Morrissey's 1990 solo album "Bona Drag" focuses heavily on his image as an artist, in contrast to his previous work with The Smiths where he was part of a band. The album's title means "nice outfit" implying a focus on appearance. Both the front and back album covers feature blurred, grayscale photos of Morrissey alone, emphasizing his individuality now and simplified musical style. Song lyrics and photos from the album booklet also reference Morrissey's working class roots in Lancashire, showing how his solo music relates more to his personal life and past.

1. Bona Drag

2. The album title ‘Bona
Drag’ means ‘nice outfit’
or ‘good clothes’ which
implies the artist focuses
on image , which is quite
the opposite of typical
singer/ songwriters. This
is also shown by his
styled hair and leather
jacket.
This album was released
in 1990 when he
pursued a solo career
after being in the band
The Smiths, which could
be why he is heavily
image based as he
wants to be known for
his own music and for
himself, not as part of a
band .
The front cover is
simply an image of
Morrissey himself,
but it is slightly out
of focus and the
colour seems to be
slightly grey and dull
as his skin and lips
look pale.
His name and title are written in an Old English font, Showing he has an old
style to his music. His name is bigger than the title and also above it, showing
that he is a very important aspect of the album.

3. On the inside of the digipack there’s a black and white image of Morrissey standing against a brick wall
on a street. We can connote that by the broken fence, barbed wire, and piles of discarded rubbish, this is
possibly a poor area of the UK, possibly a part of Lancashire where Morrissey was born. This connotes
that his music on this album is related to his life and his past, going ‘back to his roots.’ The fact it’s in
black and white shows the music is simple and again possibly quite old fashioned. He is standing on his
own and there are no other people to be seen, which could connote that Morrissey likes being secluded
and being by himself now after the years of being in a band, which is similar to other singer/songwriters
as they seem to like being solo and alone.

4. The back cover is a
close-up of Morrissey
in black and white.
He’s in a casual,
comfortable pose
and wearing a casual
denim jacket and
bracelet. This again
connotes simplicity
yet it’s also very
focussed on image
again. The image is
also quite blurred
like the front cover
and it takes up most
of the back whereas
the songs
themselves are
pushed to the side
and are written in
very small font, again
showing the
importance of the
artist himself.
There are 20 tracks
on this album,
tracks 15 – 20 are
bonus tracks as
they weren’t
previously released
but some of the
others were
released earlier as
singles before
Morrissey decided
he wanted to make
an album with
them.