Another Album Cover Trend, Catch My Drift?
In and above water album covers from Nirvana, to SZA, Billie Eilish and more.
Water makes up 60% of the human body, 71% of the Earth’s surface, and about 50% of recently announced albums. Last month I learned the other estimated 50% is made up of the backs of people’s heads. Great painters throughout art history have depicted water in their work, from David Hockney’s pop art pools to Claude Monet’s impressionist water lilies, Katsushika Hokusai’s all-consuming waves, and Calida Rawle’s hyperrealistic floating figures.
Last week, awards darling Billie Eilish revealed the art for her third album, Hit Me Soft and Hard. Eilish, dressed in all black, falls into the deep abyss of a body of water, an open white door floating up top as if falling through a portal. The cover is dark and dramatic, a sharp contrast to Happier Than Ever, but back in line with her debut WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? The image recalls the music video for her 2021 title single, “Happier Than Ever,” in which the singer opens the door to an onslaught of water, completely submerging a polite dusty rose room. Billie’s fascination with water can also be seen in her 2023 music video for the hit Barbie single, “What Was I Made For?” in the form of rain. It bears noting that Eilish directed both music videos.
In early March, indie pop Latin-infused band The Marías announced their sophomore album Submarine, along with a dreamy blue underwater cover. Unlike Billie’s cover, the artwork feels much more fantastical, with the frontwoman, María Zardoya, optimistically looking up towards a glowing light. The color palette also takes a departure from the band’s landmark red, which has decorated all of their past covers. In an Instagram post about the imagery, the band wrote,
we’ve always used color to represent our projects and for submarine, that color is blueeee. from the inception of the marías, red has been used to represent love, intimacy and passion, but we went through so much change right before the writing process of submarine that a drastic color change only felt right. to me, blue represents not only grief and loneliness, but also hope, rebirth and exploration. welcome to our blue era <3
While fans can debate in the comments whether Billie copied The Marías, there’s no discussion to be had from my point of view, as nothing can compare to Weyes Blood’s 2019 Titanic Rising. Submerged completely underwater, we find singer Natalie Mering floating in an idyllic teen bedroom complete with posters, trophies, and a teddy bear. An angelic light to the right further suggests a dream trance. In an interview with Stereogum, the singer confirms the presence of water represents the “subconscious realm.” If this were an article rating the top water album covers of all time, Natalie Mering’s would be at the top, even above Nirvana’s Nevermind (which is very familiar with those types of listicles). Here’s a fun look into the making of the Titanic Rising cover to appreciate the full artistry.
In between The Marías and Billie, fellow popstar Dua Lipa announced her long-awaited third studio album, Radical Optimism, in March. While not underwater like her peers, Dua calmly looks out onto a canvas of water punctured by the fin of a shark. The image is a bit left-field in relation to the kaleidoscope jump scare on Spotify and the single covers for the rest of the campaign, but an appropriate image to describe “radical optimism.” In late 2022, R&B singer SZA revealed the cover for her second studio album, SOS. In the image, we find the singer completely surrounded and engulfed by the ocean, sitting on the edge of a diving board. She wears a custom St. Louis Blues hockey jersey, a comforting homage to her hometown in contrast to the overwhelming scale of water surrounding her. Pitchfork notes how the photo “resembles a famous photo of Diana, Princess of Wales, on the diving board of a yacht.” The photo, taken a week before Diana’s death, captures her in a moment of serenity, away from the chaos. SZA’s cover evokes the same emotion. The singer, who has been public about her social anxiety with the rise of her celebrity, must also find solace in brief moments of solitude.
Find more album covers in and above the water below and on my Album Whale.
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Bill Evans - Jim Hall – Undercurrent (1962, Vinyl) - Discogs
My personal favourite, for so many reasons, is the cover of “Nowhere” by RIDE.