Bad Bunny, Perfume Genius album covers among nods for 2026 Grammy Awards

When it came time to decide the cover image for Wet Leg’s second album, the British indie rock band packed bags with items that might provide inspiration – velvet worms sewn by guitarist Hester Chambers, an oversized head of hair from a music video shoot, lizard-like gloves – and headed to an Airbnb. “I wanted it to be something that was both super girlie and feminine, but then at the same time, just totally repulsive,” says lead singer Rhian Teasdale, who art-directed the Moisturizer cover with Iris Luz and Lava La Rue. “That juxtaposition, I don’t know, it just creates something that’s evocative.” The final image, inspired by a photo from that weekend, earned Teasdale, Luz and La Rue a Grammy nomination for best album cover – a category that will be awarded this year for the first time in over 50 years. The other evocative covers nominated are for Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos; Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia; Perfume Genius’ Glory; and Djo’s The Crux. The award goes to the project’s art directors. This year, the recording artists are included as nominees in all cases except for Glory. In recent years, covers had been assessed as part of the best recording package category, which considers all physical materials and images. The package for Brat, with its pop-culture-infiltrating green, earned Charli XCX, Brent David Freaney and Imogene Strauss a Grammy last year. Harvey Mason Jnr, CEO of the Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys, said the split is an effort to recognise the impact of cover art in the digital age. It also aligns with the academy’s goal to recognise more of the artists that shape music, he said. For the creative teams, the revived award amplifies what goes into building the visual worlds of music. “When a cover in a campaign hits right, it’s part of the language and the fabric of what makes a great record a great record,” says photographer Neil Krug, nominated for The Crux. The defining portrait of Chromakopia – a monochrome close-up of Tyler, face concealed by a mask – was the last shot captured. Luis “Panch” Perez, the director of photography, says the expression in Tyler’s eyes stood out. Getting there, he says, required tapping into a shared “unspoken language”, built by pulling references for the project’s surrealist, old Hollywood aesthetic – and by years of collaboration. “Tyler knows exactly how to move his body, he’s so well in control of that. I just have to be ready for whatever he’s going to do in front of the lens,” Perez says. Perfume Genius worked with art directors Cody Critcheloe and Andrew JS on the cover for Glory. He lies splayed on a patchwork carpet inside a dark, homey interior, his stiletto boots extending towards a bright window. Colourful electrical cords snake across the floor like microphone cords on stage. He says the image reflects the push and pull he found himself exploring while writing the album: the comfort and avoidance of an introverted, private life versus the confidence required of his “maximal” public-facing persona: “How do I have each of those things season my life?” The goal was not to capture a specific scene or choreography. “It was mostly about an energy,” says Critcheloe, who photographed the cover. “People have said to both of us that they can’t figure out what the aesthetic of the album cover is,” he adds. “That’s the best thing to hear.” The creature-like version of Teasdale that appears on Wet Leg’s Moisturizer cover – squatting, hands outstretched, eerie grin trained towards the camera – is also meant to evoke friction. “The album explores themes of love and longing. But also, there are a couple moments on the album that are so, you know, just feral,” she says. The pivotal setting of The Crux – the third album by Djo, the musical moniker for actor Joe Keery – was a fictional hotel on the Brooklyn-inspired section of the Paramount Studios backlot. Krug, Djo and collaborator Jake Hirshland looked at dense scenes, like Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film Rear Window – also shot on a Paramount Studios lot – for inspiration. They considered locations in (the real) New York and Atlanta, where the artist was filming Stranger Things, before locking the lot in. Next came casting the characters that made up the scene. “Anything that we could come up with, we were just like throwing it at the canvas,” Krug says. A couple kiss in a window. A man dressed as a robber crawls across the road. Djo is seen only from the back, dangling from a window in a white suit. Art director William Wesley II oversaw production details, including designing the neon sign that bears the album’s name – an homage to iconic hotels like the Chateau Marmont. “Everything is intentional,” he says. “It’s really a sum of its parts and it’s the sum of many people’s contributions.” A pair of white plastic chairs are the only props on the cover of Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which translates to “I should have taken more photos.” Art-directed by Bad Bunny himself, the image by Puerto Rican photographer Eric Rojas also features plantain trees – a symbol of the island, but also of the Caribbean and Latin America. There is a nostalgia to the simple combination – conjuring a day at the beach, or a backyard gathering – that also mirrors the album’s diasporic, history-making storytelling. Debí Tirar Más Fotos and Chromakopia are also nominated for album of the year. Official Grammy rules say albums do not need to exist physically to be considered in this category – a key point in differentiating the award from its packaged counterpart. This year’s nominees, however, are all available on vinyl or CD. Krug, who has worked on covers for Lana Del Rey and Tame Impala, says the vinyl presentation is often the first point discussed. “When you have the physical vinyl in your home or your apartment, that stuff lives with you. It’s out in your space, whether you’re having a good day or a bad day, you’re getting married or breaking up with whomever,” Krug says. “There’s this rediscovery of the art form.” Voters must consider the cover’s creativity and design, alongside the illustration, photography or graphic elements. Trophies go to the winning art directors, and certificates to designers, illustrators or photographers, if applicable. In a sign of the growing pains of a new category, this year’s list of nominees saw edits ahead of the voting window’s opening – a process not uncommon in other categories with multiple nominees. Djo, Krug, Hirshland and Taylor Vandergrift were added alongside Wesley for The Crux; Perez and photographer Shaun Llewellyn were removed for Chromakopia, replaced by just Tyler. Luz and La Rue joined Teasdale for Moisturizer, while several others – including the rest of the band – were removed. “I was super surprised and really excited because I wasn’t aware that it was a category,” Critcheloe says of his nomination. “I love the idea of making things that are strange and subversive and irreverent, and having an audience that is bigger than it’s supposed to be.”

Bad Bunny, Perfume Genius album covers among nods for 2026 Grammy Awards

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Wet Leg, Djo and Tyler, the Creator’s latest albums also nominated for best album cover, to be awarded for the first time in over 50 years

Wet Leg, Djo and Tyler, the Creator’s latest albums also nominated for best album cover, to be awarded for the first time in over 50 years