Visual album: History and Key Facts

A visual album is a type of concept album in which the album is accompanied by a feature-length film or individual music videos for every song. Usually, the film, or "visuals", emphasize the album's overall theme and serve as the "visual vehicle" that enhances the experience.

Though music films and videos accompanying albums are not new in popular culture, the term achieved prominence in modern usage after the release of American singer-songwriter Beyoncé's 2013 self-titled album. Prior to Beyoncé, she had also released music videos for thirteen tracks from her second studio album B'Day (2006); all videos were included in B'Day Anthology Video Album (2007). Jonna Lee's project iamamiwhoami is said to have been promoting the "audio-visual album" format since 2009, and the band Animal Collective had similarly earlier described their experimental 2010 album ODDSAC as a "visual record".

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