Florence and the Machine just revealed the artwork for the band’s upcoming album, Everybody Scream, and it’s unflinchingly provocative.
By Danni Scott - Metro UK
A fish-eye lens captures lead singer Florence Welch, reclined in a chair with her legs spread, flashing her inner thighs as her dress covers anything too risqué.
This is undoubtedly the most skin we’ve seen from the Howl hitmaker, well, ever.
In isolation, it could be a hint that Florence, 38, is simply embracing her sexier side for her seventh studio album, but in the context of the music industry as a whole, it might just be a sign she’s joining a pop girlie revolution.
A sexy album cover is nothing new; however, recent releases have left fans (and conservative adults) clutching their pearls.
It seems, despite the prevalence of this kind of cover art across the decades – from John Lennon to The Strokes – we’ve all gone shy.
The indie rock star is showing a new side of herself on the band’s seventh studio album (Picture: Florence and the Machine)
Have pop stars always been sexy?
When discussing boundary-pushing artwork, it’s impossible not to mention Madonna, the Queen of Pop and a master of ruffling feathers.
The cover for 2008’s Hard Candy sees her legs wide in a black bodysuit, Like a Prayer (1989) had a flash of stomach, and who could forget the silken sheets of 1984’s Material Girl, with one leg carefully slipping out.
Madonna has always been a disruptive presence, but her erotic covers are something of a rarity in pop queen discographies.
Think of Britney Spears; while her performances might be pulse-racing, and she’s known to rock a bikini or two, her actual album artwork tends to err on the safe side.
Her most revealing artwork was 2001’s Britney (with the Toxic hitmaker leaning forward with her top falling off her shoulders) until 2020 when Glory was issued a writhing beach picture with chains around her.
The 00s did see a sudden boom in raunchy covers, with Shakira, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Gwen Stefani getting suggestive.
Christina Aguilera springs to mind as a seductive star, and while her covers lean this way, only 2002’s Stripped can truly be considered risque until the nude Venus-inspired Lotus in 2012.
While these stars may have been bikini-clad on stage and in bedazzled skin-coloured bodysuits for music videos, their actual artwork rarely ventured into the extreme.
Who had the raunchiest album covers?
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the majority of outright nude covers belong to male artists, usually not choosing to feature themselves.
Rolling Stone’s list of the 20 dirtiest album covers of all time (published in 2019) includes only five with the artist pictured; one of which is a shirtless D’Angelo, and the other is Christina Amphlett in a fishnet dress.
Prince and John Lennon offer nude album covers; however, these radiate vulnerability rather than sex appeal. The former Beatle is, of course, joined by Yoko Ono – also naked – for their 1968 collaboration.
British punk rockers The Slits are the only female artists to go truly nude, coated in mud for their 1979 debut album Cut.
