Hyper-Sexualisation in the Music Industry: what can Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter’s music tell us of the state of feminism and gender attitudes in 2025?
Image Credit: Bryce Anderson - Universal Music Group
On 3rd October, Taylor Swift’s 12th album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ was released, and it is unsurprising to say that this 12 – track long album is as uninspiring and empty as is possible for a billionaire to produce. What this album sparks for me is not only a shuddering lack of artistry, but also noticeably hops onboard the hyper sexualisation train which is becoming increasingly popular, driven up front by Sabrina Carpenter following her 2025 album release, ‘Man’s Best Friend.’ It would seem to me that the music produced by these singers – Carpenter in particular – is grossly and excessively hyper-sexual, male-centred, and downright dull when it comes to nuance and self-expression. What can the work of these two extremely influential women say of feminism and politics in 2025?
I forced myself to listen to Sabrina’s album ‘Man’s Best Friend’ after seeing a tidal wave of mixed responses to its problematic album cover flood in, depicting her on her knees in a black dress and heels with a vacant expression in her eyes while a faceless man in a black suit tugs at her hair. While feeble attempts have been made to pass this cover off as satirical, the actual lyricism within the album proves that this cover is nothing more than to spark outrage and controversy, and the lyrics themselves are exceedingly sexual, full of pining and worryingly obsessive.
Carpenter lazily pushes uninspiring notions of what it is to be a woman onto her listeners, and I would argue is wholly apathetic when it comes to dealing with the consequences of her over-sexualisation and objectification, responding in an interview over her controversial album cover with: “y’all need to get out more.” I think that speaks for itself on the lack of critical thinking that went into producing the album, consequently showing how her work lacks real depth, emotion and nuance. It seems ironic that Carpenter would say this when she clearly needs to get out more and stop defining her career by her obsession with men.
There is an abundance of mind-numbingly overtly sexual innuendos to choose from in the album; my personal ‘favourites’ would have to be “I get wet at the thought of you” in ‘Tears’ and “I just want you to come inside” in ‘House Tour.’ While sexual innuendos can serve a purpose and even feature frequently in various comedic scenes within Shakespeare, Carpenter’s album is nothing short of a tragedy in my eyes when it comes to sparking female empowerment and self-worth. Not only is the album a bombardment of innuendos which are boringly male-centred, it also makes concerning remarks aimed directly towards women, such as “I choose to blame your mom” when speaking of male incompetency. Instead of directing the inability of a man onto himself, this lyric suggests that a man cannot be responsible for his actions, rather a woman must be blamed instead.
When it comes to Taylor Swift, while her entire album similarly is unprovoking and lacking in depth and is even sparking uproar over plagiarism issues, it is not as entirely anti-feminist as Carpenter’s album. However, one song has stuck out for me on how blatantly female pop music is becoming hyper-sexual. The track within her latest album titled ‘Wood’ is a blatant imitation of Carpenter’s album in the sense that it is grossly sexual and exposes Taylor to be also lacking in depth and humanity as she creates a song for pure shock factor. Certain innuendos of “Redwood tree, it ain’t hard to see” and “His love was the key that opened my thighs” becomes tedious and tiring. Swift also writes about a self-made conflict between her and Charli XCX, describing XCX as a “Chihuahua” who is obsessed with her and makes her “wet,” which is just bizarre.
These lyrics which have the aim of creating female conflict and needless unhealthy obsessions appear clumsy next to Charli’s track supposedly about Taylor which is about insecurity and vulnerability within the female music industry. Swift’s cack – handed attempt to create bad blood between herself and XCX for me exposes her as an artist who has never truly been a feminist, despite claiming to be one. Swift has reduced herself to shallow and petty production, commodifying her sexuality to inflate her pockets. Arguably the music of Swift and Carpenter recently has all been about money – producing hyper-sexual music and disguising it under a veil of female liberation. It would seem these two artists really are living the life of a showgirl, in the sense that their music is highly performative and shallow; it demands us to ask whether this could mirror the state of feminism today.
I would argue yes. Walking arm in arm with the state of politics, perhaps feminism today is also lacking in real depth and critical thinking due to growing anti-intellectualism. With a clear rise in fascism occurring throughout the Western world in which the rich 1% are wreaking havoc on the lives of the common woman and man, potentially a clear rise in anti-feminism is emerging too, or that the true definition of feminism is unravelling. While some may deny that music is not political, I would argue that it has to be. Music is a reaction to human suffering and a method of coping with it, and politics wholly dictates how much a society suffers. Even when music is lazy and apolitical (cough, cough, the work of Swift and Carpenter), this itself can speak tonnes about the state of politics and feminism today. Some may argue that it is not the responsibility they have in educating and nurturing their audiences, especially if they are young and sometimes impressionable women. Swift and Carpenter should use their power and influence to dismantle the patriarchy, rather than bowing down to it by covering it up with lazy ‘girlboss’ lyrics. Some may argue that Carpenter’s album is merely a piece of sexual self-expression; I find this hard to buy considering the final stanza of her song ‘My Man’s on Willpower’ ends with “My Man…My Man…My Man” which for me epitomises how the album is a product of masculine fantasy, not female liberation.
Music should preach individuality, vulnerability and hold nuance. Lyrics should be about real human experiences and not just join in on a trend of needless sexual vulgarity and objectification. For me, what these two pop artists demonstrate is that Western society is plummeting into a trough brought about by fascism in which people are becoming increasingly apathetic towards the content they consume. Consequently, the definition of feminism is being dismantled, as society is arguably losing sight of what true liberation is and the importance it holds. Women are being sold the lie that they can be empowered by centralising their sexuality as their identity. In a time of increasing lethargy towards political issues, it is important to step back and think about what artists like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter might be contributing towards- and it certainly is not towards the advancement of pop music.
Words by Eloise Sullivan-Flatt