Ingénue

Ingénue is the second solo album by Canadian singer k.d. lang, released in 1992. It is Lang's most successful album on the pop charts, both in her native Canada and internationally, and has more of a cabaret flavor than her earlier more country-influenced work. According to Ben Mink, her producer and collaborator, German artist Marlene Dietrich was a "huge vocal influence" for lang at that time. This admiration extended to the visual realm: the cover art for Ingénue is considered a direct homage to the cover of The Essential Marlene Dietrich. Both share a sepia color palette and the use of a similar thin-lined font. The primary pose of lang on the cover, gazing downward, also directly echoes Dietrich's pose on her album. Mink even characterized the sound of Ingénue as a "post-nuclear cabaret," a description that resonates with the aesthetic associated with Dietrich's repertoire.