Tears for Fears just dropped a first peek at their new album art. And the reveal hasn’t gone down well.
While AI has its fans and proponents in fields such as engineering and medicine, its place in the less scientific realms of art and entertainment remains a sore point with many.
AI, it’s believed and feared, has the potential to obliterate the need for artists entirely, being able to produce images, music, movies and more from simple prompts rather than rely on (and pay for and support) human talent instead.
As such, any artist treading into the realm of AI and appearing to endorse its use is likely to stir up protestation from their contemporaries and forward-thinking fans.
Which is precisely where Tears For Fears find themselves at present. It’s safe to say that the cover for their upcoming album – Songs For A Nervous Planet, out October 25th – isn’t finding favour.
Fans have instead instantly pounced on the generic and “fake”-seeming image as being the product of AI and as such beyond the pale for such noble musos as Tears For Fears. The artwork depicts an astronaut in a field of sunflowers – a familiar TFF trope – while displaying familar signs of AI generation.
The result has been that the initial response to their art reveal on Instagram reads: “You've gotta be f**king kidding me, did you guys really need to use AI for your album cover?”
The band have famously endured rocky roads in the past, the sequel to 1985's multi-million-selling Songs From The Big Chair being 1989's much delayed and wildly over-budget The Seeds of Love, whose subsequent promotion prompted the band to split.
The band reunited however for 2022's critically acclaimed The Tipping Point.
But the successor to that album seems to be off to a rocky start. It's impossible to find much love for Songs For A Nervous Planet's artwork, something the band have tried to alleviate with a further post, explaining the art's origins and a photo of its creator, the artist Vitalie Burcovschi, also known as @surrealistly.
Unfortunately the explanation is yet to appease disappointed fans. “That’s a lot of words trying to justify using cheap AI slop as an album cover,” writes one commenter.
“I love you guys but this is disappointing. AI steals work from actual artists. Surely it can’t be hard to commission a talented artist to create this exact image but with so much more soul and originality?” writes another.
With the general consensus being that: “You could have found plenty of artists to paint you that album cover.” And: “How hard is it to hire an ARTIST to make something for your album?”
At the time of writing it's unclear as to whether the band will plough on or perform an about-turn.
The first single from the album, The Girl That I Call Home. is out now. The album Songs For A Nervous Planet follows on October the 25th.
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