Miley Cyrus faced similar backlash when she pivoted to a more overtly sexual style and performance. After ditching her teen Hannah Montana persona, she was shamed for exploring her queer identity and how she displays her body on stage. Her decision to pose naked while straddling a wrecking ball for her 2013 music video saw her labelled a “bad role model” for fans.

Now, it’s Sabrina’s turn. Part of the singer’s schtick is her cutesy persona, bubblegum pink lingerie and bouncy blonde blow drys – a kind of Barbie aesthetic. Controversially, a recent shoot for W Magazine shows Sabrina lying in a garden being soaked by sprinklers, which was likened to a scene in the 1997 film adaption of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, telling the story of a middle-aged man who becomes infatuated with a 12-year-old girl.

A now-viral Substack claimed: “Your fave is selling a pedophilic fantasy.”

This theory is rather nebulous given the entire point of Nabokov’s book – and subsequent adaptations – is to critique the sexualising gaze of his perverse protagonist. Suppose Sabrina references Lolita, as Lana Del Rey has done before her. Is it too much to imagine that she might, too, be critiquing the predatory gaze that followed her first foray into stardom at age 11?

Nevertheless, this made Sabrina’s sexual identity fair game for critics, even though she has played the game and ticked every requirement when it comes to society’s perfect feminine example. Society may say it’s fine (empowering, even) for a woman like Sabrina to be sexually liberated in theory, but in reality, it’s impossible for any famous woman to keep up with the ever-moving goalposts.

Famous men, on the other hand, rarely receive the same level of vitriol. When Sabrina mimed oral sex on stage earlier this year, she was labelled a “literal weirdo” and fans claimed they were “afraid of her” – but male performers mimicking sex acts (Chris Brown) and dancing suggestively with female fans (Ne-Yo) has become so commonplace as to be expected.