Sabrina Carpenter spent the decade after her debut single, 2014’s “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying,” patiently finding her voice. Her persistence finally paid off in 2024, when the absurdly catchy singles “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please” launched the former child star into a whole new realm of pop stardom. Her sixth album, August 2024’s Short n’ Sweet, reintroduced the pint-sized singer as a sharp-witted diva with a honeyed voice and a fondness for campy innuendo—and earned Carpenter her first two Grammys (Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Performance). Just over a year after Short n’ Sweet’s release, the biggest breakout pop star of 2024 fires off its follow-up, Man’s Best Friend, which carries on her streak of concise 12-track records that draw from her love of ’70s disco and ooze snarky, self-deprecating charisma. “Oh, boy,” Carpenter chuckles to begin lead single “Manchild,” which taps the usual co-writers (Jack Antonoff and Amy Allen) for a country-tinged ode to the incompetent, unavailable men she can’t seem to shake. Romantic disappointment prevails, though the 26-year-old maintains her sense of humor as she wishes an ex a lifetime of celibacy on “Never Getting Laid” and drunk-dials old flames on the twangy “Go Go Juice.” Steeped in the nostalgic sounds of her heroes (Dolly Parton, the Carpenters, ABBA, the Bee Gees), Carpenter’s lyrics approach the drudgery of modern dating with a wink and a well-timed dirty joke. “I promise none of this is a metaphor,” she sings on the New Jack Swing-inspired “House Tour,” then she carries on: “I just want you to come inside.”