imagery in cover art
 

hi!

i'm really curious to see how other people intepretate the cover art of her albums. please share your thoughts ! (eg: short 2 sentence summary of what they mean to you)

i'll start with my current favourite:

secret
hamasaki ayumi's secret is that she is helped by "the strength of an unicorn" and is thus free & untamed by the world's expectations.
even when she wears reserved (black) clothing, she is a "light of the world" (a lamp) amongst other lights.

I think we all know the meaning behind I am...

i believe i can intepretate the cover art and titles of "secret", "rainbow", "my story", "misunderstood", "duty", "guilty", in a meaningful way for me.

rainbow:
the album "rainbow" is a gift of a box of songs, of everlasting dream.
it is like a message of a rainbow after a flood.

i can't intepretate all the cover artworks - this is why i was interested in other's opinions.

all the titles mean something to me, except "rock 'n' roll circus".

You put a lot of thought into this, don't you?

I don't know if GUILTY has a huge meaning, at least to me, but RnRC does at least on a superficial level :3 I blame The Beatles :P

hi !

ayumi is "guilty" in the desert, but she is "fated" to "glitter",
in her "rebirth", she gives "my all", "believe in Love", "the Beginning and the End"

note that: the desert of today can be considered cities that outwardly appear to be beautiful, but are really full of darkness (see the cover of endless sorrow, and compare with her 4th album cover).

can you imagine how it must have felt to have observed the actions and words of jehanne d'arc ? check out the video clip and lyrics to free & easy =)

best wishes !

Sorry for this choice of words, but your interpretations are idiotic.
Are you serious? "Ayumi is guilty in the desert but she is fated to glitter, in her rebirth she gives my all, believe in love, the beginning and the end" ? That doesn't even make sense.

My interpretations, not neccessarily right, but i think they make sense without overanalyzing aspects:
A Song for XX
Ayu is shown in a very simple shot, just like the album has very much of a "young girl's diary" feeling, nothing to interpret
LOVEppears & appears
These covers ened to be seen together and, in my opinion, simply are a statement about equality and equality of music - it doesn't matter if you're caucasian(LOVEppears), black(appears) or whatever(no pun intended)
Duty
Breaking out of a cage, possibly avoiding a Duty("I didn't want to know it's my turn next") never really cared for the album's lyrics, so I don't know if her outfit got a meaning
I am...
Symbols of peace, Ayu as some kind of "peace godess"
RAINBOW
I think it's just supposed to look fancy while fitting the colourful feeling of the album
Memorial Address
A very personal EP, so we get something similar to A Song for XX in a more vintage, glamorous feeling
MY STORY
Never cared for the album, but the title again is quite personal, as is being in a bedroom with comfy clothes
Memorial Address
"I'm not perfect, I can have an unfortunate smile", that's what the pics tell me, both also seem to not clearly show if she is happy or sad, which fits the title track perfectly, according to which what she feels is her own business
Secret
Supposed to look fancy again, the big fake tattoo hides the small, real one. It's the secret hidden in the cover.
GUILTY
Deserts give one completely loneliness, half the album is about Ayumi feeling guilty and srory for what she's done, she doesn't deserve to be lvoed by people, to be around people, so she's all alone in the desert with fingernails that resemble claws, showing that she "hurts" people that get close to her
NEXT LEVEL
Definitely the covers that mean the most to me. Ayumi inbetween TV screens showing "no signal" test-screens. The screens are of different ages, but all broken, Ayumi is wearing the exact same colours these test images show, she is a broken screen as well - not needed and used anymore. It's a statement, it's what many people see Ayumi as, maybe what she saw herself as once(remember vogue?) and with the album she is saying "I am still here! And I go on and evolve!"
Rock 'n' Roll Circus
Purely intended to visually please, sets the album's visual theme as brit-punk.
Love Songs
Seems to be one of those mood-setters again, maybe with some "back to the roots" meaning, but we can't tell for sure til the albums out