Recently, StudLife published an opinion piece titled “Sabrina Carpenter is just not that good.” It was a short n’ sweet takedown of the 25-year-old popstar, decrying her lyrics for vapidity, her “mean girl” traits, and her status as a “sort of feminist icon.” Now, to preface, I would like to clarify that disliking a music artist is okay. Music is subjective, and that is part of the beauty of it. However, I believe that the grounds that this article is based on are unfounded.

To start, the author of the aforementioned opinion piece claims that Carpenter is not a good lyricist. Sure, Sabrina Carpenter’s lyrics are not for everyone. They’re flippant and rather “horny on main,” as the author said, performing a kind of tongue-in-cheek reclamation of hyper-sexualization. Yes, many of her lyrics are entirely unserious. But that is the point.

Her crooning of lyrics such as “I know I Mountain Dew it for ya” is not meant to be held to the same standard as the works of William Shakespeare. It’s okay to think these lyrics are somewhat stupid or uninspiring. But the beauty of them lies in their casual and playful manner. 

The author also declares that though “there are many clever puns and innuendos…that is all there is.” This point is not hard to disprove. In “Lie to Girls,” the 11th song on Carpenter’s newest record, “Short n’ Sweet,” the singer croons, “We love to read the cold, hard facts and swear they’re incorrect / We love to mistake butterflies for cardiac arrest.” It’s hard to deny that lyrics such as these are clever and hit close to home for many people. Moreover, they are not “clever puns” nor “innuendos.” It might have benefitted the author’s article to look more deeply at other songs of Carpenter’s, not simply her most popular.

Then, the author flips to discussing a bit of drama that occurred between Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo in early 2021 which centered around a love triangle between the two and Rodrigo’s then-costar, Joshua Bassett. When Olivia Rodrigo released her hit, “driver’s license,” which seemed to attack Carpenter in a line about Basset probably being “with that blonde girl,” Carpenter responded with a song of her own, “Skin.” Carpenter’s song was a flop. Lyrically and sonically, it could not compare to the sensation that was “driver’s license.” While discussing this incident, the author claims that Carpenter should not have responded to “driver’s license” and instead should have “respect[ed] the insecurities of a 17-year-old girl.”

Let’s not forget that though, yes, Olivia Rodrigo was a mere 17 years old, she instigated this situation by releasing “driver’s license” in the first place. Rodrigo also did not have to allude to Carpenter in her song. And yet she did. Further, Carpenter was relentlessly attacked because of Rodrigo’s song. According to Carpenter’s song “because I liked a boy,” after the release of “driver’s license,” she received death threats and was called a “homewrecker” and a “slut.” Rodrigo was not an innocent bystander in this situation. Sure, “Skin” is one of Carpenter’s weakest songs. But this situation was much more complicated than the author portrayed in their article. And, most importantly, this drama occurred three years ago. I’m almost certain that both these individuals have grown and improved from the people that they were when these two songs were released.

The author of the article “Sabrina Carpenter is just not that good” then declares that she doesn’t “think she should be seen as a revolutionary for being sexual.” To look at this point directly, we can ask ourselves, “has Carpenter ever claimed or presented herself as ‘revolutionary’ for being sexual?” And to that question, there seems to be very little evidence for the affirmative. 

Yes, she is clearly drawn to discussing sex within her lyrics. But nowhere has she stated that this is something never-before-done in music. Instead, Carpenter seems to be more interested in learning about and embracing her own sexuality through her lyricism. In a Cosmopolitan interview, when asked about the infamous (and often very sexual) outros she would perform during her song “Nonsense,” Carpenter admitted, “I think people think I’m just obnoxiously horny, when in reality, writing [those lyrics] comes from the ability to not be fearful of your sexuality as opposed to just not being able to put it down.”

Carpenter is not pushing “other women [down] because of her sexual encounters,” as the author of the aforementioned article states. Rather, she is simply embracing the confidence that she has found in her sexuality. She is not ashamed of the fact that she is somebody who enjoys talking about sex. She is not ashamed of being ridiculed for discussing taboo topics. Is this not a thing to be celebrated rather than rebuked? 

If anything, Sabrina Carpenter has been seen by some as conforming to misogynistic standards rather than being the “face of modern feminism.” She has been criticized by many a TikTok and Reddit user for being too “hyper-feminine” and for her revealing tour outfits seeming to be built for the “male gaze.” Some also claim that she plays the “damsel in distress” in order to seem attractive to men. Rather than being seen as feminist, some view her as someone putting on a sexy show to draw in male fans.

Moreover, when asked a question in the previously mentioned Cosmopolitan interview about her “sex tips,” Carpenter remarked that she recommends doing “whatever feels most comfortable to you. You can be curious and ask questions, but a lot of it is just going to be you learning yourself. So do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable and safe.” Here, she is not degrading other women because she has had sex and they may not have — as the author of “Sabrina Carpenter is just not that good” seems to insinuate. Instead, she is doing quite the opposite in presenting herself as a proponent of engaging in whatever acts an individual feels safe and comfortable doing.

Clearly, I am a Sabrina Carpenter fan. I anxiously awaited the release of “Short n’ Sweet” over the summer, and fought the Ticketmaster battle for her exceedingly popular tour tickets. But, like any artist and public figure, I do not find her immune from critique. For example, I find that her songs occasionally venture into a knockoff Ariana Grande sound and feel like an unneeded revival of a 2010s pop sound. However, I believe that the basis on which “Sabrina Carpenter is just not that good” is built is unwarranted.