Album Covers
Album covers hold a unique place in the design world. As a music lover myself, I understand the importance that a cover has in relation to the album it represents. The most memorable of these are able to convey the passion behind that which is auditory, and match it aesthetically.
“Four Letter Word”
-Dallis Jelani
For this project, Houston-based hip-hop artist Dallis Jelani commissioned a redesigned album cover for his single ‘Four Letter Word’. Having previously used AI-generated imagery for several releases, Jelani shifted his focus toward human-made artwork, aiming to emphasize authenticity and support fellow artists.
In his own words, the song deals with themes of, “emotional repression/masking performative wellness, systemic injustice, hidden trauma, and purposeful isolation.”
“At the end of the song, I still choose to say I’m fine because even though I hate it, I still find value and being able to shrug off the trauma, potentially at the expense of having to pay for it later.”
-Dallis Jelani
After listening to the track several times, I kept coming back to this idea of what ‘fine’ means in the context of the song and how it encompasses a variety of feelings as well as other associated four letter words. I also formed a narrative with the progression of how these words might play out in someone’s unraveling emotional psyche from beginning to end word and from letter to letter within ‘FINE’ itself.
