY Records and Create Music Group announced a joint venture on Thursday (June 12) following the success of EZMNY R&B artist Leon Thomas. Co-founded with Shawn Barron, who signed Ty to Atlantic Records in 2012, EZMNY made waves earlier this year after signing Thomas, whose single “Mutt” continues to climb the charts. […]
Oliver Anthony had a lot to get off his chest on his new song, “Scornful Woman,” which finds the singer-songwriter venting about his divorce.
If the lyrics of the June-released song are to be taken as autobiographical, Anthony implies that his wife is shaking him down for money amid legal proceedings following the dissolution of their marriage. The Virginia resident has kept his personal life out of the public eye, but it is known that he had a wife and kids when he first blew up in 2023 with “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
“The court says 50/50, but the math don’t seem right with a scornful woman,” Anthony belts on the fiddle-heavy track. “She can have all the money, and they can keep all the fame/ I’d go back to being broke as a joke if I could just get a break from the pain.”
The scorching track arguably speaks for itself, but on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the podcaster — who had Anthony as a guest on his show in 2024 — shared his version of the story behind “Scornful Woman.” “I’ll tell you guys what happened,” Rogan said on the show. “Oliver Anthony has no money. He’s poor, he’s selling farm equipment. He puts this song on YouTube, he’s a f–king superstar. He doesn’t know what to do, he freaks out. He asks me for advice.”
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The comedian went on to explain how he urged Anthony not to “sign anything with anybody.”
“I go, ‘You’re independent, you’re already there,’” Rogan continued. “‘You already made it.’ Cut to: He starts making millions of dollars, doing arenas. The wife divorces him, she wants everything. She wants more than half. She wants all the money he’s going to be making in the future, ’cause she was with him when he was broke. He’s just tortured, wants to die. And he writes this song.”
Rogan’s remarks came just before the release of “Scornful Woman,” which Anthony sent to him before it dropped. In a video shared to the musician’s Instagram, the podcaster also praises the track ahead of its release on a different episode of JRE, saying, “That’s what I’m talking about … in the middle of all this honey honey sugar s–t, there’s still Oliver Anthony.”
It’s been nearly two years since Anthony went from unknown to Billboard Hot 100-topping artist in a matter of days. After a video of him performing his independently released single “Rich Men North of Richmond” went mega viral, the ballad debuted at No. 1 on the singles chart, making him the first artist to ever do so without having appeared on it previously.
Listen to “Scornful Woman” below.
