Art Analysis From an Amature
The Art
Tortured Poets Department is an album that was released by Taylor Swift on April 19, 2024. Taylor Swift has taken the world by storm these last months, thanks to this particular album being released.
Components - what they do for The Tortured Poets Department
Components are what makes the picture stand out, such as tone, color, shapes, medium, etc. This album cover has three components of art which should be highlighted, as they play significant roles in the viewers interpretation of the album.
Color - How Does it Effect the Arts?
The black and white, simple color of the cover makes a colorful statement for the album contrary to it's "bland" appearance. Color can be analyzed from art to either focus on specifics in the photo or looking at the art as a whole. Since The Tourtured Poets Department is in grey, white, and black, this gives you the opportunity to focus on the photo as a whole rather than having to take focus away from the picture. This contributes to the tone as colors and tones work closely to set a very particular ambiance from the cover of the album.
Tone - What Does it Do For the Arts Anyway?
The tone that is being emitted from the art is tranquil, minimalistic, and sad. When listening to the songs- it's easy to understand the cover as the album brings up various tones of sadness and emotional topics. The cover seems depressing, since the color is shades of gray, which can be determined by most being an aspect of life that may have become "less colorful" or depressing.
Shape - like a circle?
The shape that is used in the art, is a picture of Taylor Swift herself. Although, yes there are the basic shapes (square, triangle, circle, etc), in this specific album the shape to focus on is Taylor Swift. She is used as the main focus of the photo/art as it is her album and vocal work. She also used her experience from grief and sadness for lyrics of the songs.
Okay, Let's Review
Looking at just a photo of some random woman may seem unoriginal, basic, or a cop-out on art. But when you know the intimacy the album can bring from the lyrics to the cover, it can be very sentimental to purchase those same images to keep forever (such as CDs, vinyls, and photos). While many initially thought this was supposed to be a break-up album. After listening to the songs and breaking down the lyrics the album seems to convey the message of the five stages of grief. Which can be also represented by components of the art of captured in the cover.
My Opinion - it Doesn't Really Matter But I'll Give it I Guess
My opinion on the album is pretty simple, but I am also biased. I have taken a recent obsession with the album, the songs align pretty well with certain events of my life. Which makes it easier for me to appreciate the album and the art that comes from it. Taylor is a strong successful woman, which makes me appreciate it even more knowing how much work was put into it and giving a lasting imprint in the music industry and how women can be just as successful.
References
Bonner, Mehera. “Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department:’ Lyrics, Easter Eggs, Joe Alwyn References.” Everything We Know About Taylor Swift’s New Album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ So Far, Cosmopolitan, 19 Apr. 2024, www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/music/a46659174/tortured-poets-department-album-clues-easter-eggs/.
Dailey, Hannah. “Everything We Know about Taylor Swift’s New Album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ so Far.” Billboard, Billboard, 16 Apr. 2024, www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swift-the-tortured-poets-department-everything-we-know/taylor-swift-new-album-title-tortured-poets-department/.
“The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.” Spotify, 19 Apr. 2024, open.spotify.com/album/5H7ixXZfsNMGbIE5OBSpcb.
I like your idea of using an album's cover art as a topic piece. Albums often have eye-catching art to draw people in and try the music. Sometimes album art is just... bizarre. I haven't heard "The Tortured Poet Department", but I expect its songs to be as you describe them with just looking at the cover art.
ReplyDeleteI think this piece is a great example of how you don't need create anything too complicated in order to convey emotion. I also really like how you did your blog itself. It is original and the colors and section titles helped me to read it.
The very last place I expected album art to be evaluated was here in this class. That's not necessarily a bad thing. You make a valid point it is in fact a legitimate piece of art that is designed to communicate to us a message using the visual media. I like the name of the blog by the way. The picture has a midtone background, that turns into the lighter pillows that draws immediate attention to the central figure in the picture. The contours of the pillow are constantly leading you back to the central figure as well. I wouldn't have gotten sad from the picture. Perhaps dreary, or morose.
ReplyDeleteYou know I love a good album cover art, it's interesting to see different people's perspective on what they perceive a piece of art as. Of course considering you have more experience with this album than me you were able to go more in-depth, whereas I looked at it and if I didn't know any better I would have thought that this was from a Victoria Secret shoot that just didn't make the cut.
ReplyDeleteHi Penelope! Great insight on this piece, to me, I never would have though about album covers. But now that I think of it, once an album I am waiting for comes out I am excited to see what kind of cover the artist chooses. Some of them are bland but it correlates to the songs, and some of them are very outgoing which also can correlate. Great blog!
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