As posted by designer Mat Maitland on his Instagram. Same shot that would later be used for the AOA cover!

Looks good. That would have been a great cover for AOA.

That's nice. Shame they didn't use it for the single or AOA. It's particularly suited for the later.

[Edited 12/7/14 13:05pm]

The heart/hand cutout is kind of a throwback to both Graffiti Bridge and the SOTT single artwork at the same time, I wonder if that was his intention?

Militant said:

The heart/hand cutout is kind of a throwback to both Graffiti Bridge and the SOTT single artwork at the same time, I wonder if that was his intention?

Shouldn't the heart be placed a little higher so that the moon matches the the round glass on the shades?

[Edited 12/7/14 13:18pm]

[Edited 12/7/14 13:21pm]

paulludvig said:

Militant said:

The heart/hand cutout is kind of a throwback to both Graffiti Bridge and the SOTT single artwork at the same time, I wonder if that was his intention?

Shoudn't the heart be placed a little higher so that the moon matches the the round glass on the shades?

[Edited 12/7/14 13:18pm]

Yeah, I thought that too. *shrugs*

I personally think it would be an epic fail to use this one for AOA. And the heart with the hand looks too random and out of place. It looks like a cool enough idea that has to be worked on alot more. The AOA cover is in my opinion his best in years. It really matches his music which also is his best in a while.

Militant said:

The heart/hand cutout is kind of a throwback to both Graffiti Bridge and the SOTT single artwork at the same time, I wonder if that was his intention?

Possibly giving him too much credit? I see the similarity but I also see t's a heart with the night in it. Maybe he also should've put Prince falling into it for the full effect!

It´s not only a throwback to SOTT with the heart but also a throwback to those glasses he wore in Purple Rain. Especially with the Purple Rain platinum records in the background (on the cover of AOA). For someone who claims not to care about the past he sure uses a lot of details from that time.

I think this picture looks slightly more interesting, more vague than the AOA cover art.

Nice find.

Meh, but that's how I feel about that song too, but that's giving it too much credit imo

That's cool.

This looks like a throwback to all of the cheesy How-To airbrush books of the 80s. Glad they didn't use this one.

Militant said:

rainbowchild said:

Militant said:

As posted by designer Mat Maitland on his Instagram. Same shot that would later be used for the AOA cover!

That looks like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family.

Just like the offical cover i dont like it
But cool i guess

I like it as an image, but it would have indeed been an "epic fail" to use this as the AOA cover. It would have fitted the insides of the package, but it's not really what an album cover should be like.

Pretty sure Mat Maitland is staff designer at Epic Records, since he also did the Michael Jackson "Xscape" artwork (which had a similar "stars" motif on it to this).

So there's no chance this could have been considered for AOA anyway

I agree with nova, this could have made a good inside picture.

Se7en said:

This looks like a throwback to all of the cheesy How-To airbrush books of the 80s. Glad they didn't use this one.

Unused for a reason, it's really not good..

Militant said:

he also did the Michael Jackson "Xscape" artwork (which had a similar "stars" motif on it to this).

I can see the similarity,

The Michael Jackson pic is better. (imho).

Thank goodness it didnt get chosen cause thats bloody awful!

thedance said:

Unused for a reason, it's really not good..

Yes, it really looks amateurish.

2020 said:

Thank goodness it didnt get chosen cause thats bloody awful!

Thank goodness you said it, so I didn't have to.

For once Prince made a wise choice.

Militant said:

As posted by designer Mat Maitland on his Instagram. Same shot that would later be used for the AOA cover!