Analysis Of Album Cover: Harry Styles
Harry Styles released his self-titled album in 2017, almost two years after the hiatus of the boy band One Direction. The album’s songs were very different from what was expected from someone who came out of a boy band that mostly sang pop music. Instead, most of the songs are written in different forms of rock music, taking inspiration from the 60’s to the 90’s. Rock music usually talks about a wide variety of topics, from romantic love to politics. Here, the album’s theme is mostly about Harry’s relationships with other people. On the album cover, the image represents Harry leaving his old style of music and life behind and emerging as a completely new and different person and musical artist.
Rock music can take on many forms, including pop rock, glam rock, soft rock, all featured in this album. The key instruments of rock music include an amplified electric guitar, electric bass guitar, a drum kit.
The album cover image shows the back of Harry, who is shirtless. He is half submerged in pink water and seems to have been swimming or bathing in it, since his hair is wet and his back is covered in water droplets. His hands are covering his face so the people can’t even see the side of his face that is pointing towards the camera. He is wearing a silver chain necklace wrapped twice around his neck with a lotus pendant hanging from it.
Pink water only exists in toxic environments and is a type of wastewater. The lotus flower is used to represent purity or a new start in life because the flower grows from the murky depths of muddy lakes and ponds, but it blooms clean and pure, unaffected by its tainted surroundings. These two together represent Harry’s fresh start as a musician and a person, completely leaving behind the boy band and pop singer persona. He is emerging as something new and true to himself-- a rock star.
According to sociomusicologist Simon Frith, “rock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with the romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere". It seems like in the picture, Harry is showing his true nature and letting people see the other side of him. He is unclothed, showing his back where there are no tattoos to the camera. It gives the viewer a sense of bareness, vulnerability and maybe even a little femininity. Most headlines described the image as “topless”, a word usually reserved for females. The fact that he is in a bath of pink water naked and dripping wet gives off the message of gender-bending qualities. In Harry’s unreleased song, Medicine, the singer states that “the boys and the girls are in, I mess around with him, and I’m okay with it”, hinting at his possible bisexuality.
