My Favorite Album Art

26 August 2018, Sunday, 12:23 AM

The heart's been feeling a little heavy lately, so in an effort to lighten things up, I want to draw my attention to something I really enjoy doing: listening to music.

I sometimes like to think that listening to a song somewhere in the background makes my life seem like a movie. Or, I remember certain moments of my life based on the music I am listening to. 

For example: Good Life by Kanye was blasting through speakers on my 18th birthday; Sameer Gadhia from Young the Giant belted lyrics to "My Body" at Outside Lands 2017, 13 by LANY was playing in my best friend's car as we drove through the hills of SCV - you get the picture. 

I heavily rely on my visual memory, so I often associate imagery with the things I do and music I listen to. For this specific reason, my mind goes absolutely nuts when I find an amazing song with even better album art. 

*Disclaimer:  I may not have listened to the entirety of every album I mention below, but the art was usually compelling enough that I just had to find my favorite song from that specific album! Also, this post does necessarily showcase what my favorite songs are - let's just appreciate the art.

ALSO, I'm sorry if the image resolutions are poor - I scoured the Internet for higher quality photos, but they were hard to find! The images I feature on this post are not my IP; they are solely for entertainment purposes.

Without further ado... I present: my favorite albums arts (and the reasons why I love them)!

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A Moment Apart

ODESZA

Song Recommendation:
Divide feat. Kelsey Bulkin

I love this album because:

THE COLORS! EXPERIENCE! EVERYTHING!
I really think there was a cohesive story told from this album cover and the songs featured in it. If you listen to the album, you’ll understand the ethereal and epic vibe of the music which takes you to another place when listening: it felt (and still feels) almost unreal. I really think this album renders an experience that appeals to more than just the hearing senses.

Make Out

LANY

Song Recommendation:
ILYSB - STRIPPED

I love this album because:

The art heavily captures the essence of Southern California (SoCal). My hometown is in Los Angeles, and according to Paul Klein (lead singer of LANY), the pink flowers in this cover are in Santa Monica.

A lot of people throw shade on SoCal aesthetics for being extremely basic, and I agree (to an extent). If you give this picture another look without any preconceived biases, the album art conveys more than just “basic” — it presents a lifestyle mood.

Perhaps I am stretching this interpretation waaay too much, but I love how this photo portrays the flowers in such a delicate manner. The sun backlights the flowers in a way that presents them as a soft vignette, and this style draws such a subtle, yet highlighted attention to the subject.

Also, others may disagree on this, but I really like how there is a palm tree in the top left quadrant of the photo - it’s a clear visual indicator that this album originates from SoCal and tries to present the LA vibe.

Suggestion: if you have never been to Southern California before, I highly recommend you listen to the song ILYSB or the stripped version while driving down the PCH or 101 freeway. (maybe not the 101 because there’s a crap ton of traffic.)

If you click the image, it’ll take you to Paul Klein’s tweet that confirms: the album cover was taken in Santa Monica!

It's Not That Deep

Olivia O’Brien

Song Recommendation:
RIP

I love this album because:

(this is a warning for dark humor) But LOL I remember a really good song started playing on Spotify, and I didn’t recognize the song by the music.

However, as soon as I looked at my phone and saw the album cover, I burst in laughter because I thought the art was just really funny.

It captured my mood immediately: I was in my second semester of Junior Year, and I was very stressed out from studying really hard for Econ… Anyway, this album art just makes me laugh - one of my absolute favorites.

fuckboi

gianni & kyle

Song Recommendation:
fuckboi

I love this album because:

I loved how simple the graphics were on this album. I am a huge fan of retro style and influences, and I loved how this album art threw it back to the early 90’s with a simple graphic of the cassette tape in the center of a pistachio green background. (pistachio green is also one of my favorite colors).

Also, I really liked how the cover presented the word “fuckboi” in the format of a dictionary definition - the use of this format kind of feels like a satirical play on presenting the concept of “fuckboi” in a tongue-in-cheek, yet serious and educational manner.

All This

Point Point

Song Recommendation:
All This

I love this album because:

So technically, this is a single cover and not an album cover, but I really thought the concept behind this image was satirically funny.

It’s a play on the typical family portrait, and a lot of people think family portraits are awkward, but this image portrays the subjects as embracing and owning the awkward rather than showing themselves as uncomfortable.

I think they made their album cover hilariously artful.

There is More

Hillsong Worship

Song Recommendation:
So Will I (100 Billion X) - Live

I love this album because:

This album cover was my phone wallpaper for several weeks — I was blown away at how beautiful it was.

I loved the color combinations and visible artistry of the brushstrokes and grain - when I saw this album, I felt like I could touch the artwork and understand the message it was trying to convey.

Another aspect of the artwork that I just discovered and am completely amazed by, is how each object you see in the picture is inspired and supported by Biblical evidence.

For instance: the Bible at the bottom of the staircase serves as an iconic symbol of God’s love letter to humanity.

His lamp to our feet and light to our path, His surgeon’s scalpel and His equipping grace.

- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

I am currently listening to “So Will I (100 Billion X) - Live,” so I am trying to write my response based on the music, but I loved this album art so so much.

I discovered this album during a rough time in my life (when am I not ever in a rough time), but it holds a lot of significance!

Click the image (link) so you can see what the other objects in the image stand for!

Love Yourself 承 'Her'

BTS or 방탄소년단

Song Recommendation:
Go Go or Best of Me

I love this album because:

I made some amazing friends during my semester abroad in Seoul, South Korea at Yonsei University. We bonded a lot over music, and many of us were not very immersed in Korean Pop (K-Pop) culture. BTS was not as much of a hot topic in Korea as it was overseas, so as BTS gained much more global traction with their first American debut at the American Music Awards (AMA) in November 2017, my friends and I felt this sudden feeling of Korean pride and newfound affinity for BTS.

Anyway, we felt like our semester living in a new country was such a great experience in which we were care-free, so the song “Go Go” or “고민보다 go” captures our mutual understandings of living life without worry.

The song “Best of Me” holds a lot of significance because I went to the BTS Final Wings Tour concert in Seoul, and it was BTS’ first time performing that song live on stage, and normally, K-pop concerts in Korea are much better than internationally because they want to perform for their home (the best way to describe is like homecourt advantage, except without the competition).

P.S. Thank you Spotify for making visual people like me so happily content when discovering new music - seeing album art makes my life so much more aesthetically delightful!

Note: This post will probably see some edits as the years go by - I will include time/date stamps for each new album after the very first publish!