In this episode, we speak with Brenda Bergen, the art director behind Talk on Corners, about her creative journey and the story of shaping one of The Corrs’ most iconic visual eras.
Brenda shares the path that led from graduate school in the Midwest to New York’s entertainment industry, working with Vibe magazine, VH1, and MTV, before joining Atlantic Records as an art director.
She explains the role of art direction in music, which includes building the band’s “brand”, to capturing the essence of an album through imagery, design, and visual storytelling.
We hear the story behind the artwork for Talk on Corners: scouting Dublin locations, assembling a creative team, and collaborating with photographers Damien and Layla of Blinkk, whose layered, dreamlike imagery helped define the album’s look. Brenda discusses working with the band and management to shape the final cover, how different versions evolved and the balancing act between creative vision and commercial direction. It’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how Talk on Corners’s visual identity was created.
To view the early concepts for the cover artwork click HERE
Brenda was kind enough to look through her journals from 1997 and found the dates for the photo shoot for the album cover shot in Ireland between May 29th - June 3rd, 1997.
To see polaroids of Andrea taken during the photoshoot please follow the link HERE
The later PR Photoshoot in L.A. was shot on July 24th 1997 and yet more shots were taken on Sept 14th 1997.
For a more visual understanding of how Brenda adapted the fonts 'Osprey' and 'Entropy' to create the Talk on Corners era logo, click HERE
At 00:24:50 you can hear a clip of the demo of the song 'When He's Not Around'.
At 00:41:37 you can hear a clip of the early mix for the song 'Intimacy'.
Brenda mentioned a photo of her with the band which can be seen HERE
Brenda now runs Wink Design.
More examples of the work from the wonderful photographers Damien and Leila, who shot the cover of the album, can be seen on their website: damienleiladeblinkk.com
Special thanks to Shiela Oliveros for laying out the font progression image shared with this episode. Find her incredible work on Instagram via @shielaoliveros / @thehardcorrfans
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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