The iconic artwork for The Beatles‘ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album cover has been updated for the 21st century, with a variety of modern musicians, celebrities and pop culture figures included on the newly designed piece.
The artwork was designed by German artist TrippieSteff as part of a remake of several classic album covers, including Blondie’s ‘Parallel Lines’ and Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, by a team of graphic designers and artists.
The new artwork, which features Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Drake and Lil Nas X in place of the original Fab Four at the centre, depicts a range of contemporary figures including Elon Musk, Kylie Jenner, Bernie Sanders and BoJack Horseman. See the new design below.
“The original cover was a blend of high and low cultural figures that depicted the zeitgeist mindset of the late 60s,” TrippieSteff explained. “It was also a group of influential figures that were ‘heroes’ to The Beatles. With a desire to keep the same theme, I chose to feature the most iconic and influential figures of the past decade.
“These are people that have been controversial figures in music, politics, television, human rights and more. By putting them together in the same image, I wanted to show that they are all equally important.” See the full list of names featured below.
1. Kanye West
2. Drake
3. Taylor Swift
4. Lil Nas X
5. Greta Thunberg
6. Kylie Jenner
7. Ghost from Chihiro
8. Jamie Oliver
9. Slavoj Zizek
10. Björk
11. Jannis Varoufakis
12. Marina Abramovic
13. Avicii
14. Miley Cyrus
15. AOC
16. Kendrick Lamar
17. Donna Haraway
18 XXXTentacion
19. Lil Peep
20. Ru Paul
21. Judith Butler
22. Millie Bobby Brown
23. Martha Nussbaum
24. Bernie Sanders
25. M.I.A.
26. Bell Hooks
27. Ai Weiwei
28. Elon Musk
29. Margaret Atwood
30. Bojack Horseman
31. Beyonce Knowles
32. Barack Obama
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Paul McCartney recent paid tribute to Robert Freeman, the photographer behind some of The Beatles’ most famous album covers, who died aged 82 on November 8.
His work included the photos featured on the covers of classic LPs like the band’s second album ‘With The Beatles’, ‘Beatles For Sale’, ‘Help!’ and ‘Rubber Soul’.
“He was one of our favourite photographers during the Beatles years who came up with some of our most iconic album covers,” McCartney said. “Besides being a great professional he was imaginative and a true original thinker.”