Best Album Covers Of 2020: 5 Great Artworks Of The Year So Far

5: The Strokes: ‘The New Abnormal’

Returning after a seven-year hiatus, The Strokes tapped into a 1981 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bird Of Money, for the album cover for their sixth album. Basquiat was a prominent figure in art and music throughout his career, and, over 30 years since his death, his influence can still be felt. Bird Of Money was originally made in tribute to jazz musician Charlie Parker. The Strokes adapted the image slightly for The New Abnormal, utilising Basquiat’s abstract artwork to embody both their album title and the record’s somewhat experimental music.

4: Khrungbin: ‘Mordechai’

The wide-ranging trio’s third studio album, Mordechai, was illustrated by the Secretly Group’s art director, Nate Utesch, and Khrungbin’s bass player and vocalist, Laura Lee. Showing the kind of impact illustrators and musicians can have when they collaborate, Utesch and Lee have pieced together something extraordinary. Speaking to It’s Nice That, Nate explained that the album cover was inspired when Lee met the real-life Mordechai while on a hike during which she had a spiritual awakening and rebirth. The pair brought this experience to life with Mordechai’s artwork. It’s a fitting image: Khrungbin’s chilled psychedelic music allows you to drift away with the hawk as you embark on a journey of your own.

3: Tame Impala: ‘The Slow Rush’

Photographed by Neil Krug, who was also a part of creating Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence album cover, the sheer effort that went into capturing The Slow Rush’s artwork earns it a place among the best album covers of 2020. Krug and Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker travelled to the ghost town of Kolmanskop, in Namibia, where they deposited tons of sand to create this image, letting the wind add the surreal ripple effect. Filled with sand and painted in dark shades of red, the uninhabited room invites listeners to sink into comfort, with no urgency to leave. Parker effortlessly conjures the same effect in his music.

2: Teyana Taylor: ‘The Album’

With the difficulties that black women have to face, Teyana Taylor came through with a striking and empowering album cover – a pose and look that Grace Jones would be proud of. Taylor proudly displays her strength in this shoot, showing her pride in her own skin, bearing her upper body freely. Even though The Album’s artwork was revealed a couple of months prior to the hype of the “Vogue Challenge”, it perfectly encapsulates the theme of showcasing black models and stylists, emitting their beauty and talents in a field that lacks diversity.

German photographer Daniel Sannwald previously collaborated with other black artists in the music industry, among them Travis Scott, Stormzy and Rihanna. His spellbinding style embraces the beauty of the individuals who step in front of his lens.

1: Moses Sumney: ‘Græ’

Moses Sumney blessed us with a double-album, as well as an artwork that heads our list of the best album covers of 2020 so far. Græ’s striking cover encapsulates Sumney’s powerful sound, while the simplicity of a naked figure holding onto a rock in front of a waterfall can be interpreted in many different ways, perfectly encapsulating the album title. Perhaps it is someone who has managed to escape a great deal of suffering or hardship and is now reborn before the waterfall, his bare body in full view. Ghanaian photographer Eric Gyamfi, who worked with Sumney on his previous album cover, 2017’s Aromanticism, captured this incredibly enlightening image, drawing you in, making you want to understand more.