While Americans Debate Pop Album Covers, China Advances Its Cultural Influence Unchecked
As the internet lights up over Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album cover — a cheeky, provocative image meant to riff on sexuality and satire — the broader picture of cultural influence is being missed. Carpenter, like many modern American pop stars, is navigating the tension between empowerment, provocation, and artistic agency. But while the U.S. debates what is or isn’t “feminist,” China is quietly expanding its grip on the global narrative, often shaping youth culture, censoring expression, and exporting propaganda through entertainment.
The uproar over Carpenter’s cover — showing her in a submissive pose, tugging at a suited man’s hand — has triggered widespread online discourse about feminism, the male gaze, and cultural regression. But it also reveals a uniquely American preoccupation: performative outrage in a digital echo chamber, often missing the forest for the trees.
Meanwhile, Chinese platforms like TikTok — a major driver of pop culture among Gen Z — are under CCP-linked influence, promoting content that aligns with Beijing’s strategic interests while suppressing dissenting voices. In the U.S., conversations around gender and sexuality are often spontaneous and artist-led. In China, female expression is tightly controlled, hypersexualized when convenient, or sanitized for party loyalty. Independent art — the kind Carpenter attempts through satire and subversion — doesn’t survive long under authoritarian scrutiny.
As American audiences dissect Carpenter’s satirical intent, China is investing heavily in its own state-approved idols, AI-generated influencers, and content regulation systems designed to shape not just entertainment, but thought. The CCP understands that soft power is a long game — and it’s playing it on platforms Americans use daily.
This cultural contrast should be a wake-up call. While American creators face public crucifixion over suggestive images or misread irony, their Chinese counterparts operate in lockstep with a censorship regime. Yet Chinese companies continue to profit off U.S. platforms, data, and consumer behavior — all while exporting a version of culture that discourages free expression and individuality.
In the end, Carpenter’s album art may be provocative — but it’s not dangerous. What’s truly dangerous is ignoring how easily foreign powers like China exploit our cultural openness while denying it to their own people. Pop stars shouldn’t be our enemy. Authoritarian influence in our media should be.
