Overview

• The seventh studio album arrived Aug. 29 on Island Records, following last year’s triple-platinum, Grammy-winning Short n’ Sweet.
• Reviews from Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times and USA TODAY praise Carpenter’s sharp humor and innuendo as she dissects modern dating and disappointing men.
• The sound leans into a Seventies pastiche that blends AM-radio pop, nu-disco, country accents and funky grooves, drawing comparisons to ABBA and ’70s pop acts.
• Carpenter reunites with core collaborators Jack Antonoff, Amy Allen and John Ryan, with critics singling out tracks like House Tour, Goodbye, Never Getting Laid and Tears.
• Coverage also notes the cover art dispute over submissive imagery, which Carpenter brushed off in a CBS News interview with the quip, “Y’all need to get out more.”