Virgil Abloh artwork for Pop Smoke's album to be changed after social media backlash
Pop Smoke’s record label announced that they will be making a change to the Virgil Abloh-designed cover art for the rapper’s debut album ‘Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon’ after facing widespread backlash online.
CEO of Victor Victor Worldwide, Steven Victor, took to Twitter, stating: “Pop would listen to his fans,” in response to a flurry of criticism aimed at the Louis Vuitton designer pointing out a variety of stylistic issues such as the seemingly basic graphic design skills, to using the first picture provided by Google Images when searching the artist’s name.
The album, set to release Friday 3 July, comes after the 20-year-old was killed in a home invasion shooting back in February, with it being the rapper’s wish to have Virgil lead the creative side of his debut record launch.
Abloh posted the artwork to his Instagram account, writing: “This album cover was one of like 5 things we talked about. he mentioned his story felt like the metaphor of a rose & thorns growing from the concrete of his hood in Canarsie, Brooklyn”. He has since deleted the post and is yet to respond to the criticism.
Steven Victor also took to Instagram to elaborate on his tweets announcing the artwork changes, stating: “As pop’s label & as his friends/family, it is our obligation to bring his vision to life he wanted Virgil to lead creative, we fulfilled his wishes however, unfortunately, he’s not here to give his final approval, his fans are.”
“You know why you love pop your voices are loud and clear he loved his fans and listened to his fans pop and us at victor victor h e a r d you l o u d and clear – changes will be made see you July 3rd 2020.” This post was also removed shortly after.
It’s unclear how much of the cover art will be changed, however with the album’s launch date fast approaching, fans will not have to wait for much longer to see the final product.
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