The scene, a ballerina striking a pose and a worn down gray floor next to tattered green siding of a warehouse…sounds like a recipe for a rapper’s cover art? For the controversial Kanye West, most definitely. This is the album cover art for Kanye West’s new single “Runaway”. Displayed in bold red above the ballerina, there’s no mistaking that the artist wanted to make statement. Visually, the cover art is both enigmatic and simply designed. The last thing one would associate rap music with is a picture of a ballerina, but in this case, Kanye cleverly unifies the music and the packaging. The single is about telling the girl to runaway from him, with Kanye West admitting to his flaws, an catchy self-incriminating song with blunt lyrics like, “...Let’s have a toast for the jerkoffs! Every one of them that I know.” The design of the cover art and the song both convey the same message, strengthening it, daring and straight to the point.
The worn down and tattered surroundings that the pristine ballerina is in provides a gritty scene. Simplistic but carries a heavy tone. Moving the main subject, which is the ballerina, to the left side shows a fine use of negative space. I really like the muted color scheme used in this design; it’s bold and eye catching without being off-putting to the audience. The composition is well executed and designed to be ambiguous to the listener until they hear the song and fully understand the concept that the artist was trying to deliver.
