I have noticed the vinyls on the AOA cover have the same colour as those used in the Q.U.E.E.N. video by Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu. Was it coincidental, or intentional? I had never seen white vinyls elsewhere before.

FullLipsDotNose said:

I have noticed the vinyls on the AOA cover have the same colour as those used in the Q.U.E.E.N. video by Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu. Was it coincidental, or intentional? I had never seen white vinyls elsewhere before.

Records? Coloured vinyl, including white, is extremely common nowadays.

I don't know but he loved that song.

Those are the Purple Rain plaques at Paisley Park. He simply stood on front of them. They are Platinum originally. The rest was done in photoshop to make them look that way, but they are not white.

[Edited 12/13/17 15:13pm]

Maya Washington refers to the photography she undertook for this shoot here:

https://www.youtube.com/w...Qokp8Bnwlo around the 10' mark onwards

paisleypark4 said:

Those are the Purple Rain plaques at Paisley Park. He simply stood on front of them. They are Platinum originally. The rest was done in photoshop to make them look that way, but they are not white.

There's the truth.

Does the OP think his skin was that perfect, his face that perfect, his glasses naturally reflecting space and his hair flawlessly coiffed? C'mon.

rossamoran said:

I always thought it was a little Pussy Control reference; “You can go platinum 4 times and still couldn’t make what I make in a week.”

That's obscure & even Prince doesn't think that far ahead. It's literally symmetry.

Both theories (Janelle and P Control) vs the mere fact that those were at PP would not necessarily contradictory, i.e. Prince may have meant X and used Z, or have the idea of using Z to illustrate X. However, the video posted by Langebleu shows that the shot was random, one in many in a long photoshoot. It could be that the picture, once taken, reminded Prince of either Janelle or P Control, and influenced his choice consciously or subconscioulsy but this implies such conjecture that it's pretty unlikely (I'm sure another 100 orgers could come with another 100 possible explainations).

.

Moral of the story: while it's always interesting to explore the symbolism in an artist's work (if we consider album covers as part of P's work, beyond the music), it's essential to keep in mind that it wasn't necessarily the artist's intent, and that the more far-fetched it is, the more likely it is to be our own projection/interpretation of their work and nothing else. Both the OP and Rossamoran have been careful and reasonable in the way they've stated their theories, and I appreciate that: not all orgers are always that careful and reasonable in their interpretations of P's intentions/lyrics/symbolism.

and with that, i think we've already put more thought into this album cover than p ever put into ANY of his album covers.

Interesting that they seem to be upside down on the AOA cover...

peedub said:

rossamoran said:

I always thought it was a little Pussy Control reference; “You can go platinum 4 times and still couldn’t make what I make in a week.”

Love it

I just thought they were meant to like like clouds, and to go with the obvious circle theme of the whole picture (afro, glasses, font style)

.

Also I love that they are the purple rain platinum records, just puts more mystic around his return to warner bros

TrivialPursuit said:

paisleypark4 said:

Those are the Purple Rain plaques at Paisley Park. He simply stood on front of them. They are Platinum originally. The rest was done in photoshop to make them look that way, but they are not white.

There's the truth.

Does the OP think his skin was that perfect, his face that perfect, his glasses naturally reflecting space and his hair flawlessly coiffed? C'mon.

Not only that, the OP think Prince never pooped, farted, had a bad hair day, slipped on ice, had a bad breath, smelt like sweat after sex, stepped in to a shit...

Dangelus said:

Interesting that they seem to be upside down on the AOA cover...

Which version is this? Can anyone confirm?

[Edited 12/14/17 12:04pm]