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  1. Solar Power! Really? I guess that image is to suggest that the sun shines out of her arse.
    But then I have to ask, did she really have control over the image used there? It’s borderline pornography.

    • Well as an artist who identifies herself as a feminist and has been quoted as saying “I have nothing against anyone getting naked…..I just don’t think it would compliment my music in any way or help me tell my story any better” it is a strange move. I suppose we can all change our minds and after all “she is a pop prodigy who has not conformed to boundaries and always sought experimentation”….So there we go, its allowed.

  5. Gimmicktastic bollocks with a cover essentially cribbed from the first Free LP. ‘Environmentally kind alternative to the CD’? While making the same content available using slabs of polyvinyl chloride? Do eff off dear. Goodness me what a load of tosh.

  8. I’ve been following this farce for a few days now. My favourite bit is that they want to charge sixteen quid for a box that doesn’t have a CD in. As VV points out, the environmental argument looks a bit thin when they’re simultaneously offering a load of vinyl options, not to mention the impact of all those server farms supporting streaming. The suits at Universal must have been pissing themselves when they came up with this wheeze.

    Also, let’s not forget that the single sounds like the Lighthouse Family covering Loaded.

  9. I think in context the argument is that CDs are a fading medium (I don’t necessarily agree with that, but let’s continue…) and are likely to be discarded or ‘go to landfill’ as she argues, but vinlys are very much resurgent and collectable ie not likely to end up the same way. The package is rather more than a ‘digipak’, all the materials are biodegradable and doesn’t cost much more than a new album download would. You could always go and buy an actual empty box with a David Bowie picture on it…if they hadn’t sold out.

    George Michael’s family and Primal Scream are much more relaxed about the similarities in the song than some on here appear to be. Also, it’s unsurprising but nonetheless disappointing that people still, in 2021, seem to have difficulty in believing that female artists can have control over the decision-making about their careers.

  10. If they sold it has a glossy coffee table picture book that just happened to have a download card with it, I don’t think they’d have been 1/10th of the complaints. But the marketing team have made her look a bit of an arse.

    • “It’s a complex calculation, but she says a rough ballpark figure is you only have to stream an album 27 times before you’ve built up a carbon footprint bigger than if you had just bought the LP.”

      Wow, not sure why but that stat has stopped me in my tracks. That cheers me up actually – in the main, the records I have bought over the years have been played definitely more than 27 times. So that makes me eco-friendly, don’t it?

        • My chum lives on the outskirts of Frankfurt. Next to the allotments is a warehouse with a data farm inside. That thing virtually glows in the dark.

          If all those streams are hosted somewhere like that, we could press 500g records and still have less of an impact.

  12. I’ve sort of come around to the idea. Why not sell an artefact with a download code in it? That’s essentially something I’ve done myself with some vinyl LPs, and there’s plenty of CDs that I’ve ripped and never actually played.

    I like the song.

    The cover though, ‘that’ version… Regardless of who thought that up, and who signed off on it, it’s still maybe a bad idea. The marketing people love these multiple cover releases, as they can do an A-B test, find which one sells the most, and if bought direct, which demographic buys it (I know, I work in marketing…) – she could find her career takes a bad turn if that one cover sells more than the other ones, as her ‘people’ may try to push her in that direction. I hope not. Or if she knows about it and is ok with that, then I hope it doesn’t set her back in the long run.

    Also, the other thing here is… maybe this is a liberated thing to do if she was in full control. But it’s also essentially an official ‘up skirting’, which is an odious and abusive practice, and I can imagine some of her fans might have suffered this. On that basis it’s a bit insensitive, presenting that kind of photo as a positive image. I really don’t like this.

    YMMV. Of course.

    • I agree, cover is awful. But I get bashful about nudity (or near nudity) on album covers at the best of times. That bare bum on the cover of Yes’ Going For The One ruins it for me. And don’t even mention Electric Ladyland.

      • I must admit, reading the recent Vogue interview with Billie Eilish made me squirm. She’s had mental health issues in the past and, although she’s now 19, stripping off to a vintage bodice might not be a good idea. I hope it’s one she doesn’t come to regret.

        I’m not sure I want to look at it any more than I want to see Hooky in his undercrackers. The. Music. Is. Enough.

    • Amen. I don’t suppose anyone will be suggesting that Stormzy is going to have his wang out on his next album cover.

      Women have to literally sell their arses – that’s the culture innit. “Liberate” yourself by doing as you’re told.

      Feminism – that was a good idea. It’s not going to happen in our lifetimes though, is it?

      • For what it’s worth, Stormzy is shot from the waste up topless on his most recent album cover.

        In both cases, it’s only an issue if you believe the decision to bare flesh was imposed. Otherwise it’s artists liberating themselves by doing as they please.

        I don’t get much sense that either Lorde or Stormzy would be easily bullied, but who knows.

        • It’s not a question of Lorde being personally bullied. She’s a woman and she knows she’d better get her clothes off at some point, because them’s the rules – but I suppose surrendering is a kind of liberation.

          • There are lots of reasons women take their clothes off. Appeasing the patriarchy is one of them. Going to the beach is another.

            I’m not dismissing entirely what you’re saying here, I’m saying I think you’re assuming a degree of insight into what’s going on in Lorde’s head that you simply don’t have.

        • I think it’s more than that. It gives the message that a shot of a woman taken from underneath is ok, which it very rarely is. We can assume this was done with her permission, and that’s her choice, but I think it can and will have an impact beyond what was intended.

          • Is it Lorde’s responsibility to cover up/choose a different photo because of the negative behaviours this one might incite?

            I guess you could argue it both ways.

            Here’s a thought experiment: if someone upskirts Lorde in six months’ time, is it her own fault?

            • No. It isn’t. It’s never anybody’s fault other than the person doing it. However putting a picture like this on a cover fetishises the kind of picture that most people don’t want taken.

              I can’t quite figure out why this is bothering me so much. But it really is.

              • It’s not the angle of the photo that’s the issue though, is it? It’s the presence or absence of consent.

                I guess the question is whether it’s harmful to publicise yourself consenting to something that most other people are unlikely to consent to.

                And equally, whether by objecting to that publication you’re preserving other women from harm, or narrowing their ability to choose what to do with their own bodies. Or maybe even both at the same time.

                Personally, where I land on it is that it wouldn’t be my choice, but then I own a copy of By Any Means Necessary and I wouldn’t recommend owning an automatic weapon either.

                • And is it alright if the paper it is printed on is recycleable?

                  I love the AW. Yes, I’d like it if more ladies joined in, but at least we’re not just going “phwoar!”

                • I think you pinned it down: “I guess the question is whether it’s harmful to publicise yourself consenting to something that most other people are unlikely to consent to.”

                  That’s it. That’s a difficult question and it’s at the heart of why I feel uncomfortable with this.

  13. There was a brief period (at least in Canada) when they put download cards out in the racks like CDs. You could browse in an old fashioned way, pick one up and then it would be validated when you paid for it. This didn’t last long.

    CDs are pointless. There is no advantage to owning one over lossless files apart from having the artwork etc. So this is basically what they are doing and saving the cost of manufacturing the CDs which would be played once or twice, ripped and then just become worthless pieces of plastic. Still having vinyl is more understandable as quantities are not that high (relatively) and it makes more sense as a physical release. They will probably be played more than CDs.

    Most people will listen to the album on streaming services though, naturally.

    • My newish car has a CD player (hidden away in the glove box). On the drive back from RSD I thought “Hang on! I can play that TFF CD I’ve just bought.” Well, it was better than the repeat of MoneyBox or whatever it was on the wireless at the time.

      • I have a Cd player in my car, mostly play things from my phone using Bluetooth though. I might buy a 99p CD at a charity shop and play it on the way home, this is very rare though. I still buy them in box sets, but if a Blu-ray is included then these are pointless too and could be replaced by a download for easy out of home use.

    • I still have several thousand of the things. Worthless! (95% of them anyway). Some people like to look at them on shelves, they will look the same even if there is nothing in the box.

      I have a collection – of vinyl and these thousands of CDs ripped to hard drives. I can look at them there. Have kept all the booklets too, but the horrible “jewel cases” have been gone for a decade or more.

      • Worthless..? Have a look at what people are asking for CDs that are no longer available. Just a couple of examples…I wanted a new EMI copy of DONOVAN’s Gift from a Flower to a Garden as my old BGO copy went a bit weird, but it is now out of print and second hand prices are high (I ended up burning CDR from iTunes as I had it on there). I will be reviewing the Feel Flows box set soon on here, and it made me look at getting the Made In California set from a few years ago ( I was always hoping the price would come down) – it is now out of print and second hand is higher than when it was avaiable new. As soon as things aren’t readily available, the price goes up.

        Another thing is that my CD player and amp sound way better than streaming files through the hifi, even high quality lossless files. I say get ‘em while you can!

  15. Well, I’m absolutely amazed that I’ve been able to get two tickets for the Leeds date in the general onsale, after the pre-sale was sold out in literally thirty seconds. No such arseing around today…

    And, for the record (ha!), I’ve ordered the infamous box. Point and laugh all you want 😉

  17. Yikers Island!
    Just seen the cover for Further Joy, the new album by The Regrettes (and particularly the Spotify phone background, which crops out all the framing scenery).
    I made this comment in Blogger Takeover last month:

    The Regrettes have a new single out. There are videos on YouTube for two of the songs.
    Reader, I had to look away.
    Being an old man enjoying music made by young women is – I am certain – a good thing, but I may have to stick with the audio in future.

    Maybe I’ve just arrived at the “old fuddy duddy” stage (what’s wrong with being sexy? etc) and you’ve got to allow every new generation of pop kids to make their own dodgy decisions (and, no less than Lorde, I would guess Lydia Knight is both pretty sharp and has much greater creative control than female artists of a similar age from previous decades), but I do find the idea that the old kit off arms race is still “a thing” quite depressing..

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