Background

I felt like creating a vinyl cover for a song I enjoyed. The song is called "Merry Bad End" by Mafumafu. It is about a person being a victim of bullying, rumors, and cyberbullying.

Sketches

I tried to reference the music video and also hint at the meaning of the song. 
Sketch 1: the character in the original music video is in a coffin with the text looking like rose thorns
Sketch 2: the character is lying down on the ground and sees crows watching her
​Sketch 3: a wreath that looks like a noose, below the text is a skull

I ended up choosing sketch 1 because I liked that it hints at the outcome of what happened to the character. Sketch 3 felt too similar from a shot in the original music video, so i wanted to avoid it.

Type Variations

The typography was difficult for me to nail. I tried to reference heavy metal logos, but it didn't turn out great. I came up with 3 options:
1. The type being visible in the negative space of vines
2. Inspired by illuminated manuscript, vines wrap around the letters
3. tree roots form the letters

Final + Mockup

I ended choosing the third one because I felt it would fit the dark tone of the song. I chose the colors based on the original music video.