 Music as a medium is different. It allows artists to truly express themselves in a way that TV shows and video games just can't because unlike them they cannot be carried by perfect graphics or writing. There really is nowhere to hide on an album. That feeling of seeing the announcement of your favorite artist's new project which they most likely have put years of energy and work into. It's unmatched honestly. Unless they never drop it. Yandy! And what's the first thing you're likely to see before any leaks or snippets is likely to be the album art. Setting the tone and pace for the whole project before that first listen. It's the artist's job with the album cover to grab your attention and to persuade you to listen to their music. And that's the beauty of album covers. Long story short I'm gonna be making more high quality shit. You know be it about music or be it about media in general. I'm gonna need you to like and subscribe. The simple mathematics of the situation is that if you like and comment I may finally get a crumb of that algorithm juice alright? Okay alright. The way I see it there are two kinds you can fall into. You can think that album covers don't mean anything and that it's all about the music. Which I understand because shit music is shit music and there's no dancing around that topic. Don't let people tell you different okay? No matter how many pieces of art people produces. Or you can think that they go such a long way to creating that immersion and add to the storytelling of the album. Album covers are so important and powerful because of two main reasons. One they provide a physical representation that artists chosen to use for their album. A singular still image who aesthetically represent their piece of art. A bad representation of that can seriously damage your longevity and how people remember that album. Because in the world today if it doesn't grab my eye I'm gonna forget about it in two seconds. Secondly for that same image to add to the narrative and to the tone of that album. Reading into the themes and the topics discussed on the album prior to even sinking your teeth into it. Marrying these two ideas is extremely difficult and something you don't even realise most of the time. Until you take that further look into the covers themselves. More often than not containing such rich back stories which add to the texture and the understanding of that album. Which enhances that overall experience around it. When these two ideas that aesthetics and narrative are perfectly balanced it allows for the user to be completely immersed into this world that the artist has created. But without further ado let's talk about some covers. We started off strong with Watch The Phone. This album cover makes me feel like my name's Laurent. Cruising down the Monaco Highway in my new Lamborghini with a cigar puffing out my mouth. Just coming back from doubling my life's savings in the Monte Carlo. When in reality I'm in my pajamas on my third pot of instant noodles. It just oozes excellence and decadence which is absolutely everything the music is trying to achieve. The narrative of that album is playing into it as well. When you hear that opening line by Frank Ocean talking about what's a king to a god. At that exact moment you gain a better understanding of the album cover. It looks like a golden broil plate for royalty. Fully playing into the throne that Hove and Yeah are on. And I personally think that any other cover than this gold piece of extravagance would give that album a massive underwhelming feel. It's rare to see a cover just perfectly connect with the music. Now by far my favourite album covers are usually minimalistic. I'm thinking Jay Z's 444. The simplicity of it is so audacious and arrogant. Just this tiny line at the top saying this is his 13th studio album. It's like you know who this is bitch. Or like this quaint Welsh indie rock band Catfish and the Bottleman. Their first three albums all having these chalk drawings of symbols. Showing some continuity between the three. As all three of them explore similar themes and narratives. Ready to die. Mad villainy. Channel orange. Swimming. I mean even views by Jay. Where the cover is more interesting than the album itself. Or as we call it in the business the Drake special. All take this simple minimalistic approach. Which on their eyes is super pleasing for me. It's a sign of a great artist when they can say so much with so little. Yet remaining so iconic and engraved into my mind. That whenever I hear one of these tracks it brings me back to the themes and the colours of the cover. So I don't know if you guys would have picked up on this because I've been pretty subtle about it. But I'm kind of a Kanye West fan. And to avoid another 15 minute video I'm only going to talk about the cover of my favourite album 80 Ways in Heartbreak. Because it encapsulates everything I want in an album cover. First of all aesthetically it's beautiful. It's cold. It's dark. It's depressing. It's everything that the album strives to achieve. And secondly it does play into the narrative quite a bit. The first thing you notice about this is that it ditches the iconic dropout bear. Which was seen on every Kanye album prior to this point. Immediately highlighting the change of pace and tone on this album. Replace with this calming grey background. Symbolizing the emptiness and vulnerability of the album. Paired with a punctured balloon heart. Symbolic of Kanye's psyche at the time. Deflated and worn out. Telling you pretty much everything you need to know about the album at that first glance. There's a small colour palette to the left. And to the untrained eye it may seem like an odd decision. But there's a method to the madness. Kanye had a myth of having synesthesia. Which for those who don't know is a condition where information can stimulate more than one of your senses. A lot of musicians have this. And in this case it's where a certain song would make Kanye think of a colour. He could visualise it. So each one of the songs on the tracklist are represented by that colour chronologically. This was furthered by the vinyl to not only see the physical representation of the turmoil and despair that Kanye was going through via the cover. But for each one of these songs to have a colour attached to it that you can visualise while listening to the album. It's absolutely genius and is so creative. It really was so ahead of its time especially for an album that came out in 2008. And the colours don't lie. Heartless has this pale ghostlike colour of nothingness. Representing how frigid this girl was. Maybe even part of the coldest story ever told. I don't know. Whereas coldest winter has this muted red colour. Completely different to all the other songs on the album. And this is to show the outpour of emotion on that song. Now look. We've talked a lot about good album covers. Alright. But that's only one side of the coin my friends. All the Yin and no Yang. All Drake and no Ghostwriter. Okay I'll stop. I'll stop. Now I'm going to subject you to some of the worst of the human mind. Some image is so terrifying and disgusting. The artists have had to change them. Goat and human form. Oh god. It's just an abomination. I'm sorry. So bad that the internet had bullied him into making a new one. Which isn't much better might I add. But at least I got this Narnia looking bum off my screen. Now you're thinking. It can't get much worse than this. Can it? Well ladies and gentlemen welcome Lupe Fiasco's Lasers. Or is it Losers? What does this really mean Lupe my boy? Please. I'm so confused. This is the album equivalent of a war crime. What have you done here? Your album covered to do so is so cool. It's so slick. It's so clean. How'd you mess this up? Now of course you're all screaming through your screens. It'd be surely. There can't be a worse goat theme album cover. Can there? Can there really be one more? This is the granddaddy of all horrible album art. If anyone wants to blame for the murder of Tupac it was the artist of this cover. Cause this man did not want to see music succeed. This man was trying to send us back another 10 years. These were all really painfully bad. But there's been a recent trend of just lazy half assed attempts at album art. So robotic and corporate just shoving them out. And it makes me feel so disincentivised to listen to the music. Even if it's good. Don't get me started on a whole lot of ed. On the other hand someone like Kid Cudi does maximally this cover so brilliantly. Man on the Moon 1 is bursting with colour and life. It's popping off your screen. Whether you like it or not it's got your attention with these bursting colours. And the way it plays into the themes of that album is brilliant. With Cudi feeling like an outsider and out of place. Symbolised through the moon. Man on the Moon 2 carries this idea forward and pushes it to its limits. Slumped over. Looking defeated with a glass of whiskey in his hand. A window of stars behind him not only staying true to the vibes that Cudi was going for at the time. But also again so out of this world. Similar to the music and some of the tracks feeling so extraterrestrial. And it already expresses someone the narrative of the album. With substance abuse. Feeling trapped in your own mind and suicidal thoughts all represented on the album cover. What makes the cover so good is that it's also open to interpretation. Some people have said that whiskey glass could be a gun. Everyone I've talked to about this album cover has had a different approach to it. And that really plays into the beauty of it. To conclude album covers are so important to your listening experience. And one of the most underappreciated byproducts of the music creation process. And in my opinion they make or break an iconic album for me. When I think of the albums I'm most emotionally attached to. All of them must have that good cover art. So that they stay in my mind throughout the day. They provide this immersion that nothing else in the music can. And that's why they're so different and important. Well this has been a man just talking about album covers for a pretty long time. And that's all I have to say. Thanks, like, subscribe and have a nice one guys. I'm done.