Janelle Monaé, “The Electric Lady”

Janelle Monáe, The Electric Lady (2013)
Bad Boy Records/Atlantic/Wondaland
Artist: Sam Spratt

The Electric Lady comprises the fourth and fifth installments of Janelle Monáe’s Metropolis-inspired epic, though essentially a prequel to her previous album, The ArchAndroid. The story is of an android named Cindi Mayweather who is sent back in time to free the citizens of Metropolis from The Great Divide, a secret society that surpasses freedom and love through use of time travel.

Monáe’s team called up 25-year-old SCAD grad, Sam Spratt, to create the cover art for the complex concept album. After two months and hundreds of sketches, he created the iconic image of Mayweather and her five sisters on the main cover. Spratt told Pitchfork:

“I have quite literally hundreds of different versions of each of the covers. I would change body language, colors, texture, expressions, backgrounds, objects, interactions, hairstyles, colors– you name it. Every little shift brought me closer to the final product.”

The painting for the standard edition, titled Concerning Cindi and Her Sisters and the Skull of Night Thrashings, shows Mayweather in the center surrounded by her sisters, Andromeda, Andy Pisces, Catalina, Morovia, and Polly Whynot. The second cover, for the deluxe edition, is titled Concerning Cindi and the Glow of the Drogon’s Eyes. This image depicts Cindi alone, showing her “Digital Auction Code,” proudly proclaiming she is no longer for sale.

To create the painting, Monáe provided Spratt with hundreds of images from every angle, from press shots to and candid images, to make sure he was able to paint from any angle.