By Michael Bonsangue
It’s no secret that music videos, album covers and the like have always been culturally significant in pop culture and important to fans. However, the art of creating a well-thought out aesthetic across all visuals belonging to a respective era seems to be underappreciated and even hard to come by. With the rapid changes occurring in the music industry today, record labels seem to be pushing their artists in the direction of chart achievement rather than artistic vision. There are a few outstanding examples of artists that have shown dedication to visuals at a certain time in their career, but first, it’s important to note the difference between just making visuals and making good ones.
The truth is, album covers and their respective photoshoots make a heavy impression on the listener’s experience of the music itself. If an album has a bland, uninspired or even unattractive album cover, listeners are more likely to be deterred from listening to the album or have an altered perception of what the music sounds like. As for the photoshoot, the overall aesthetic an artist decides to go with for an album is the first thing fans see since they are usually shown before the release of a full project. Giving fans a taste of what the era of music looks like will lead to assumptions on what it sounds like as well. This is why not only visual expression but also cohesion with the sound of a project are pertinent to consistency and true artistry. If an artist is about to put out an earthy, airy, and instrumental-heavy album such as Lana Del Rey’s “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” or SZA’s “Ctrl,” it would make no sense to choose an urban or futuristic concept for the album’s visuals .
Despite most artists doing the bare minimum when it comes to their visuals, it still holds true that most of them still have at least a couple music videos and a well-budgeted photoshoot to go along with each project they put out. However, these efforts are lessening. As most consumers have turned to streaming, a lot of music videos don’t get as many views as they used to. There is also less attention towards photoshoots since streaming the album doesn’t present the opportunity to even see one, while getting physical copies that come with booklets does. The industry’s response to this has been to abandon the art of a full-fledged era and instead focusing on frequently putting out half-baked albums to accompany trends on social media platforms and perform well on charts.
Let alone prioritizing notable music videos and album covers, an opportunity that many artists fail to consider as a way to cement the quality of their music and dedication to their craft is a visual album or experience to go along with the music. This could mean making a music video for every song on a project, or creating a continuous film-style visual that includes every or if not most songs belonging to the body of work. Unfortunately, visual albums are a rare art form in the mainstream music market.
This is not necessarily entirely the fault of the artists, as they require a large budget that most labels are not willing to hand over. However, it’s not an exclusive, invite-only creation process. Plenty of artists have found a way to go this route despite the absence of fame and success A-list stars have. Although the most popular artists usually don’t choose to go the visual album route, there have been a few that took that extra step into immersing their fans into the cinematic world of a new album.
From alt-punk horror stories to grand music videos, here are some of the most notable achievements in visual storytelling by mainstream recording artists:
Halsey: If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
For her fourth full-length effort, Halsey collaborated with music legends Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails and created a goth-rock album about female rage, motherhood and heartbreak. While the album wasn’t promoted much by Halsey’s team or pushed on radio, what made the era unforgettable for her fans was the horror/fantasy film with the same title as the album that pulled from 15th, 16th and 17th century fantasy tales. She plays multiple characters that contribute to the unstructured story that critics called a “guide” rather than a complete visual album. The graphic and violent film includes 9 of the titular album’s 13 songs, and was released to theaters before it went to streaming on HBO Max.
Jungle: VOLCANO: A MOTION PICTURE BY JUNGLE
Almost everyone who keeps up with internet trends should be familiar with Jungle’s recent hit “Back on ‘74.” The infectious track went viral for its video with stunning and intricate choreography. Many people gave the dance a try, but what most don’t know is that the viral clip doesn’t only belong to a music video for just that song but also an entire motion picture the band made including every song on the album. The best part about the project is that the entire thing is focused on choreography just like the moment from “Back on ‘74” that went viral. The art direction is truly astounding, and the band nailed the notion of creating an aesthetic that matches the soundscape of the music that goes along with it. The film has been recently made available to watch for free on YouTube.
Beyonce: Beyonce, Lemonade and Black Is King
Creating a viewing experience alongside a musical project is nothing challenging or unfamiliar to the incomparable Beyonce who can even be credited for the rise of the term “visual album.” The world rattled when she dropped her record breaking and self titled surprise album in 2013 due to the nature of the release and quality of the music. What stirred up even more of a reaction was the fact that she released a conceptual music video for every track on the album which had almost never been done before. Since then, she has used her artistic vision to create visuals that are on a whole other level, such as her critically acclaimed film for ‘Lemonade’ that addressed the infamous cheating scandal carried out by Jay-Z. Beyonce also took on a project for Disney in which she made a visual album to release alongside the live-action remake of ‘The Lion King’ titled ‘Black Is King’ which can be viewed on Disney+.
Kacey Musgraves: Star-Crossed – The Film
Kacey Musgraves has always been one of the most innovative and creative voices in country music. She is not afraid to experiment with more mainstream or alternative sounds that step into other worlds outside of the country genre. Musgraves proved that and more with her visual album that served as a companion to her fourth studio album, ‘Star-Crossed.’ The film is divided into three distinct acts that span across the overarching story of a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. One of the most prominent features of the film is its daring costume design, showing just how many aspects of artistry can be expressed along with music. The film was released to a limited number of theaters for one night only, and is now available to stream on Paramount+.
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