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The Brilliance of the "Like A Virgin" Album Cover


LittleDudeNT5

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At first glance, the album cover for Madonna’s 1984 album Like A Virgin isn’t necessarily anything special. It does not hold the striking, emotional profile of her debut, nor the statuesque elegance of its successor, True Blue. Instead, Like A Virgin portrays an unsurprisingly seductive, sepia-toned portrait of Madonna. Even the font type used is a simple, unassuming serif in dull tones that sink into the colors of the rest of the cover. To give it its fair due, it could have been much worse: at least it did not go the typical 80s gaudiness route that befell many of her single releases. But, overall, is Like A Virgin as iconic compared to her other releases of the era?

 

When one delves into the dynamics of the cover, they would realize how all of the elements play off each other in a brilliant contradiction of title, name, and imagery.

 

Let’s start with Madonna’s namesake: “Madonna” is the original title attributed to the biblical Virgin Mary. As one could guess, Mary – the mother of Jesus Christ – is celebrated for retaining her virginity even through her immaculate conception. Because of Mary, the concept of virginity is sacred within Christianity. Girls and women are expected to remain abstinent until after they are married (because we can’t all magically conceive children of God and remain virgins forever). Brides wear white on their wedding day to signify their preserved purity – emulating the Virgin Mary.

 

By 1984 – just a year into her career – Madonna had already established she was an unabashed sexual creature with songs like “Burning Up” and “Physical Attraction”, firmly distancing herself from her religious namesake. Recording a song like “Like A Virgin” further toys with the aforementioned topic. Even Madonna first baulked at the idea of being like a virgin – as the song itself uses the phrase as a simile, likening the experience of falling in love after a brutal breakup to a virgin being “touched for the very first time”. But that did not stop her from grabbing hold of the concept and spinning it on its head with the imagery for her album cover.

 

Now as its getting clearer, let’s break down the album cover. Madonna is lounged out on a bed wearing a promiscuous, low-cut version of a wedding dress with the shadows accentuating her breasts. She sports a debauched head of hair while staring with a pout out into the audience. The look is brought together by the iconic “Boy Toy” belt; that title itself proudly claiming a licentious lifestyle. Each one of these elements contradicts the Christian concept of the Virgin Mary and the purity of brides. Even the title Like A Virgin paired with the name “Madonna” comes off as tongue-in-cheek; a lascivious joke poking fun of the entire strict, religious ritual Madonna spent her entire early life and career rebelling against.

 

At face value, the cover for Like A Virgin might not have the immediate aesthetic appeal of some of Madonna’s other records. But, for me, the levels of imagery playfully countering traditional concepts gives the cover interesting depth – and cements it as one of the best album covers in pop music history.

 

 

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I didnt see this, this is a brilliant breakdown. What do you do for a job/career? because being a pop culture critic is absolutely your thing.

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14 hours ago, Goldie said:

did you write this? slay cry6 

I did! Thank you~

11 hours ago, Moonflower said:

I didnt see this, this is a brilliant breakdown. What do you do for a job/career? because being a pop culture critic is absolutely your thing.

Omg this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me oprah4 I do want to become a writer. Mostly fiction, but I do like writing reviews/music-related things and stuff like that.

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1 hour ago, The Plague said:

Nicely said. :)

What do you think of the LAP cover? I’ve always found it underwhelming and kinda messy. 

One of her best actually imo! scream1

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3 hours ago, H.O.N.E.Y said:

One of her best actually imo! scream1

Really?! It always felt like a rehash of Bruce Springsteen’s born in the USA cover but ehh. I think it’s her only studio album cover without her face which is interesting. 

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11 hours ago, The Plague said:

Really?! It always felt like a rehash of Bruce Springsteen’s born in the USA cover but ehh. I think it’s her only studio album cover without her face which is interesting. 

I don't know that album so u may have a point there. But my point is, that in her collection is looks so much better than a lot of her covers and feels very theatrical. aretha1

 

Edit: Just saw the Bruce album cover and they are very similar, so she probably was inspired by that. You're right. oprah14

 

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29 minutes ago, H.O.N.E.Y said:

I don't know that album so u may have a point there. But my point is, that in her collection is looks so much better than a lot of her covers and feels very theatrical. aretha1

 

Edit: Just saw the Bruce album cover and they are very similar, so she probably was inspired by that. You're right. oprah14

 

Lol sorry hope I didn’t ruin it for you.  oprah14 

It’s still cool in a way cuz she’s doing like the feminine/feminist version of that album cover or something, but it always makes me think of Bruce’s album cover which is more iconic than madonna’s imo, even if I only know the title track off his record. The cover is also SOOoo 80s in a not classic way so maybe that’s my other issue with it lol.

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13 hours ago, H.O.N.E.Y said:

One of her best actually imo! scream1

I know right, its iconic

19 hours ago, LittleDudeNT5 said:

I did! Thank you~

Omg this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me oprah4 I do want to become a writer. Mostly fiction, but I do like writing reviews/music-related things and stuff like that.

I wanna be a writer too and i like writing fiction as well, but you just take it to another level of professionalism. Have you written a story or something? even if its not finished id be honored to read it, really. i bet it would interesting.

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On 5/26/2018 at 3:51 AM, The Plague said:

Nicely said. :)

What do you think of the LAP cover? I’ve always found it underwhelming and kinda messy. 

91etw+5xmsL._SY355_.jpg (just putting this here so I can look at it)

It's honestly not a very strong album cover for me. When I think of the album, I hardly ever think of the cover. It is one of my favorite albums by her, however, so I think the material is just so strong in my mind that I don't need to conjure up the cover imagery for it. That being said, I don't think it's a bad cover. It's pretty pale. I like the font choice and the little design around "Madonna", but the dark font color of "Like A Prayer" kind of gets lost in the image. And the design just kind of makes things look messy. I just kind of don't get it? Like, there's not a lot going on about it that feels very strong. I don't really get the jewelry, the close-up of the midriff area, just...ehh? I will say that the full-portrait images of Madonna from that shoot are lovely. Not really cover worthy, but nice. I just think that the design for this album wasn't incredibly strong, and I'm not sure why?

Like, let's take True Blue for example. Beautiful cover, right? A beautiful photograph makes for a beautiful cover. But, Madonna had a theme going with that album. That era. That shoot. The short, bleached-blonde hair. The elegant bustiers. The grungy leather jackets. It was very 50s. Very Hollywood golden-era. It sort of all came together. And I would say that the Like A Virgin, and Debut covers fit with the aesthetic of the eras. Like A Prayer just got a little mixed up. The album is deeply personal, so it would be kind of difficult to choose one particular visual theme to stick with? I'm surprised the cover wasn't an image of her chest with a crucifix? Or something more graphic with Christian imagery? 

Idk I could probably make a blog post going into it more creep1 But overall I don't think it's necessarily bad, but it pales in comparison to most of her other covers. (The Bedtime Stories cover is a wreck) So, yeah. "underwhelming and kinda messy" is a good way to describe it XD

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15 minutes ago, LittleDudeNT5 said:

91etw+5xmsL._SY355_.jpg (just putting this here so I can look at it)

It's honestly not a very strong album cover for me. When I think of the album, I hardly ever think of the cover. It is one of my favorite albums by her, however, so I think the material is just so strong in my mind that I don't need to conjure up the cover imagery for it. That being said, I don't think it's a bad cover. It's pretty pale. I like the font choice and the little design around "Madonna", but the dark font color of "Like A Prayer" kind of gets lost in the image. And the design just kind of makes things look messy. I just kind of don't get it? Like, there's not a lot going on about it that feels very strong. I don't really get the jewelry, the close-up of the midriff area, just...ehh? I will say that the full-portrait images of Madonna from that shoot are lovely. Not really cover worthy, but nice. I just think that the design for this album wasn't incredibly strong, and I'm not sure why?

Like, let's take True Blue for example. Beautiful cover, right? A beautiful photograph makes for a beautiful cover. But, Madonna had a theme going with that album. That era. That shoot. The short, bleached-blonde hair. The elegant bustiers. The grungy leather jackets. It was very 50s. Very Hollywood golden-era. It sort of all came together. And I would say that the Like A Virgin, and Debut covers fit with the aesthetic of the eras. Like A Prayer just got a little mixed up. The album is deeply personal, so it would be kind of difficult to choose one particular visual theme to stick with? I'm surprised the cover wasn't an image of her chest with a crucifix? Or something more graphic with Christian imagery? 

Idk I could probably make a blog post going into it more creep1 But overall I don't think it's necessarily bad, but it pales in comparison to most of her other covers. (The Bedtime Stories cover is a wreck) So, yeah. "underwhelming and kinda messy" is a good way to describe it XD

Yup @ everything you said. i always forget that this is even the cover dead2 it's hard to picture in my head cuz there are so many little elements battling for attention. Bedtime Stories may be a boring-ish cover but i can at least see it in my head and know the colour scheme right away. and I think something about having an artist's eyes (especially Madonna's) on the cover of an album can really draw you into the whole thing and give it a more focused look.

 

I think if they still wanted to do this concept a cleaner way maybe would've been an extreme closeup of a (pant's) fly being elegantly pulled down by Madonna's fingers with the pant zipper being a crucifix.... but then that could've felt a little try hard (which Madonna wasn't back then... jj2).

It's also funny that this album is considered her peak by so many and yet the cover is so forgettable dead2 even the album title i don't fully love if i'm being honest... the word "Like" always makes something sound unsure of itself to me, just "Prayer" would've been cooler, since she already did Like a Virgin too... and y'all know Madonna doesn't like to repeat herself and yet she has 2 albums with the same first 2 words in the title. dead2 also it feels a bit early for her to be using a crown over her name lol.

 

Not to rag on this album tho cuz it is obvi a masterpiece and still iconic AF and many of our faves could NEVER COME CLOSE. mess1

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1 hour ago, The Plague said:

Yup @ everything you said. i always forget that this is even the cover  it's hard to picture in my head cuz there are so many little elements battling for attention. Bedtime Stories may be a boring-ish cover but i can at least see it in my head and know the colour scheme right away. and I think something about having an artist's eyes (especially Madonna's) on the cover of an album can really draw you into the whole thing and give it a more focused look.

 

I think if they still wanted to do this concept a cleaner way maybe would've been an extreme closeup of a (pant's) fly being elegantly pulled down by Madonna's fingers with the pant zipper being a crucifix.... but then that could've felt a little try hard (which Madonna wasn't back then... ).

It's also funny that this album is considered her peak by so many and yet the cover is so forgettable even the album title i don't fully love if i'm being honest... the word "Like" always makes something sound unsure of itself to me, just "Prayer" would've been cooler, since she already did Like a Virgin too... and y'all know Madonna doesn't like to repeat herself and yet she has 2 albums with the same first 2 words in the title. also it feels a bit early for her to be using a crown over her name lol.

 

Not to rag on this album tho cuz it is obvi a masterpiece and still iconic AF and many of our faves could NEVER COME CLOSE.

I get what you mean about the BS cover, but honestly I just really hate the color scheme, her make-up, and the upside-down image.

 

Idk if that would have worked either. This isn't Sticky Fingers by the Stones dead2 I mean, it's not like the LAP cover was trying to be provocative or sexy. There's really no reason for it to be a waist-shot of pants/jewelry.

 

It also always bothered me, too, that she had two album titles with extremely similar titles. Idk what she would have done differently, though. Maybe Feels Like Home? I don't know dead2 I can't really imagine it being called anything else. 

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1 hour ago, LittleDudeNT5 said:

I get what you mean about the BS cover, but honestly I just really hate the color scheme, her make-up, and the upside-down image.

 

Idk if that would have worked either. This isn't Sticky Fingers by the Stones dead2 I mean, it's not like the LAP cover was trying to be provocative or sexy. There's really no reason for it to be a waist-shot of pants/jewelry.

 

It also always bothered me, too, that she had two album titles with extremely similar titles. Idk what she would have done differently, though. Maybe Feels Like Home? I don't know dead2 I can't really imagine it being called anything else. 

i kinda like the upside down image – the original Ariana (but we been knew that) jj2

Lmao true, there i go stealing from another cover dead2 yeah it should've just been something completely different lol. 

Feels Like Home seems like an album title that would come later in her career to me for some reason, like her revisiting her roots, even tho her roots are just Michigan laughcry1 
Maybe it could've been "Midnight Hour"  or "Power"  or "Feel Your Power"  or....... "Black Jesus" jj2 (jk)

 

ps. this might have been cool for the cover but with the titling done completely differently lol 

 R-8930089-1491740896-6777.jpeg.jpg

 

 

 

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