Pop star Sabrina Carpenter is gearing up for the release of her seventh studio album Man’s Best Friend — and to celebrate the release, she’s hosting listening parties across the globe, including in two very lucky Toronto record shops.
Carpenter released the full list of participating record stores on Tuesday, and Toronto favourites Kops Records on Queen and Pop Music were the chosen ones. The musician must understand that there’s nothing Torontonians hate more than trekking to the other end of the city that they don’t live in for anything — both east end and west end fans are taken care of with these two selections.
This isn’t the first time Carpenter has shown support for the city’s local record shops; last year, she stopped by that same Kops Records location while she was in Toronto for her Short n’ Sweet tour, surprising shoppers there and taking selfies with the staff.
Kops hasn’t forgotten it; in the post announcing the upcoming listening party, the team noted that “Sabrina might be Man’s Best Friend but she was our Best Friend First,” sharing a photo of the signed record she left there, upon which she wrote “I <3 Kops Records.”
Both listening parties will be taking place on Aug. 29, which is Man’s Best Friend‘s release date. At Broadview’s Pop Music, the party starts at 6 p.m., but the team recommends arriving by 5:30 p.m. to claim your spot in the space. Right at 6 p.m., Sabrina Carpenter’s new album will hit the turntable, and attendees will enjoy some fun party swag as well as the chance to win the new record as a door prize.
At Kops Records on Queen, it’s more of an all-day affair — Man’s Best Friend will be spinning all day, along with all of Carpenter’s top hits, and there will be exclusive swag for attendees. If you plan on pre-ordering a copy of the new record from Kops and get there early enough, you also might be one of the select few to win free Sabrina merch along with the record!
If you miss the listening parties, don’t worry — you can snag a copy of Sabrina Carpenter’s new album at many of the city’s incredible local record shops anyway.