So which of the 60,000 variants of Taylor Swift's new album is your favourite? The pop star, who recently announced that she's marrying her gym teacher or something, also recently announced a new album, The Life of a Showgirl. Then announced it again. And again. Right now there are nine alternative covers, which, unless your the kind of super fan who wants to own them all, seems faintly ridiculous to me.
Alternate album art is nothing new. Artists have been releasing 'Deluxe' versions of their albums since time began. But the sheer volume of variants we're seeing right now feels not only calculated to maximise sales (imagine that), but it's also diluting the aesthetic identity of individual album eras. Whereas the best album art of all time is immediately recognisable, I couldn't tell you what the cover for Life of a Showgirl actually looks like. Same goes for Sabrina Carpenter's new album – just days after the provocative original variant prompted outcry, came the bait-and-switch, as Carpenter revealed a several safer versions.
If increased sales are going to keep physical formats like vinyl alive, I'm all for it. But artistically, the shift away from that one revered piece of artwork marks yet another slide towards our new world of infinite content – or, of you prefer, slop. Iconic covers like Abbey Road or The Dark Side of the Moon didn't become etched onto our subconsciousness by being one in a series of nine. They define the album and the era, and are inseparable from both.
"It's supposed to be a statement," complains TikTok user @b_tchspork in a viral video (above). "You're trying to encapsulate the entire body of work with one single image, and we should stick to that because it's a hard thing to do and if you're in touch with your artistry, then you should have a pretty clear indication of what you want to say visually."
The video draws attention to Arianna Grande's 2024 album Eternal Sunshine album, which features six covers (above) – "and none of them felt cohesive to each other.... and then you're just sort of like, lost in the sauce of, what is the statement you're making?"
But as if the rise of countless album variants wasn't bad enough, an even more blasphemous trend has emerged lately: retroactive album art changes. Charli XCX's Brat arguably features one of the most ironically iconic album covers of recent years. But does that mean all of her previous albums needed re-rendering in the exact same style? On streaming services, the artwork for each of her old albums was replaced by the title in low-res text on a plain background. This brings to mind that cliched question, 'is nothing sacred?' Removing the old artwork robs that work of its context and identity – and confuses listeners in the process.
We're living in an era of vanishingly short attention spans, where viral content appears and disappears in the blink of an eye, or scroll of a finger. Album art is supposed to stand apart from this trend as a bold and timeless artistic statement. But when a cover has to sit alongside eight other variants, and might well get vandalised when the next album cycle comes along, it starts to feel as disposable as another Instagram Reel.
See some of the most recognised album covers here. They might surprise you.
