NEWS : fantasia accidentally reveals artwork of 'side effects of you'?

So, the other day Ms. Fanny unveiled this image -

With the tweet: "My Baby!!! My Blood, Sweat, Tears, My Name, My Joy, My Pain, My Album...Side Effects Of You!!!!! ROCK♥SOUL".

Naturally, everyone assumed this was the artwork for the up coming (but just announced that it has been pushed back) fourth album and I actually got excited. It looked to me like it was well executed and had the art direction brief of "ghetto fabulous Vogue editorial" :)

BUT!

Then it disappeared... with no explanation.

So, tell us Fanny - what's going on??

NEWS : rihanna is set to officially announce 'unapologetic's boxsets!

Have you checked out rihanna7.com, yet? No? WELL GET OVER THERE THEN! Shoot...calling yourself part of the Navy...

Anywho! While over there you'll see that Rih is embarking on a new social media voyage (a la the unveiling of the 'Talk That Talk' era on Facebook) - this time it has it's own website, where it states that from following certain tasks fans can win "exclusive content and prizes!". Completing the first step unveiled the chance to upload an image to a fan-mosaic poster (like in Gaga's 'Born This Way (Collector's Edition)') - in the box used to upload your image, it also included this:

"Diamonds Executive Platinum or Diamonds box sets"!!

That's right - 'Unapologetic' is set to be unleashed in two limited edition box sets :D After you'd uploaded your image, you were then told to go to rihannanow.com, to pre-order your "fan-only" box set...though they haven't been added to the 'Shop' section of her website yet - so she will surely be officially announcing these awesome sounding limited edition releases soon!

Stay tuned on simonsez-CD to hear the details first...

NEWS : k.row is shooting her 4th album artwork!

Kelly Rowland tweeted: "Girlllllll it's an ALBUM SHOOT." accompanied by the image below...the 4th album be coming, get excited!

NEWS : stop your life! pink is shooting her new album artwork!!!

AMAZING NEWS! New Pink tunes are on the way, as Ms. Moore took to her twitter to upload this photo:

Accompanied by:

"Lunchtime at my album photoshoot. Deborah Anderson takes some purty pictures"

YAYYYYYYY! Can't wait for this to come and slay the charts and everyone else, she has never disappointed before. Also, Deborah Anderson has worked with Pink before on the 'Funhouse' artwork, so we know the visuals are in safe hands.

I am so ready for this!

NEWS : justin bieber wants your help to choose his single artwork...

beliebers everywhere, your fave wants you to get onto twitter and tweet which single cover you'd like to see him use for his next single 'boyfriend'. below are the two options and the hashtag you need to let him know which you like!

option 1 : #JBboyfriend1

option 2 : #JBboyfriend2

though there isn't a WHOLE lotta difference between the two covers, i appreciate the intent. 1. get the fans involved and get the buzz started early for new single and (more importantly) 2. putting importance back into artwork! making fans sit up and see it as an important part of a campaign :D...which is never a bad thing!

NEWS : chris brown hopes to "revolutionise album packaging"...

yep, you read it right, breezy is hoping to get everyone back into loving album artwork and packaging with his up coming release (and that makes him alright with me!). so you remember when i posted the 'fortune' album cover' and noted that i had seen his "new language" symbols (see below) floating around on his twitter page and in 'turn up the music's artwork and video :

the symbols spell out 'f-o-r-t-u-n-e', duhh...

 well now it has arisen that the symbols will tie into an overall concept that chris has for the album's release and packaging. the photographer's who shot the artwork (gomillion and leupold) spoke to 92.3 now and shed some light on how the cover came about and what fans could look forward to:

“The funny thing about that blue is it basically just happened. It matched the suit and it gives kind of a futuristic vibe. You’ll see blue throughout the packaging. Courtney Walter [Art Director] and Chris came up with the hieroglyphics that you see on the cover, the hieroglyphic writing is going to let the fans send coded messages to each other, like back in the day when you could get a decoder in a cereal box. There will be a way where you can let people decode messages. For the fans it’s a good way to connect. It can be kind of romantic.”

Not only will the album packaging be the biggest he’s ever seen, but according to Gomillion, it will be a collector’s item.

“I can’t go into too many details,” Gomillion said. “But it will give you a lifestyle of the artist, not just a few pictures inside. It’s going to be something no one has ever seen.”

*sharp intake of breath* yessssss! even though it sounds ever so slightly bigged up ("something no one has ever seen before" is a huge statement...), i am so excited to see what they do with the packaging and if chris has actually created something on another level. what are people imagining? with the words "collector's item" floating around, i'm assuming there will be the standard album and then a limited edition release as well! hopefully the design team will have quality at the forefronts of their minds, with the intention of creating something spectacular that ties in with the concept, not just a novelty "cereal box" piece...

(source: 923now.radio.com)

NEWS : emotional story behind limited edition florence + the machine vinyl

in december i wrote about a new competition for fans to design special, limited edition 7" vinyls (for songs from florence + the machine and 6 other acts), that would be auctioned off to raise money for the teenage cancer trust. this week it was announced that one of the winning artworks was designed by a girl named louise clifford, who had decided to produce a watercolour painting as a tribute to her friend, natalie roberts, who was a major fan of florence and had passed away in 2010. natalie had had a rare form of cancer for some time and it had been said that florence's music had helped her greatly during her treatment, she had even met her idol during a teenage cancer trust event at the royal albert hall. personally, i could see no better artwork to be selected for the special vinyl piece (see below). a really lovely story that perfectly embodies the spirit of art, music and the charitable nature of the cause.

(source: dailymail.co.uk)

NEWS : gaga and lauryn hill make surprise entries on yahoo's iconic album covers list!

yahoo.com recently revealed a list of what they thought was the top 10 most iconic album covers, among them were the usual suspects: nirvana's 'nevermind', the beatles' 'abbey road' etc. etc...but there was also two surprising entries: lady gaga and lauryn hill. the deluxe edition cover of gaga's 'born this way' came in at number 7 and lauryn hill's legendary 'the miseducation of lauryn hill' came in at number 9. it really surprised me that that the standard version featuring the full image of motorbike-gaga of 'born this way' wasn't chosen, personally i find that cover much more "iconic" than the zoomed in deluxe version. i do love that lauryn is being shown some love, not only is her album a solid masterpiece (we're all still waiting for the follow up...) but the artwork has always stayed with me as one of my all time favourites. check out the rest of the list here.

(source: yahoo.com)

NEWS : tinchy wants help with a logo...

not long ago tinchy tweeted that he needed a new logo for his up coming EP with the grime rap unit ruff sqwad. think you could be the designer to help him out?

NEWS : marina and the diamonds has sorted her new album cover!

so marina has been taking some time out to put together her second album (titled 'electra heart'), set around a concept of an alter ego (you can never go wrong with one of those!) of hers. minutes ago on twitter, maz revealed more details about the mysterious new direction, saying that she's undertaken a "project" which she "shot" throughout america and europe. in this "shoot" she said she knew what would be the album cover..straight away after seeing it. i have a feeling it's going to be awesome. so glad she's going all out with the concept and visuals of this era.

check out her official tumblr for the "project" as well here.

NEWS : the goddess edition is on it's wayyyy!

UPDATE : check out my full post with HQ photos here!

well, what a long journey it's been. the waiting. the anticipating. the complaining. the waiting. some more waiting. but now...FINALLY...1000 copies of the 'aphrodite (the goddess edition)' are complete and are being dispatched to their eagerly awaiting new owners! just to prove that it hasn't all been an elaborate hoax, the official behind the scenes blog released it's final statement confirming that all copies were being sent out this week and also posted images of the packing of the books (showing the john zhu illustrated book bag and additional "k" logo wrapping paper).

! updated ! NEWS : vote for the winner in shontelle's cover art contest!

so a few weeks back i posted about shontelle's cover art contest, for new buzz single 'ten to one (glasses up)'. she has chosen her top 5 entries and now fans can vote for which one will be used as it's official artwork. take a look at the five finalists and head through to her fansite, to vote for which one you think should win. personally i think they're all good efforts...but for me '002' is the strongest by far...what do you think?

001:

 002:

 003:

 004:

 005:

NEWS : madonna's twelfth studio album artwork will be released next week!

madge is under way with setting up the promo for her as-yet-untitled twelfth studio release, the first single ('give me all your love' featuring m.i.a. and nicki minaj) has just had it's video shot and now news has arisen that the album's artwork will be unveiled as soon as next week! said to have been art directed and photographed by mert & marcus, a majorly talented duo who shot madonna for "interview" magazine in 2010. going by those images it is going to be fierceeeeeely ay-may-zang!...CAN'T WAIT! can you?

(seen over at : muumuse.com)

NEWS : amy winehouse's 'back to black' dress is up for sale!

the dress amy wore on the cover and some other shots of the iconic 'back to black' artwork is going under the hammer! the dress, created by designer disaya, was loaned to amy for the photoshoot and then returned and stored in the designer's archives. but now, it is being sold (reportedly expected to garner at least £20 000) to raise money for "the amy winehouse foundation".

(source : dailymail.co.uk)