Sabrina Carpenter is setting the record straight after some critics accused her of taking inspiration from one of the most controversial stories of all time: Lolita.
In the comments of a recent TikTok, the pop star denied that she’d ever seen the movie Lolita, much less referenced it in a 2024 photoshoot for W Magazine. The original poster had compared one picture from the spread — featuring Carpenter lying on her stomach in a grassy lawn as a sprinkler goes off behind her — to a very similar still from Adrian Lyne’s 1997 film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel, which centers around a middle-aged man who becomes sexually infatuated with a 12-year-old girl.
The user who drew the comparison wrote that the supposed reference was “gross,” but Carpenter replied, “i’ve never seen this movie.”
“it’s never been on my mood board and never would be,” the Grammy winner added.
The clarification comes as people online have been recirculating the W photoshoot in light of Carpenter’s newly revealed Man’s Best Friend album cover. Featuring the musician on all fours as a man grips her by her hair, the artwork has been slammed by some critics as objectifying and regressive for women, though others have argued that it’s harmlessly tongue-in-cheek or even an empowering embrace of sexuality.
Amid the discourse, people have also pointed out similarities between the Lolita movie and a special Man’s Best Friend vinyl — which displays a painting of her lying on a bed as a man in a suit dotes on her — available on her website. Both the Lolita book and film have been heavily criticized for decades for romanticizing pedophilia.
But as Carpenter said in her comment, Lolita has never influenced her visuals. It’s not the first time in recent history she’s shut down criticism of how she presents herself; in her June Rolling Stone cover story, the Girl Meets World alum also addressed certain people who accuse her of only singing about sex in her music.
“It’s always so funny to me when people complain,” she told the publication. “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.”
Carpenter announced new album Man’s Best Friend earlier in June, less than a year after her last album, Billboard 200-topper Short n’ Sweet, propelled her to superstar status in 2024. The new LP was led by a single titled “Manchild,” which recently debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100.
In celebration of the feat, Carpenter wrote on her Instagram Story on Monday (June 16), “I can’t tell you how much this means to me … Thank you eternally for listening.”
