While Santigold’s long-awaited sophomore album Master of My Make-Believe isn’t due out until May 1st, thanks to the T Magazine blog, we’re already getting a look at the LP’s impressive cover art. “Most of the songs are about being in control of your world,” she recently told Pitchfork. “That was a really important message for me as an artist in this process, but also in the world right now. We’re in a weird place. There are so many riots and rebellions going on. It seems like a truth is coming out.”
To create the impactful cover image photographer Jason Schmidt shot Santi three different ways; we see her as a pair of Bond girl-inspired attendants wearing custom Alexander Wang bodysuits, an 18th-century army officer in a portrait by New York-based painter Kehinde Wiley (which is, rather shockingly, his first featuring a woman), and a mafia Don who would give Corleone a run for his money. Click through get a better look at the finished product, as well as a behind-the-scenes video of Schmidt’s process.