Why Is Everyone Talking About Sabrina Carpenter?

On the rejection of filler face

A few days ago Sabrina Carpenter debuted the album cover for her upcoming album Man’s Best Friend. The debut song, ‘Manchild’, barely got any attention. All of the focus has been on the photo that everyone has seen too many times now.

It’s obvious what’s going on here. The photo tries to appeal to heterosexual men by trying to look like a submissive and feminine woman.

Regardless, it was a swing and a miss. Men didn’t respond well and women are confused about why. As a heterosexual man who is an enjoyer of submissive and feminine women, there’s something very something off about this photo.

This type of photoshoot been done before. It reminded me of an excellent photo of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg in 1970.

Note the difference between the two photos. First, the man is included in the photo. If Serge Gainsbourg wasn’t famous at the time, he may have not been, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Serge looking at directly the camera does make the image more powerful. But Jane Birkin’s thin arms and exposed legs aside — her pose and facial expression is what makes the image sexy. She’s looking at him with admiration and even a hint of fear. He owns her. Therefore, he could do whatever he wants to her. And she’s okay with that. She trusts him. She’s submitting to her love and sexual attraction to him. This is true submission. They were even in a relationship at the time, which makes the sexuality embedded in the photo more potent.

“Okay, who cares? If you don’t like the Sabrina Carpenter version then just scroll past it.”

It’s worth noting that Sabrina Carpenter is extremely popular, not far behind from Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Espresso was the #1 song in the world last year (banger tbh) with over 1 billion streams on Spotify. She won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance. All of the discussion online isn’t just about the picture, it’s about the declining standards of hotness and a huge misread of what red-blooded heterosexual men are attracted to.

I’m not trying to be mean here, but Sabrina Carpenter’s face has so much filler she could arguably be mistaken for a transexual. Many such cases. Sabrina, if you’re reading this: I’m not trying to upset you sweetie, and you should go back to being a brunette. I’m pointing out what is very obvious to men who are tired of seeing women with so much unnecessary work done, who would otherwise look more attractive.

Let’s compare Sabrina Carpenter to Sydney Sweeney.

As I wrote about in The Sexual Appeal of Sydney Sweeney, she isn’t gorgeous. Her face isn’t otherworldly. Her body aside, men like Sydney Sweeney mostly because she’s an attainable mid. She has a classic Girl Next Door appeal. She comes across relatively normal as a person and is even funny in interviews sometimes. But most of all — she looks normal. Her face isn’t pumped with injections. She can’t be mistaken for a transexual by any means.

Here’s Sabrina in 2025.

Here’s Sabrina 3 years ago.

Note the contrast. The difference isn’t just her hair color. Yes, she looks hotter as a brunette — but more importantly, her face looks thinner and more natural. While hair color and lighting may be a factor — she looks more like a classic hot girl, not a woman who frequently visits Medspas and puts a clownish amount of makeup on. In the first image she looks like she was put through a Kardashian filter of what modern homosexuals and women think straight men find attractive.

The reason why men keep commenting on what they don’t like about the photo is because of how far, and how often, the mark is missed. Filler Face is ubiquitous now. Natural femininity is harder to find as more and more women try too hard. Whatever they’re being told is sexually appealing to men is wrong. Given how few of us there are left, very few women understand what red-blooded heterosexual men find sexy.

Let’s take a look at a few former pop stars of the past.

Frankly, none of them are particularly stunning. But the difference between what’s popular now vs. then couldn’t be more obvious: their faces are slimmer and more natural. They look like girls you might see at the mall. They aren’t caked up in unnecessary makeup and their faces aren’t full of injections. They look like girls who haven’t been put through the Kardashian filter.

To be clear, I’m not a hardliner on girls getting work done. Botox is administered to prevent wrinkles and is hardly noticeable. There’s health concerns, but that’s another matter. In extreme cases, some girls look better with a nose job. If a girl has no upper lip, she will look more attractive with a little bit of lip filler. However, girls rarely get work done just once. Their faces become a never ending project. Their physician’s assistants don’t tell them “No, sorry. You don’t need it.” because they’re not incentivized to. They take their money and send them back into the world thinking they look hotter when really, they just look more like every other girl making the same mistakes. Whatever it was that made them look natural and unique slowly fades away.

My advice to girls is this:

Only get work done if you truly need it. Chances are you don’t. Don’t try too hard. Don’t ask your girlfriends or gay best friend for advice on how you look. Consult an honest straight man first.