The Story Of Every Album Cover

Perfume Genius has some of the most striking album covers in recent memory. Take the defiant pose Mike Hadreas, donned in a metal vest, assumes on 2014’s Too Bright. There’s also the way his shirtless frame occupies the stark, black-and-white contrasts of 2020’s masterful Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, his fierce expression gazing down toward the camera.

Most recently, there’s Glory, Hadreas’ latest record as Perfume Genius, the cover of which portrays him sprawled out on the floor, light filtering through the window behind him, a parked car lurking in the background outside. Speaking with him about his album covers reaffirms the intentionality he injects into every facet of his work.

“I could keep talking about these for hours,” he tells me toward the end of our conversation over Zoom.

His enthusiasm for each cover is palpable, and he recalls highly specific details about all seven of them. Throughout our 40-minute chat, Hadreas pauses frequently to mull over those details, leaning toward his computer camera to get a better look at the album artwork in discussion. He’s a deliberate craftsman who approaches everything associated with Perfume Genius, from the videos and album covers to the tour production (which he’ll be getting to later that day) and music itself, with the methodical, keen sensibilities of a diligent scientist.

Below, read an excerpt of our conversation about the story behind every Perfume Genius album cover, which spawns discussions about paper towels, bodily fluids, choreography, and more.

Learning (2010)

There’s a lot in there. I made the first two record covers myself. The photo was taken by my friend Angel. But all of the surrounding materials and stuff I made. It’s pretty gnarly. There’s a lot of my own hair and spit. It’s very angsty [laughs]. I wanted to make it on my own because I made all the songs on my own, and I made all the videos for the songs on my own, too, almost. Immediately after I would make the song, I would make a video, and this was before I knew it was going to be a record, or that I was going to have an album deal, or that anyone was going to even listen to it beyond me and my mom and my friends [laughs]. So it felt like I should make it, but I also didn’t have any alternative frame of reference.

Eventually, as I went on, I was like, “Oh, I can commission or collaborate on a bigger idea.” But I think even if I would have had that available to me, I probably still would have kept it the same, but then I covered my face with the paper towel that I had put some watercolor on and then put in the microwave. So that’s what it is.

I’m really into paper towels. I don’t know why, but there’s paper towels in the second album, too. I was very into paper towels. I even like the pictures of the album cover that I’m finding on Google that have the plastic sheeting over the vinyl still, and you can see it. I like that. I wish I could have done that in the cover.

I never would have thought of paper towels.

I have a weird, tactile thing with them. I like when they’re wet, and they almost feel like a second skin, like after I use a paper towel. Alan [Wyffels] used to make fun of me for it. I don’t know why I like them, but I don’t regret the album cover.

There’s some inside artwork that I thought of as a little totem. It’s this little pile of all the ingredients from the album cover, like some hair, and I think there’s some blood, paper, towel, and some string. But it looks like something you’d use to dress a wound.

Some of this is weird because, especially in the first

, someone else maybe could analyze and unpack it better than me. I was just going with what I was feeling. So much of the first album’s about retroactively thinking about what had happened in my life that I wasn’t reckoning with in real time. I was just in it. And so I guess even having a gnarly aftermath, a thing that I don’t really like looking at, makes sense to have in the artwork.

Put Your Back N 2 It (2012)

So that brings us to your next album cover, which you also made: Put Your Back N 2 It. I really like the striking bright blue and yellow together. So how’d you use paper towels with this one?

There’s a little bit of paper towel covering both of their faces, and then above them, where “Perfume Genius” is written, it’s all paper towels, too. Then I used watercolor to saturate it, and then I put it in the microwave again to dry, and then painted it over. I don’t know what yearbook I found that photo in. I used to buy old yearbooks at the thrift store and look at them.

Even though the second album was proper, like I went in the studio for the first time, the core of all the songs felt the same as the beginning. It was very isolated, and I would share them with Alan, which was different. Usually when I was writing songs, I wouldn’t play them for anybody, so it still felt very, very close to the beginning of everything.

And I like doing things myself. I don’t know where it all comes from. It was just me on my own, in my own head, in my own world, making things and and then sharing them, so I felt like I still needed to start there with everything, and I still do, but the end result is very different. All these things are coming from me going into this energetic space that’s very alone, so I was really proud of that, too. So I think that’s why I started there, like more DIY-on-my-own, just my vision, and then executing it.

Do you think you’ll ever go back to that? I know it’s all still your vision, but do you think you’ll ever go back to painting, paper towels, and microwaves for another record?

Yeah, I always just do whatever I want [laughs]. I don’t have expectations. I don’t try to think of an idea beforehand. I approach each individual thing, and then just see what’s there, and then whatever feels right, I do it, regardless of any ideas I had beforehand, or if I think it’s gonna be good or bad. I just try to find what organically feels like the direction. So if it’s like, “I’m gonna spit on the ground and take a picture of it,” it’s that, or if it’s a big, elaborate thing that feels right, involving multiple people, then I’ll do that. But I don’t go in with ideas beforehand, especially now, because they’re always wrong. I’m always wrong [laughs].

It’s something you just figure out on the spot?

I think because everything’s better when I’m outside of myself a little bit, when I can zoom out, and if I’m thinking too hard about what I’m doing in the wrong way, it feels hollow. I’m more willing to do things that make me uncomfortable if I just roll with it instead of trying to design it first because if I design it first, I probably design something that is less scary [laughs].

Too Bright (2014)

That brings us to Too Bright, and this is the first photographic cover. I read that this was shot by Luke Gilford. What was the process like of selecting Luke as the photographer?

We had done a photo shoot before and stayed friends. Photo shoots are strange, especially in the beginning. I was very shy. I was very self-conscious. I was also excited, and I had never seen nice pictures of me in that way before, or something so fancy, like being in a magazine and stuff like that. It was very confidence-building, but also strange.

There’s a sense of novelty to it.

But it was the same with the studio. That was the first time I went in the studio and I wrote all the songs, knowing that people were going to listen to it, and I wrote really considering what the impact could potentially be, or reckoning with how my life was changing, and wanted to utilize all the changes. I wanted to utilize what’s available to me now, and also the record was a lot more purposefully provocative and angry sometimes.

I say that, but then when I listened to it back when we had to do the reissue, there’s still a lot of quiet, introspective songs and some softer moments, but it was the first time that I was like, “Oh, I can go to different places, too. I can go to a gnarlier place or more showman-y place, or it was tentative.” But then I was also rebelling against my own shyness around that. I was like, “Well, f*ck you” to myself [laughs]. I’m like, “I’m gonna go for it. I’m gonna do it.” And I wanted it to be glossy and confident, but regardless, it always ends up somehow tender and fragile, like there’s no way around it when I make things, even the cover. To me, there’s a defiance to it. It still has a fragility in a way, but that’s what I wanted. I wanted those to exist at the same time and not cancel each other out because I don’t think they do.

It is, like you said, very glossy, and I think that the defiant element comes through with that metal vest you’re wearing. Is that what you were aiming for there?

I like that it had a femininity to it, but there’s also a strength, and there’s just a lot of competing things that felt close to what I was trying to talk about in the songs: feeling powerful and strong because I no longer feel sensitive or shy — just having those both exist at the same time and not feeling more powerful by assimilating to what traditional power looked like, and even weaponizing all of the things I had been made fun of for or felt alienated because of, and throwing that back at everybody.

Why did you want to use a photo for this one?

I think because it felt like an arrival to me, making that record. It felt like stepping into myself for the first time in a specific way, in a public way. I thought it was f*cking cool, too. I just get excited. A lot of this is really thoughtful, but then sometimes it’s just fun, too. Same with music videos. There’s a lot of deep connection. But then there’s a lot of like, “That’s cool; let’s do that.” Or, it’s fun. It’s fun to be able to do all of these things.

And it’s like you said. You’re like, “I have a bigger tool belt now, so might as well use it.”

Yeah, and I knew Luke would understand all the references and would have his own, but he would also be sensitive and connected to me. And he would be able to present something that allowed for all these things to exist at once, which is what I wanted.

No Shape (2017)

My idea was that, like all the reference photos that I sent the photographers, these painted backdrops and then a picture of me in front of them. Originally, I wanted to show a zoomed-out thing, where you could see the backdrop. You could see the thing that it was hanging on, so that it had this feeling of fantasy and painting and beauty. But then you could see that it was fake, that it was just a backdrop. Very clearly, I’ve just stood in front of a painting of something beautiful. But I really liked this one where my pants are ripped and I’m kind of crouched and looking at it, and it’s not zoomed out. But to me, it still has that same quality because there is a disconnect between me and the landscape still.

It does have that mystical, fantasy land quality to it.

I wanted it to have a dark labyrinth, children’s fantasy thing, where things are beautiful but also strangely creepier than they should be for the age bracket [laughs]. It’s a big influence on me.

Inez and Vinoodh, who took that picture, I did a photo shoot with them, and they were by far the most beautiful pictures I had ever been involved in, and the whole shoot was so beautiful and very major. I had never been in a major fashion photo shoot before where there’s a movement director on a megaphone giving you direction. It was a long shot asking them to do it because they have shot some album covers that I love, and they’re just major as hell.

They’re very well-known photographers.

Yeah, they’re incredible and really, really nice people. We share a birthday. I share a birthday with Inez, and Mel Ottenberg, who styled it, is also an icon. The whole thing was a dream, and it turned out amazing. And then I had the idea for the text on top of it to almost look gloopy, like red nail polish.

The red text on top of it really pops. I think it adds to the painterly aspect of it, too, with the curvature and the loopiness of it.

I like that it looks raised. It reminds me of the first two records because there’s a lot of texture, like things raised on top of the image, and I like that. Man, I love those photos. I’m probably just gonna keep saying that because, like when I make a playlist, every time a song comes on, I’m like, “I love this song,” and Alan makes fun of me, like, “You picked all of these! You love these songs!” [laughs]

Set My Heart On Fire Immediately (2020)

What was the process here? Why black and white? Why shirtless? Why that camera angle?

We shot a ton of photos. I had an idea of the aesthetic, but I didn’t have an idea of what the final cover would be. But Camille [Vivier], who did the pictures, I had been a fan of hers for a while, and I wanted it to feel alien but still warm. I didn’t want it to signify a time period, but I wanted it to have a nostalgia to it. You couldn’t really place any of these things. Same with my expression: I didn’t want you to be able to place anything, but then you can still feel references. You can still feel energy and a familiarity at the same time.

There’s so many pictures I could have chosen. I always pick something that has a mix of competing elements at once. In a way that’s very satisfying. That feels like the internal coming out because I make the songs, because I don’t know how to articulate something that feels really complicated or confusing, but then making a song or some photo where all those things exist at the same time no longer feels confusing to me. It feels satisfying.

I believe this is your first time working with Andrew J.S. for the art direction, who has become a regular collaborator of yours. How did you seek out Andrew, and why did you want to work with him?

I did a dance piece with choreographer Kate Wallich, who was insanely influential to me, and Andrew made all of the surrounding artwork for that, and that’s how we met. We became really close, and I really liked everything that he did. I think it’s just important, when I work on things, that I’m a huge fan of them but then also have a connection, a personal one, and they’re able to understand if I like something [and] why I like it, not just that I do, like they understand what I’m responding to specifically, not just that I like it. So in the same way, when he would give suggestions or respond to something, I could see his point of view. Now, I just want to do everything with him because I understand the quality that he’s going to bring to things. But then there’s also the opportunity to be completely surprised by him, too. He will suggest things that I wasn’t thinking about at all, but it’s still in line with the core vision.

Ugly Season (2022)

Speaking of choreography and dance, that brings us to Ugly Season, which has a ballet attachment to it. You’re back with a painting. What’s the story behind this one?

Nicasio [Torres], the painter, I had been friends with him on Instagram and seen all of his work. There was the recording process, and how we recorded it felt like choreography. There was a lot of improvisation. And at home, even with my demos, I was going to wild places and thinking about things, and then the experience of doing the dance really sent me into a midlife crisis. Essentially, I made a whole other record about it; the one before it was essentially about all the stuff that was dug up by doing this.

But a picture didn’t feel right, or just like a picture of me in some way, just because there’s so many people involved in the dance and in the recording, which is always the case, but it felt like a utopian thing. Also, I thought the music was very arty and stuffy in a way that was fun and exciting to me. That’s what the dance felt like to me.

There’s elements of that, but then there’s also a little bit of campiness and silliness there. It was a mix of high and low, and real and fantasy, and I guess that’s a common throughline: I like things that are multiples and that are off. I like when things are everything, and I like that it’s a picture of me, but he painted over it. It still feels like me, but it’s transformed or like an alternate timeline, or like an embodiment of something that I can’t do right now.

Glory (2025)

[Photographer] Cody [Critcheloe], I just have such a kinship with him. I find it really hard to collaborate from the beginning of things, like I have a bunch of ideas and then ask someone to help me organize them or finish them or add new ones or to finalize them. But starting from nothing with someone else to make anything is really hard for me. I think because I can be kind of circular in the way that I think and talk. I can have a burst of confidence and then be withdrawn, and I have a hard time with other people, kind of letting it flow, because it’s not as easy. I think that’s why I do everything alone. It’s because I feel a lot more flow.

But with Cody, there’s a flow. I feel like I could say anything. It doesn’t matter if it relates to the thing before; he will understand, and we’ll be excited. Cody is not bitter. He approaches everything like, “What is the most beautiful thing? What could make us feel the most excited and happy?” And I feel like I approach things like that, too. I want to be excited, and Cody has an innocence and a childlike quality to him, but it’s also disgusting and vulgar and brilliant.

We just really get along, and I fully trust him, especially because the ideas for this album cover and for the videos, a lot of the things that I sent him, and a lot of things we talked about were not aesthetic, they were energetic. I sent him a whole long list of film scenes, but I didn’t want them to look like these film scenes. I wanted it to feel like the energy between the characters or what was going on.

What were some of those film scenes?

I think there was some The Piano Teacher in there. I think there was a scene from Julien Donkey-Boy by Harmony Korine. A lot of the scenes were seemingly over the top, but still very disturbing and emotionally intense, like The Piano Teacher, depending on when you watch it, you could be horrified, or you could be laughing or guffawing at how insane it is. You know what I mean? And I like that.

There’s another scene in a Polish movie that I think is called Humanity, where a man is consoling his friend who just confessed to killing — this is kind of gnarly — he just confessed to killing a little girl, and he was, like, openly weeping, and it was really disturbing what this guy had done. And then his friend comes into the room and starts consoling him, and then they start making out, which feels completely bizarre [laughs]. You don’t know how to feel. There’s tenderness, but then it’s also really revolting. There’s something really human about it. I wanted the album cover and the videos to have that energy.