A Streaming Service in Iran is Removing Pictures of Female From Digital Covers

Being an Islamic
Republic, they do things pretty conservatively in Iran. For instance,
if a woman is out in public, she is required to wear a hajib to cover
her head and neck. The strict rules on a woman’s appearance is
obviously also applied to advertisements and media. Want to listen to
Western pop music? The government is surprisingly tolerant about it.
However, they go to great lengths to ensure that the public’s minds
aren’t, like, poisoned or whatever by women looking like, you know,
women. Case in point: Melovaz, a music streaming service in Iran,
photoshops women out of digital album covers. Well, except for the
women who vanished from the Iranian version of their album covers, of
course. So without further ado, let’s take a look-see at these
covers, shall we?

1.Dua Lipa –
Dua Lipa

In the
original: you see the attractive British vocalist Dua Lipa.
Has she just finished washing her hair? It’s possible!

In the new and
definitely not improved version: the folks at Melovaz got a
bit lazy by simply blurring the photo while still making it super
obvious what the picture depicts.

2.Ariana Grande –
Imagine

In the
original: This one is sort of self-explanatory…or is it?
You’ve got a pair of juicy lips that are about to snack on some
Chinese characters.

In the new and
definitely not improved version: A dark, cloudy sky.

3.Kygo and
Whitney Houston – Higher Love

In the
original:You’ve got the late, great Whitney Houston
with her shiny smile on the left, a pensive (thoughtful? chill?) Kygo
on the right.

In the new and
definitely not improved version:Kygo is still there,
but Houston is with us no more. She has gone to join the angel choir
in the sky. The asymmetry is a bit unnerving, isn’t it?

4.Beyoncé –
Homecoming

In the
original:Check out Beyoncé’s fashionable hat!

In the new and
definitely not improved version:Inspired by the
Beatle’s White Album? We can only assume.

5.Lizzo feat.
Dababy – Truth Hurts

In the
original:Lizzo is getting to walk down the aisle,
presumably on a nice spring afternoon.

In the new and
definitely not improved version:Lizzo is getting
ready to walk down the aisle, presumably on a heavy California smog
day.

6.Lady Gaga – A
Star is Born

In the
original:Dude attempting to play the guitar while an
admiring/slightly crazy woman invades his personal bubble.

In the new and
definitely not improved version: Dude attempting to play the
guitar while an admiring/slightly crazy smoke cloud invades his
personal bubble. To be fair, this one isn’t any less logical.

7.Lana Del Ray –
Nfr!

In the
original:Hey, they’re on a boat!

In the new and
definitely not improved version:The girl is gone,
leaving the guy to awkwardly stand there by himself. Oh, and somebody
apparently burned the…um…Great Satan flag.

8. Taylor Swift –
Lover

In the
original:Taylor Swift taking comfort in the vanilla
sky. Nothing at all weird about that.

In the new and
definitely not improved version:Taylor Swift got
airbrushed out of the photo for having the audacity to be a woman! We
totally can’t get it.

9.Mxmtoon – The
Masquerade

In the
original:Chick in a white dress standing in front of
a wall full of drawings of cartoony faces.

In the new and
definitely not improved version:To their credit, they
didn’t transform Mxmtoon into a misty blob. On the other hand, the
replacement faces that they chose leave a lot to be desired. A
partially deformed face and twins in the second row? Then you look at
the fourth row and discover that the twins are actually triplets!

10.Beyoncé –
Spirit

In the
original:Queen Bey is posing with a lioness.

In the new and
definitely not improved version:The female human is
gone, but oops! they forgot about the female lion. So the joke’s on
them!

11.Pnb Rock,
Nicki Minaj, Murda Beatz – Fendi

In the original:
We see a drawing of the trio. If this were art class I’d give
the illustrator a solid B- for their efforts.

In the new and
definitely not improved version: No more
Nicki Minaj and her cartoon boobies. 🙁 Just a couple of dudes and
the empty buffer space in between.

12.Billie Eilish
– When I Was Older

In the
original:A girl is splashing through water on a
beach. Some good old fashion summer fun!

In the new and definitely not improved version:The same girl doesn’t notice the sudden 10-foot drop and plunges into the sea.