When deciding what topic this project would focus on, I decided to choose portrait images from album covers that have stayed relevant through the years. Just like pictures, music can tell a story and have a lot of meaning. For this photo essay, I choose albums that defined their decade, both visually and musically that tell a story.
For this project I began to focus on music from the 1950s like Elvis Presely because he brought rock & roll to mainstream music and was one of the first music icons. His clothing and dancing became a distinct look, which is why it was featured on his debut album. The portrait image shows Elvis’s iconic look, which I noticed many album covers on this list show the artist’s most well known looks.
Many famous albums from this photo essay show similar themes of war, individuality, and feelings of loneliness throughout the decades. In Joni Mitchell’s album ‘Blue’, known to be some of her best work, depicts herself singing into a microphone with a tinted blue cover. The album explores Mitchell’s life living through the Vietnam War and longing to go back to a peaceful time. This is a theme throughout this essay as Bruce Springsteen’s album ‘Born in the USA,’ also commentated about the Vietnam war and the aftermath Veterans face. Springsteen’s album is a closeup of him wearing a white shirt, blue jeans with a red handkerchief hanging out of the back pocket with the American flag in the background. While the cover and title can appear the album is celebrating patriotism, the album actually critiqued war almost 15 years later.
As the years went on, music and album covers showcased the artists individuality and independence. In Cyndi Lauper’s album ‘She’s so Unusual,’ shows the singer dancing wearing a prom dress, representing how the album and Lauper were embracing their individual style. This is also seen on Madonna’s album ‘True Blue.’ The album shows a closeup portrait of Madonna looking to the side as she expresses her unique beauty style with bleached blonde hair, heavy eye makeup and red lipstick.
As music transitioned into the 21th century, so did portrait album covers. Themes of loneliness, isolation, and personal struggles are depicted by today’s top musicians. Frank Ocean’s album ‘Blonde,’ shows him in a shower covering his face with lime green hair, representing his creativity and struggle with fame. Mac Miller’s album ‘Circles,’ shows Miller is a haze to represent his struggles with addiction and searching for inner peace. While Mac worked on this album in 2018, it was released two years after his tragic death in 2020.
While all of these portrait albums showcase an individual artist at the peak of their careers, each portrait represents a story. While some albums like ‘Blue’ clearly showcase the sadness of war, ‘Born in the USA,’ was meant to appear as if the album celebrated patriotism. While later on in the century music focused more on individuality, it has shifted today to the effects of isolation during the pandemic and how so many artists continue to struggle with loneliness, addiction, or the price of fame.
