John Mayer - Go ahead and judge by the cover

First things first: I'm a hypocrite. I'm a turncoat. I'm a traitor. There have been many years (possibly including this one) where the term fanboy could easily be applied to my affinity for John Mayer. Cases in point:

• I've seen the man in concert around 25 times.
• I'll be seeing his trio band this coming New Years Eve and I'll be paying over $150 to do so. See.
• The man has 10% of my top 100 played songs and even a higher percentage of all my 5-star songs.

With all that said, let's cut to the chase and discuss Mayer's upcoming album cover for Battle Studies. What the hell, John.

If this doesn't strike you as odd, let's look at it another way.

• On the left, a guitar virtuoso just out of school (maybe still in school) and not quite sure what to do about this whole album cover thing.
• On the right ... I mean, the over/under on the photo shoot to come up with the above is what - 9.5 hours. 15-20 costume changes, 8 stylists on John's hair.
• On the left, "So, uh, do I look AT the camera ... what do I do with my hands? Oh. Oh that was it? You just took the shot just now. Oh. Cool."
• On the right, "I'm thinking I make it look like I just pulled off this hoodie ... or no, like I'm about to put on the hoodie ... no, both at the same time! Yeah, and I'm gonna look off in the distance as though I just cured cancer with a guitar riff while tweeting a novel 140 chars at a time that leads to world peace."
• On the left, a dude that can really play the guitar.
• On the right ... I can't think of anything better than d-bag.

Ever wonder how someone makes the progression from normal dude to ridiculously self important musician? Just look to the album covers.



It's like the evolution of the d-bag.



The poses even line up like he's rising to the occasion.



As Ando said, it might be time to take a step back, John.

PS See ya on New Years Eve. I'll be the one gazing at you from the general admission section wearing a hoodie.