Interpretation of the Joanne, Chromatica, and MAYHEM album covers

[Lemon Blood 573]

I’ve noticed something about how Gaga presents herself in the Joanne, Chromatica and MAYHEM  covers.

Joanne:

In all of Gaga’s album covers she is looking directly into the camera, except for Joanne. It seems like it could be a statement about her career at the time, it was after the chaotic ARTPOP era and she wasn’t seen in the best light by the public. Maybe she was looking away from the camera because she felt detached from her fans, and her previous self. 

Chromatica:

She came back with Chromatica. She’s looking at the camera again, but clearly from a distance. She was coming back into the public eye and returning to pop and her fans. But she kept a safe distance to avoid falling back into a deep depression, which she has since spoken about.

MAYHEM:

Gaga returns. She did the bold thing and went back to the experimental pop music that she used to love making. This was a result of tasting what it was like to be back on stage and with her fans again at the Chromatica Ball. She was hungry for art again. This is why she appears far closer to the camera in this cover. In Happy Mistake she mentions broken mirrors and a broken mirror features in the MAYHEM cover. The cracked mirror signifies her broken past, however now she can finally look at her reflection again and see what she’s become.

This idea may be total nonsense but it’s just something I’ve noticed when analysing her album covers and was wondering if anyone else thought this way too.
 

[LUST FOR GAGA 94]

mayhem really isn't experimental but i get what you're saying

[RochesterJoannster 3,990]

Joanne was also after C2C, AHS, and The Sound of Music performance, so she had successfully started to mend her public image after ARTPOP by then.

I always took the upward glance as being unsure what would come next, as she/we had no idea a full career repeak was around the corner with ASIB. 

[princedeeblebleble 3,142]

For Mayhem I REALLY wish one of these two were the official covers, I feel like they far better encapsulate the music and where she is in a way right now.  Especially from a merch pov, the official image is so uncompelling 

[OMonster 15,019]

I like your analysis. 

However, I think the Joanne cover being a profile shot was to enable the very stripped-down approach to still have a striking and instantly-recognisable silhouette and emblem for the era (that being the cowgirl hat). The hat wouldn't have been as impactful if Gaga was looking directly at the camera. And it's funny because as much as the cover is very simple, I think it's one of her best and most 'iconic' in the literal sense (providing a representative symbol of a particular era). I think her looking leftwards might also be a little nod to how Joanne was left-of-field and how she was turning away from fan expectations. 

The Chromatica cover shows a fully-armoured Gaga being weighed down and trapped by a sine (music), whilst guarding 'Chromatica' (her mind). I think this represents Gaga's battle with fame vs. love for music vs. her mental health and how in the end, she had to reconcile those three things in order to survive. 

As for the Mayhem cover, I think it represents how Gaga had to confront herself head-on in order to find a way back to her sound (putting all the broken pieces back together again), all whilst creating a healthy separation between 'Lady Gaga' and 'Stefani' (represented by the dark hair and stripped down look). I think the blurry version of herself represents the ghost of her past selves, which she embraces on this album and becomes one with again. 

They are all great covers tbh. My favourite of these three is Joanne though. I think its simplicity is very effective and striking, despite it being quite a plain image.

[JustAnotherGayASMR 396]

I always thought the Joanne cover being side on was to represent how she's exploring more personal themes & a different style of music.

It was the first time she really gave us insight into Stefani (DH, Joanne, GG) whereas before the music was centred around outward themes such as Fame, equality, artistic expression, etc. It was also the first time her solo work relied heavily on real instruments over computer generated sounds throughout the entire album.

[bxr 1,706]

Nothing too in-depth to add here, but just a point of note on the Joanne cover; for me, it always carried the mugshot undertone (even the typefont echoes a vintage minimalist wild west outlaw aesthetic feel), particularly in context of the other covers in her repertoire … not that this interpretation has any material grounding or support one way or the other … but given the context of Joanne definitively being her reputational return to mainstream convention, the album / era / campaign effectually functioned as the soundtrack for her middle america status quo sentencing … but that‘s neither here nor there, really …

[Killa 18,620]

I Also felt that profilo gives that slight cowboy outlaw mugshot vibe. But yeah her looking away Is totally how It should be. 

Gotta Say i love that cover. 

The broken Pieces of mirror in mayhem Is probably, accepting the problems theme instead of dancing through the pain. 

I love how different they are and how theres room for interpretation

[Lemon Blood 573]

2 hours ago, LUST FOR GAGA said:

mayhem really isn't experimental but i get what you're saying

It’s more experimental, and more Gaga than Joanne and Chromatica 

[nATAH 55,182]

very cool thread

I actually never noticed all her covers are forward facing except joanne

[gagzus 20,267]

I mean I dont think it’s that deep about Joanne I think it’s literally just the case of “oh we need an album cover” whilst she was making the album and just took it against a wall in a studio with the hat she was wearing tbh. Everything about Joanne in general seems like they were just going with the flow since she’d had all her previous albums be heavily scheduled and everything. She seemed like she just slowed down 

Edited April 13 by gagzus

[Lemon Blood 573]

2 hours ago, princedeeblebleble said:

For Mayhem I REALLY wish one of these two were the official covers, I feel like they far better encapsulate the music and where she is in a way right now.  Especially from a merch pov, the official image is so uncompelling 

I felt that way too when the covers were revealed but now I freaking love the standard cover, it’s become iconic 

[gagzus 20,267]

3 hours ago, princedeeblebleble said:

For Mayhem I REALLY wish one of these two were the official covers, I feel like they far better encapsulate the music and where she is in a way right now.  Especially from a merch pov, the official image is so uncompelling 

Probably an unpopular opinion but I think most of the imagery from this shoot isn’t great and doesn’t make aesthetic sense. As a person with a Masters in graphic design the first image in particular with one eye forward and another sideways just makes her look like she has a very lazy eye, and the second looks like a bad instagram 2 panel post.

I think the shoot shouldve been her wearing distressed and miss-mash fashion from her previous eras because it would’ve made sense with the theme and story she told about the album.