As Beyoncé is an established R&B artist, this front cover promotes her presence rather than promoting her as an artist. She appears not to be wearing any clothes, which connotes a sense of vulnerability yet also an element of natural beauty. As It is well known that Beyoncé is a beautiful woman, this idea of being stripped and vunerable portrays a sense of soul and intensity, which could link up to her style of music, Rhythmn and Blues.
Her hair appears to be either wet (as the background is a beach and sea) and scrapped back off her face down her back. This connotes fresh and clean- which reinforces the common conception of her being soulful and clean because of the neatness of the image. Also by having the hair out of the way of her body, allows it to not invade or get in the way of her body.
Beyoncé’s arms are wrapped around her, portraying the idea of security and also a sense of sexuality as bare arms and shoulders are commonly percieved as a sexy, feminine trait, which therefore appeals to a wider audience. The only thing she has on her is a braclet, which clearly shows a cross hanging from her wrist, which reinforces the idea of her spirituality, which links with the rest of the image. It also portrays femininty, which is essential to establish a female artist.
Beyoncé’s facial expression is quite natural and blank, as she is looking straight towards the camera, onto the audience, directly. Again, this reinforces the idea of simplicity and freshness. It allows the audience to engage directly with Beyoncé perhaps and it also portays her to be quite serious, which then reflects onto her music- it shows her passion and determination with her music.
Beyoncé is placed right in the middle of the image and it is a medium/close up shot, which shows the top half of Beyoncé, so she dominates the cover, making her the main attraction, which would appeal to her fans and other audiences because she is instantly recognisable. The image is black and white, which perhaps reinforces Beyoncé’s maturity, as it is her third album yet it would also portray, again, her soulful presence.
The title of the album and the name of the artist are along the bottom of the album. The word “Beyoncé” is quite large, making it noticable on the left bottom corner of the album and also the “I am…” is on the right bottom corner of the album, but is smaller than the name of the artist. The font is bold and quite striking. It is siver, which perhaps allows it to merge slightly with the background, but it also shows a sense of maturity and elegance, as it doesn’t over power the cover.
The target audience is clear for this artist. Because the cover is quite mature and monotone, rather than sticking out and overpowering, It portrays a sense of development with the target demographic from 8-50 years of age of both gendres. I believe this because the image is very pure and dignified, attracting an older demographic, but also innocent and beautiful, which attracts a younger demographic. The pure beauty of Beyoncé would immediately attract both male and females.
The purity and the monotone appeals to the Rhythmn and Blues genre of the artist. The simplicity really portrays a sense of soul as it is asthough she looks like she is determined to concentrate on her music.
Rihanna- Rated R...
This is the album cover for Rihanna’s debut album “Rated R”. Rated R is the fourth studio album by the Barbadian R&B singer, released November 20, 2009, on Def Jam Recordings.
This album cover is particularly striking as it seems to promote a raunchy side of Rihanna. Rihanna is a widely popular artist. She appears to be wearing a black leather top (which is not revealing) and leather bands around her wrists and wrapped around her fingers. This perhaps connotes the idea of Rihanna maturing and breaking away from her once “young girl” persona. This also adds to the raunchiness of the album, catching the audiences eyes and attention, as it is quite a dominant image and clothes she is portraying. I think that the black colours of her clothes portray dominance and also seriousness.
Her hair is short and spiking off her face. This perhaps connotes dominance, a new image and also a feminine yet masculine look, which might catch the audience’s eye. Yet the slight piece of hair falling over her hand also reinforces her femininity- allowing her not to be portrayed to be too masculine.
Rihanna’s hand is placed over one eye and one side of her face, which connotes a sense of expression and again dominance. The hand on her face allows the audience to view the rest of the costume, which is essential to the perception of the image.
The image is a close up and she is placed slightly slanted on the image. This differentiates the image and makes it eye-catchy. As the image is a close-up, this allows Rihanna to dominate the space and really be the main focus of the album, attracting audiences.
Rihanna has been styled as having lots of dark make-up on, around her eyes and her mouth. This perhaps excentuates her femininity yet also allows the image to be harsh and makes her stand out and look different. It makes the image quite shocking and startling. This also connects to the black and white colour of the image (as it is in black and white and very shadowy) It also perhaps tells the audience the type of music available on the album. The style of her current music.
The font is quite small on the bottom right of the image. It is bold and the letters are spaced quite widely apart… This makes the image look sheek and also portrays dominance to the audience. The font is white to stand out against the black background. This allows the audience to read it. Rihanna’s name is not on the album cover, however the letter “R” is displayed in the top right corner in the only space not dominated by Rihanna herself. This adds to the dark image of the album and also portrays the idea that she is so well known, Rihanna doesn’t even have to put her name on her album.
I believe the target audience of this artist is 15-30. I believe this album would also be more targeted at girls, although, it Is somewhat sexualised to attract male attention also. The dark, dominant female image is bound to attract female attention also. And it would appeal to the ages of 15-30 more because Rihanna is an established artist and also it is quite a strong cover, portraying perhaps a change in the genre within R&B instead of being soulful, her music is harsh and dominant. This would appeal to 15-30 year olds more, as it would be efficiently understood by this age group and attract them more.
Justin Timberlake-FutureSex/LoveSounds...
This is the album cover for the hugely popular male R&B artist Justin Timberlake. “FutureSex/LoveSounds” is the second studio album by the American pop and R&B singer, released September 12, 2006 on Jive Records.
The style of clothes that Justin is wearing is quite formal yet stylish- with a black/silver suite and tie etc. This portrays a sense of elegance yet style to the artist, which perhaps gives him a good reputation and portrays him as being smart, sheek and attractive, which would draw in audiences. It could also appeal to a wider demographic as he appears as an adult and high class.
He is smashing a disco ball with his foot. He has quite an angry expression on his face and he is using his whole body. This could perhaps indicate a sense of anger, yet it may also be an affective way of drawing in attention and drawing in the audiences. The disco ball may represent the type of music available on the CD, which would promote it.
There is shadowing behind Justin and he is in a white room, which again portrays a sense of style as white portrays fresh, new and innovative. This would be an essential trait to sell an album. Also, the white, allows the audience to concentrate on the more important things and also doesn’t make the image too busy.
Justin is positioned on the right of the image, which again, leaves enough empty space to display the name of the album etc. and makes the image less boring, rather than him being central in the image. The long shot allows the audience to see all of his body. His body language is quite aggressive, yet also quite dominant, which would perhaps appeal to the audience as it shows his strength in his music.
Justin’s costume and confidence could also be reflective on the R&B genre as it allows the audience to connect him with soulful, confident and strong, which would be commonly connected to the genre.
The colours of the image are generally silver/gray/black and a hint of red. These colours really tone down the colourfulness of the image, yet it also adds to the sheek/innovative/classy elements of the image, as it really appeals to an older audience or perhaps a wider demographic.
The font is bold and grey and red. The red really stands out in the image and catches the eye of the audience making the word “Timberlake” really stand out. Red also connotes, strength, sheek and sexy. The font is big and bold which makes a statement and also makes it stand out. The boldness adds to the dominance of the image.
The intense image created enigma to the audience, as the image is quite unusual, it connotes different types of messages, such as determination, anger and energy etc.
The audience can tell that Justin Timberlake is an R&B artist because of the clothes he is wearing and the way he presents himself as being cool, direct and soulful. The sheekness of the image also portrays a sense of the R&B genre because it is common for these types of artists to be fashionable and follow trends etc.
The target demographic of this artist would be 10-40, of all genders, as Justin Timberlake is known by most people and known to cater to all ages and genders because of his type of voice and type of music. This is also shown in his CD image. If you compare this image to his previous image on his previous album “Justified”, you would see a considerable difference in the way Justin composes himself in the image. He looks like an adult and a serious artist etc.
Amy Winehouse- Back to Black...
This is the album cover of the very popular and notorious R&B and soul singer Amy Winehouse. “Back to Black” was Amy’s second studio album released on the 4th of October 2006 on Island Records.
The image is of Amy sitting on a wooden stool central of the image infront of what appears to be a black background which fades from the left to the right into a blackboard. The idea of Amy sitting on a basic wooden school (like ones found in schools perhaps) in front of a chalk board portrays school and perhaps childhood.
Amy is sitting with her legs in front of her, with her hands clasped together, resting between her legs, with slightly shrugged shoulders. This gesture and pose portrays perhaps innocence yet also a sense of attitude, which would link to the idea of school, furthermore linking to the title of the album with the word “back” which perhaps means its past, and “black” which again would perhaps connote bad happenings, dark, distress and a bad place.
Amy is wearing quite quirky clothing, such as a pastel yellow mini dress with a red belt and large curly hair, which quite dominants her image. This portrays Amy as quite an individual character with her dress sense, yet as she shows bare skin, it also portrays her adult, feminine, sexy side, which would attract all genders and perhaps gives her a confident image.
The black background not only helps Amy to stand out but it also connects to the perhaps dark messages of the album cover. It also connects to the genre, as soul and R&B could be described as being moody and dark.
Amy’s facial features are quite blank and she has a sense of attitude in her stance. This portrays her to be perhaps quite mischievous- which would connect to the idea of the setting and feeling of school.
By Amy being centred in the image, allows her to dominate it and be the central focus of the album cover.
The font of on the album is bold and in a retro style and is also the colour white. Amy’s name is slanted slightly near the bottom of the image. The font is quite large and goes across Amy’s legs. The album name is of a smaller size, but the same font. This retro, large font portrays Amy’s individual style and genre of music. It also stands out and is eye catching, making the album noticeable to audiences and customers.
The target audience of this album would perhaps be people between the ages of 16-40 of both genres but mainly of the female as the style and attitude of Amy’s music and lyrics and also the messages portrayed on her album cover would attract the female gender more as she perhaps connotes realism and attracts women as they can connect with it more. Amy’s album would be attracted to more of the ages between 16-40 as it would be efficiently understood by this age group and attract them more.
Mariah Carey- The Emancipation of Mimi...
This is the album cover of the very popular and experianced R&B artist Mariah Carey's tenth studio album "The Emancipation of Mimi", It was released by Island Records on April 4, 2005.
Mariah is standing central of the image, standing with her legs apart, her head slightly tilted up and her right arm up over her shoulder/back. This stand is extremely appealing and attracts attention to the image. It also portrays confidence, femininity and sexiness- which portrays Mariah’s dominant female character. It also links with the genre as R&B is normally associated with smooth, soulful, sexy music- which is essentially what Mariah is portraying on her album cover.
Mariah is wearing a gold chiffon dress, which wraps around her body and exposes one of her legs, yet it wraps around the other. This portrays her as being sexy and feminine as it exposes her body. The colour gold is dominant in the image. The colour gold connotes being special, rare, exotic and beautiful. Mariah’s body also has a shimmer of gold portraying her as being classy, expensive and beautiful.
Mariah’s golden blonde hair appears to be blown by wind. This creates beauty and attractiveness to the image. Also, hair is a main element of portraying femininity.
Mariah’s facial expression is quite confident as her head is tilted up slightly, so it is as though she is looking down- it appears she is luring in the target demographic. Her confidence also perhaps mirrors her genre of music, as R&B reflects confidence etc.
The black background allows Mariah to stand out from the background- again, making her noticeable to customers. It also adds a sense of mystery as the colour black is ambiguous and is questionable to the viewer.
The font of the image mirrors the whole theme of the image. It is quite pretty and a bold font, also in a while/gold colour. The letters are quite spaced out and the words “Mariah” and “Carey” are on either side of Mariah’s body on the image. This font portrays a sense of elegance and dominance and perhaps it portrays a sense of importance. The title of the album is not on the cover of the album.
The target audience for such an album would be 15-35 years of age, and of both genders. This would be because the image is quite mature, therefore appealing to a matured audience, yet it is also pretty, which would perhaps appeal to a younger audience.
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