Ye by Kanye ~ Album Artwork
On 1st June 2018 Kanye West released his album Ye. Much like in his previous album, The Life of Pablo, the themes throughout Ye are linked through their contrast. Where there is love there is death - this is evident upon listening to West’s first song of the album I Thought About Killing You where he raps about his dark thoughts of ‘murdering’ someone he loves. Where there is darkness, there is light (this is evident upon hearing the opening line of I Thought About Killing You; The most beautiful thoughts are always besides the darkest”). Where there is self-loathing, there is ego and where there are trivial details, there are significant issues of life.
The album artwork reflects these recurring contrasts. The most obvious contradiction here are the words in the centre of the cover. In one sentence two completely opposing emotions are being expressed about the same thing. While West ‘hates’ being Bi-Polar, he feels the need to celebrate it, saying ‘it’s awesome’. Of course, this contradiction is alluding to the conflicting nature of being bi-polar. The seriousness of the disorder (or rather, the serious tone it evokes) is completely thrown off by the wit and humour of the contradiction.
This introspection is placed in the centre of a photograph of mountains and farmland. Kanye took this photo himself on his iPhone, hours before Ye was released, on his way to the album listening party. The suggestion that Kanye was appreciating the vast expanse of land and mountains in this moment contrasts greatly to the inner-facing, self-analysing tone of the words that sit in front of the mountains.
The central placement of the words is bold, meanwhile the small letters themselves seem quiet and unconfident (another contradiction). Subsequently there is a childlike naivety to their unassuming position in the centre. However, this conflicts with fan’s knowledge of the fact that the design is very deliberate. The simple and naive tone opposes the calculated art direction of the cover. Meanwhile, the refined and natural colour palette of the photograph is contrasted against the artificial fluorescent green of the writing.
Is the landscape meant to feel calm and serene, or eerie and melancholy? Perhaps both? This ambiguity is ethereal and mysterious, fitting with the tone of the album. Certainly, the photograph suits the mood of the penultimate song on the seven track album, Ghost Town. With no people in sight and so little given away, the image is certainly ghostly and looks to be ‘caught between space and time’. In fact, art critic John Berger would argue that the image is caught between space and time.
The composition is divided into three sections; the sky at the top of the image, the mountain range, and the farmland in the foreground. The lightest section, the sky, (which is lit so serenely it makes me think of a religious painting) is cut into by the jagged peaks of the Teton mountain range of the Rocky Mountains. The tension between violence and peace is arguably the most significant contradiction in the album and I feel that the craggy horizon is a perfect symbol of this.
