Countdown to ‘Midnights’: What we know about Taylor Swift’s new album art By Leo Kelion
Technology and science editor, County Durham, UK Published duration 21 July 2018
image copyright Reuters image caption The album cover depicts Swift dressed in a black dress, standing next to the body of an erect man wearing a hat
There’s a lot of talk about Taylor Swift’s new album cover – but what will it show and how has it been designed?
There’s been an influx of press about the album art of Taylor Swift’s new album, Lover.
The cover, which features a woman (or girl) in a black dress, leaning towards the end of a man (or boy) in a hat, has been compared to the work of British artist Damien Hirst.
Critics have pointed out that the cover – with its depiction of a woman reclining on a bed, with the body of a man with an erect penis on a nearby chair – is reminiscent of the famous “Dance of Life” artwork from the 1930s.
In the music video, the woman stands on a platform – with the body of a man (or boy) in a hat on the other side – and looks towards her lover. Is she a lesbian? Is she a stripper?
What the critics are also getting at is how the artist, based in London, has used her own image of a woman reclining on a bed (in a bath), with the body of a man (or boy) in a hat to draw comparisons with the works of Hirst.
Hirst was a pioneer of modern art when, in 2000, he unveiled a stunning exhibit of his work at London’s Tate Modern.
His work, at its core, consisted of abstract art. This included the installation of the human body, often naked, with other, human-like, flesh-and-blood figures, including heads, hands, eyes and body parts.
image copyright Getty