Latest on MJJC

MICHAEL _ Chosen as The Best POP Album Cover of the Last 5 Years

qbee

Proud Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
11,824
Points
0
Location
Michigan USA
The Best POP Album Covers of the Last 5 Years

BY DALE EISINGER, SUSAN CHENG | NOV 8, 2013 | 12:33 PM


Pop, derived from the word "popular," is a genre that's continually hard to define. Pop music shifts constantly, but over time, it has been known to include catchy melodies and hooks, repeated choruses, and widespread appeal. Today, pop music borders on a lot of rap and dance music, but at its core, the aforementioned qualities define it.

Picking a list of The 50 Best Pop Album Covers of the Past Five Years is hardly an easy task, but it's one that reveals a lot about how these album covers work. Especially in the context of recent pop releases—Katy Perry's Prism, Lady Gaga's ARTPOP, Sky Ferreira's Night Time, My Time, and M.I.A.'s Matangi—one realizes the tendency for pop covers to be direct facial portraits, sometimes without much more styling or design.

When it comes to more indie releases, the imaging naturally gets more experimental. Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion is an abstract optical illusion, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs photographed a fist crushing an egg for It's Blitz, and three versions of Santigold pose in front of a painting of herself for Master of My Make Believe.

This list includes pop albums that came out between November 8, 2008 and today. Enjoy this visual tour of pop music, and its best covers, from the last five years.

Click here to start the count down




1. Michael Jackson, Michael
iyrbp_michael_765051.jpg



Release date: Dec. 10, 2010
Cover art: Kadir Nelson
Art direction: Christina Rodriguez, Sheri Lee
Labels: Epic, MJJ

The first release of new Michael Jackson music after his death in 2009, Michael features a brilliant, multifaceted painting by renowned author, illustrator, and painter Kadir Nelson. Nelson, who has painted the likes of Marvin Gaye and later the album cover for Drake's Nothing Was the Same,here created something that at first glance looks like a collage of highlights from Jackson's career. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear this is an intricate painting meant to represent the ups, downs, and struggles of one of the greatest pop artists in history (of which there were many). We get Michael and all his most important moments: Michael preening for Off The Wall, the tabloid cover from a Weekly World issue, and the cherubs crowning him—one black, one white. Bubbles fills the bottom left of the picture, a reference to Jackson's pet chimp—the nods to MJ's life are numerous.

It's as much a puzzle for fans to unravel as it is a retrospective of one incredible man's incredible life. Nelson's ability to surmise and synergize Jackson's struggles is phenomenal. At one point this artwork was erected in Middlesex, England as a 29,000-square-foot mural, making it the largest poster in the history of the world. Jackson was always larger than life. —Dale Eisinger

http://www.complex.com/art-design/2013/11/best-pop-album-covers/michael-jackson-michael
 
At first, I misread the title as "MICHAEL voted as the best album of the last 5 years",
 
i must say i do love this album cover. it reminds me of dangerous 2.0, except for the fact that everything in the picture is related to michaels career. the main picture of michael looks off to me, but i guess its a painting in the end. not too sure about the belt in the bottom left hand corner though.

despite what i think of the 'album' itself, i certainly love this artwork. well done!
 
I think it a wonderful cover!

I have always loved the Dangerous album cover - I hope the next album will also have something like that.

Mystery, joy, exitement etc. etc. - It's SO MJ IMO!!

Hope the next album cover will also be some paintet art like the Dangerous cover! - And still have some iconic MJ stuf of course, maybe his eyes, the glove, the shoes and the socks etc.
 
Hess said:
I think it a wonderful cover!

I have always loved the Dangerous album cover - I hope the next album will also have something like that.

Mystery, joy, exitement etc. etc. - It's SO MJ IMO!!

Hope the next album cover will also be some paintet art like the Dangerous cover! - And still have some iconic MJ stuf of course, maybe his eyes, the glove, the shoes and the socks etc.
Click to expand...


The 'Michael' album cover is excellent and I'm glad it has been recognised.
 
I disagree. The cover would be ok for a greatest hits cover, not for a new album, IF it wasn't for the face of Michael which is waaayy off (especially the left side in the shadow), and it is supposed to be 80ies MJ? Why 80ies at this point? The "animated/moving" version of the cover they did for the commercials was cool, though!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wVSLGsuP5E
 
Xscape2041 said:
I disagree. The cover would be ok for a greatest hits cover, not for a new album, IF it wasn't for the face of Michael which is waaayy off (especially the left side in the shadow), and it is supposed to be 80ies MJ? Why 80ies at this point? The "animated/moving" version of the cover they did for the commercials was cool, though!
Click to expand...

I think it's reasonably close and yes, it's supposed to be MJ around the rough middle of the 1980s. I imagine they chose this period of Michael as it was when many considered him at the peak of his musical career (of course, we may all have differing opinions but that seems to be the public general opinion).

It's also a nice 'center' for the painting, which is essentially a timeline. On his left, you have the first 25 years of his life (upto and including Thriller), then you have the massive drawing of him around the end of the Thriller era (which seems inspired by that 'Royalty' photoshoot he had around that time). Finally, on the right you have the last 25 years of MJ's life. Of course, that's focusing on the whole painting and not the cropped artwork (which I think loses a lot of it's touch cropped).

I really like the painting itself, but as an album artwork, it's just cropped way too much and I actually prefer some of the other artworks in that collection more. Wish they didn't just limit it to Pop though :p
 
It's Michael getting recognition so I'm very happy and pleased with it being chosen! :D
 
HIStoric said:
It's also a nice 'center' for the painting, which is essentially a timeline. On his left, you have the first 25 years of his life (upto and including Thriller), then you have the massive drawing of him around the end of the Thriller era (which seems inspired by that 'Royalty' photoshoot he had around that time). Finally, on the right you have the last 25 years of MJ's life. Of course, that's focusing on the whole painting and not the cropped artwork (which I think loses a lot of it's touch cropped).

:p
Click to expand...

I agree as a "tribute" artwork it's ok but not as an album cover. And I'm not sure the general public would/did even recognise the center painting as MJ, certainly not more than they would recognise a more recent photo. As a casual listener I would think "ooh, another greatest hits collection".

Still good Michael won I guess...there were some good other covers that could have made it to no 1.
 
Last edited:
I really wish that this album wouldn't get any attention
 
I'm not huge fan of the album cover but the album itself is a lot better than people say. I enjoy listening it sometimes. :)
 
Why are some of you chastising the album? If the main problem are those disgusting tracks, the rest of the songs are good.
Haven't you seen the other competitors' covers? Michael's cover is amazing, dynamic and artistic.
 
I like the album cover art. It showed momentums of Michael's life thus well suitable for posthumous album cover.
 
Snow White luvs Peter Pan said:
Why are some of you chastising the album? If the main problem are those disgusting tracks, the rest of the songs are good.
Haven't you seen the other competitors' covers? Michael's cover is amazing, dynamic and artistic.
Click to expand...


LOL I still can't believe some of the commenters actually believe album covers like Rhianna's 'Loud' deserve a plase in the Top50. A closeup of somebody's face versus an intricate mural of somebody's life story. No contest IMO.
 
To be honest when I think back over 5 years, nothing jumps to mind. I Love Bowies latest album cover because its a bold reference to the past. Other than that..... nope......
 
Xscape2041 said:
I agree as a "tribute" artwork it's ok but not as an album cover. And I'm not sure the general public would/did even recognise the center painting as MJ, certainly not more than they would recognise a more recent photo. As a casual listener I would think "ooh, another greatest hits collection".
Click to expand...

Really? I can imagine some younger people not recognising it as Michael (understandably), but a lot of people are still aware of what Michael looked like in the 1980s. I can certainly see your last point though, I can imagine thinking of it as another greatest hits album simply because the packaging was awful.

You have the cropped artwork, with just the word 'Michael' on it (some copies came with stickers saying it had unreleased recordings, but mine didn't), and then you had a plain old boring blue back that just had some song titles and a small amount of tiny text explaining they feature unreleased recordings. So yes, I bet a good deal did think it was just another greatest hits. They could've done better with that aspect definitely.

bobmoo79 said:
LOL I still can't believe some of the commenters actually believe album covers like Rhianna's 'Loud' deserve a plase in the Top50. A closeup of somebody's face versus an intricate mural of somebody's life story. No contest IMO.
Click to expand...

I definitely think an intricate mural of somebody's life makes for a better album cover than a mere closeup of somebody's face, but just because it's a closeup of somebody's face doesn't mean it's not a good album artwork. I like the Invincible artwork and that is essentially just a closeup of MJ's face but stylised.

While it may not compare with an intricate artwork such as Dangerous or Michael, there's certainly nothing wrong with an album artwork being simply aesthetically pleasing (which I believe Loud achieved), as that is - after all - the purpose of the artwork. If it is aesthetically pleasing, it will draw your attention into the product and may result in a possible sale for the artist and label.
 
serendipity said:
It's a good cover. I think MJ would've loved the painting.
Click to expand...

Me too! MJ himself actually commissioned the painting in the first place I believe - it just wasn't finished when he died. Then in 2009, the Estate re-comissioned it so they could use it as the Michael artwork :)
 
As much the album itself caused bit of a stir within the mj community but it is a nice album artwork
 
Fans have many opinions about Michael as an album due to 3 controversial songs.

BUT - that aside the ARTWORK for the cover is really Art and painting it must have been hard Work!

I always loved the Dangerous cover - and since this is in the same style I've always liked this too! - Actually I hope the next album will have a mystery, fantasy painted cover in this style too!!


Dangerous and Michael are my favorite album covers. - If the next album would have kind of the same cover I am more than happy!
 
The artwork is very nice but it's a damn shame that it's the artwork of such a controversial album.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top