The Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Parallel Lines by Blondie. Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. What do all these have in common? An incredibly well-designed album cover. We just wish that rap megastar Drake was taking note when designing his newest album cover with none other than Damien Hirst.
The questionable cover for 'Certified Lover Boy' was designed by controversial artist, Damien Hirst and features twelve variations of Apple's Pregnant Woman emoji. The album art was posted by Drake on his own Instagram and despite being designed by Hirst, we are seriously wondering why anyone allowed this. If you think you can design a better cover than Hirst (and we reckon you can) then check out our latest Adobe Deals.
Not only is the design is a little garish, but celebrating Drake's sexual conquests as a 'lover boy' by depicting various pregnant women seems a little, err, distasteful? And we aren't the only ones who aren't a fan of the design, with Drake fans taking to Twitter to voice their opinion on this simply bizarre album art (below).
Drake working on the Certified Lover Boy album cover pic.twitter.com/CZEVoCKrTzAugust 30, 2021
android users when certified lover boy drops pic.twitter.com/t3RmVJMT1WAugust 30, 2021
Ain’t no way this is the Cover for Certified Lover Boy 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/JGWGrhcwM0August 30, 2021
On the other hand, one Twitter user pointed out the fact that the cover looked somewhat like a combination of two of Hirst's most famous pieces, The Virgin Mother (2005) and Spot Paintings (2012). We can definitely see this link, and perhaps with the use of Apple's emojis, this is Hirst making a comment on capitalism. It's not like Hirst is averse to dousing his art in a political statements with the artist's famous piece, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), of a shark emerged in formaldehyde also being a comment on capitalism.
This isn't the first time a mainstream artist has made a pretty questionable design choice in regard to their album art, earlier this year Lana Del Ray released the artwork for Blue Bannisters and fans were convinced she designed it herself. Justin Bieber also fell under scrutiny with the artwork for his Justice album that was accused of copyright.
We aren't sure what Drake was thinking with this one, but perhaps when the album comes out it will make a little more sense. For the minute we are happy choosing to pretend that this design doesn't exist. If you fancy feasting your eyes at some more design crimes, then check out our list of the worst interior design fails.
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Amelia is Creative Bloq’s Staff Writer. After completing a degree in Popular Music and a Master’s in Song Writing, Amelia began designing posters, logos, album covers and websites for musicians. She now enjoys covering a range of topics on Creative Bloq, including posters, optical illusions, logos (she's a particular fan of logo Easter eggs), gaming and illustration. In her free time, she relishes in the likes of art (especially the Pre-Raphaelites), photography and literature. Amelia prides herself on her unorthodox creative methods, her Animal Crossing island and her extensive music library.
