When was the last time you saw someone smiling on an album cover? I did a basic search of '(year) albums' (I admit this is limited) and saw Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book has him smiling, but he looks down, away from the camera and obscures his face with the brim of his cap.
It's kind of weird that Lana Del Rey has been considered an influence of the 'sad girl' aesthetic but in this album, Lust for Life, she is smiling directly at the camera, the single being called Love, etc. All affirmative, in what is supposed to be her most political album. Strange in that it seems to be against the prevalent idea that in order to love music you need to be a serious person, and to be serious about music -- you can't have fun with music. I think this has had a kind of detrimental effect, honestly, to limit music and approaches to music-making in this way. I like serious music, but compared to the era that Lana draws some sort of inspiration from, I think we've forgotten that music can be fun and good at the same time. Is bossa nova bad? Are even sad bossa nova songs not fun? Isn't even EDM kind of serious, and when EDM is cited to have artistic merit, no doubt it is in reference to a serious album?
I don't think it's a controversial opinion to say that there is a meaningful connection between an album and its album art -- similarly between a song and it's title. So is it fair to say that, judging from contemporary approaches to album art, we can determine there is a similar approach to the production of music itself? A sort of 'attitude' -- one of seriousness?
Either way it is strange to see someone smiling on their album cover.
