Idolator

The MIA cover resembles the title screen of a Commodore-64 game. FUGLY! Is she surrounded by four St. Bernards?

@Cam/ron: They're photos of MIA with the colors inversed. Hair & glasses are white, skin is black. But yeah, I can see how you'd get confused.

Personally, I voted for Jordin. You'd think that after months on television and in magazines, someone would know how to take a flattering picture of the girl. Looks like the photographer cut a ripe fart and captured the moment when Jordin began to smell it.

Come on, at least the M.I.A. album fits in with her whole aesthetic. I don't remember anyone complaining here when the videos for Jimmy or Boyz came out with similar stylistic cues. Sparks looks like she has down syndrome.

This is hard for me. I'm not in love with either act...or their album covers.

other than looking like a soul II soul 12" from 1984 or a random ragga mix cd, i'll give the m.i.a. cover credit for making a hottie like her look unappealing. that takes raw talent. the other one just looks like 99.9% of the r&b covers that have shown up for the past...oh...7 years or so.

I've thought Jordin was the worst of the year for months (yeah, past Nugent) simply because of the fact that there's a whole process where Jordin's camp must've mulled over dozens of shots, attempting to pick the best one, and still had the audacity to choose this one.

But if I turn it a little to the left, her facial expression is not that off-putting.

Hmm, I looked again, and "her" body looks like it's been photoshopped on, especially that neck. Goddamn.

Then again, MIA's pissing me off. It's like Cross Colours pastiche. Ick.

Jeez, another tough one.

M.I.A. gets my vote, for unauthorized use of Iron Maiden font.

kala cover is awesome! the liners are even better. will sparks and celine meet in the next around? might as well combine those two covers into one...

Sparks should have taken inspiration from Kimono My House.

@seagull v. winfield: Exactly. I'll admit i hated on the Kala cover at first, but after i hearing the album, i don't know what other kind of cover would fit with it.

M.I.A.'s cover may be ugly, but the album is great. Jordin Sparks looks like she's in the middle of sucking air through her teeth like some mouth-breather.

MIA should run away with this. Jordin's photo is just bad and she should hire a new art department. But MIA looks like something designed with my Apple IIe.

As much as I love MIA (this album kicks!), and I know she does her own artwork and all, but dang, that cover is FUGLY!

call me crazy, but i LOVE m.i.a.'s design aesthetic.

but- the kala cover is an IMPROVEMENT over the cover for arular. m.i.a. is crazy and she likes to give you aural and visual seizures- it's just... who she is.

The Jordin Sparks cover's main problem is that she looks 32. Not 32 especially happy years either...

KALA has the best album cover of the year.

and whats wrong with looking apple IIe and commodore 64ish?

I know I'm in the minority, but I love the Kala album cover. It doe NOT translate well onto the internets, for whatever reason, where it kind of hurts to look at. It's shockingly not hard on the eyes in physical form. And, actually, it seems to be getting better and better (and cooler and cooler) every time I pick up the cd case. And seriously, most of the album art that's in this contest is half-assed and slapped-together. Even if you don't fully dig M.I.A.'s style, you should at least give her credit for effort - the artwork throughout the booklet, not just the cover, is dense and complex, and at least indicates the sort of consideration for the visual side of things you aren't seeing with any of the other awful, awful entrants.

@mhulot: I agree with a lot of what you say here, but I still hate it. I mean, it says "Party On!" all over it. That's just so...lame.