If The 2016 Candidates Dropped Some Beats, Here's What Their Albums Would Be

Oontz oontz oontz.

While Mike Huckabee and Martin O'Malley are known to break into song on the campaign trail, the rest of the 2016 presidential candidates mostly stick to singing the national anthem.

But what if they decided to let loose and drop some beats? What would their albums look like?

Matthew Newell, 42, designed album covers for nine of the presidential contenders.

"The inspiration really comes down to 'politicians as brands,'" Newell, who lives in Bloomington, Illinois, told The Huffington Post. "And music is such an easy way to frame brands."

Below are Newell's creations, accompanied by some explanations of what inspired him.

Donald Trump
Matthew Newell
Ben Carson
Matthew Newell
"Ben Carson as a '50s-era wacky science recording designed itself, particularly when I found that image of him. (Image not altered by the way!!!)"
Bernie Sanders
Matthew Newell
"As much as Bernie Sanders eschews people labeling him, he has been quite comfortable being the indie guy with idealist goals. So framing him as indie rock (album cover was designed to mimic a famous Sleater-Kinney cover) made perfect sense."

(Note that Sanders actually has recorded an album, although he was covering classic folk songs.)
Marco Rubio
Matthew Newell
Jeb Bush
Matthew Newell
"One of my favorites is Jeb Bush as the contemplative folk singer. He's singing his truth from his heart, but he still has the realities of the record business (or politics) to deal with."
Hillary Clinton
Matthew Newell
"Hillary as a play on Jay Z and Kanye's 'Watch the Throne' made a ridiculous amount of sense given her focus on getting and maintaining her political stature and power, come what may."
Bobby Jindal
Matthew Newell
"Overall, I didn't want to tap into their obvious attributes, but really get into their motivation or projections. Jindal or Trump could have been easy takedown covers, but Jindal as an all-American country and Western singer is both accurate and not cruel."
Ted Cruz
Matthew Newell
Carly Fiorina
Matthew Newell
"Carly as the international pop singer a la Pink! has gotten a big response: Like Lady Gaga, I'm going to be big and define myself no matter what anyone says!"

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