An Iranian music site has become the target of public scrutiny for its censorship of female artists, completely erasing them from album covers in many cases.
Throughout the history of music, we’ve seen countless artists fight with the censors about what is and isn’t allowed on the front of their records.
In fact, we’ve taken a look back at some of the more controversial record covers in the past, making special note of how some record covers are treated in places like Saudi Arabia.
A country known for forcing women to cover up their bodies and faces in public, it turns out this extends to artwork and advertising as well, with records by the likes of Christina Aguilera, Kylie Minogue, and more being crudely edited to remove any “offensive” images of females.
Over the last few weeks though, music fans have pointed their attention to the similarly censorship-happy country of Iran, with the website Melovaz being called out for its treatment of female artists.
Check out some examples of the censored covers:
https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1178357320100786176
https://twitter.com/IGGYAZALEA/status/1178368041295462401
A music piracy website at its core, the site in question was called out late last month when Twitter users began to note the hilariously-poor Photoshop skills employed by censors in Iran.
In fact, while records like Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! simply have the artist edited from the cover, others, including records by Lizzo, Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift (who are the only figures on the cover), have practically been left blank, turning the covers into a confusing mess.
Interestingly, some album covers have since been removed after they were brought to light, with Lady Gaga’s Joanna and the A Star Is Born soundtrack being taken offline at the current time.
Of course, some musicians have made light of the censorship being utilised by the Iranian site, with the like of Iggy Azalea joking that “the jokes on them cause I put a vagina reference in every song so who really won.”
Whatever your view on censorship is, you have to admit that some of the Photoshop jobs employed on these covers are, at best, laughable.
Check out ‘The Greatest’ by Lana Del Rey:
