analysis

1. Textual Analysis
3 album and 3 magazine adverts

2. Black and white filter on the picture gives the album an
authentic and old feel to it, that it is vintage somewhat. It
also adds a sense of minimalism and detachment from the
audience which allows the listener to take the album how
they want – the colouring and album cover doesn’t
influence this as much as it would be if it was brightly
coloured etc., we don’t know what to expect from the
music and keeping it neutral allows it to appeal to anyone.
Lana wears casual clothing which
gives off the impression that she as
an artist is very laid back – which
then may be reflected in her music.
The picture overall is a pretty
standard and has a very relaxed and
informal set up. The expression on
her face is serious/sad which could
give us an insight into the type of
vibe the music will likely give off.
The way the picture is framed she as the only
significant individual has been placed to the
right hand side and covering most of the
dimension, this and the fact that the left
hand side is heavily darker as she wears white
it gives her an angelic look and the contrast is
nice. Her stance is very laidback and lounged
yet she has her left arm placed in front of her
which you could take as being some kind of a
guard – which then links to the album title
‘ultraviolence’ and guarding and protecting
yourself is a heavy connotation to violence.
The typography is placed in a bold font which
gives it high significance on the cover and
placing it in bright white fits in with the
monochrome theme. Keeping this simple font
throughout her albums and covers allows the
it to be easily recognised within her target
audience and relates to the simplicity of her
music.
The parental advisory
banner also fits in with the
theme of the album cover,
black and white theme and
ensures the safety of
younger audiences that may
be exposed to explicit
words, this is a conventional
and essential aspect of all
explicit album covers.

3. Using these two shades of blue
colours allow the band to explore
different depths, literally, to do
with the water yet also suggesting
the depths they reach with their
music also.
The naked baby is used to
portray the band as reckless
and the bands
alternative/individuality –
they want a reaction from
the audience whether it be
an offensive or supportive
one, they want their album
cover to be out of the norm
therefore drawing many
people to it and
consequently increasing sales
because of heightened talk
about it.
The camera angles used are from the bottom up, prominently
focusing on the baby, it gives a dominant feel to the baby and allows
the audience to focus on it because it is placed in the middle of the
screen and not to either side. The baby is not making eye contact
with the camera therefore leading the idea that it is focusing mainly
on the money and the fact that babies are easily led/naïve.
You would not expect a baby to be chasing money yet it could
explain the way in which society/ America is obsessed with money
and capitalism.
The typography used contrasts
really well with the calming colours
of the background. The fonts are
both used in capital to give a sense
of urgency and simplicity.
The name of the album’s text has
been manipulated to match the
theme of water. The way it has been
waved and stretched represents
what the theme of the music may
be and also the kind of way in which
the music might affect you and
represent a
psychedelic/hallucinative feel.

4. The fact that the artist hasn’t used a picture of himself because it is
his second version of the album suggests that he has established
himself as an artist and doesn’t need this to sell it.
The fact that the filter on the
picture portrays quite a dated
and sepia tone. This therefore
gives off a vintage, old feel
which therefore leads and links
to the fact that Eminem usually
raps about his past – and will
do so on this album. The black
border around the track cover
gives the impression of a
polaroid kind of picture
suggests a retro and authentic
kind of feel because he cant
afford the latest technology
therefore bringing about
problems and theories as to
why he may have moved away
from this house etc.
Eminem has chosen to include a picture of his old childhood home on
the cover as well as including the number of the house ‘’19946’’
shows that it is still relevant to him and may often appear in his music.
It gives the audience a really personal insight into his life which allows
us to become aware that the emotional naivety the music will
incorporate. As well as using his real, full name ‘’marshall mathers’’ to
name the album also adds to the personal feel of the album and that
you are likely to understand and become to know the artist on a deep
level from this music.
The setting is derelict and
devastated which could reflect
that Eminem wants to remain
reminded of this place and that it
holds a lot of memories, good
and bad equally. The overgrown
shrubbery and plants suggests
confinement and isolated feeling
of living here.
The artist has used his name in the
form of his logo appealing to his
usual audience as they will always
recognise this as him, the capital
letters stand out amongst the
central position of the house.
The camera angle of this
picture is from the point of
view of someone emerging
from the woods, this gives
the impression that he is
visiting and it from quite a
low down angle, this
suggests that the house is
important and at the
forefront of his mind at this
time.

5. The name of the artist has been
placed at the top of the page in a
white colour compared to the black
means that it immediately comes to
the audiences eye and is recognised
as the most important aspect.
The use of the album name ‘lungs’
could suggest that music is an
essential part of this artists life and
that they can’t in some way live
without it. This gives the album a
more emotional and passionate feel
which then leads to the audience
anticipating a heartfelt album which
targets a specific audience
especially current fans of her music.
The picture of the lungs being able
to be seen through Florence's see
through t-shirt could suggest her
revealing everything and showing
her true self through this album. It is
kind of grotesque because the organ
is fully on show as well which
intrigues the audience when they
come across this.
Dark and faded colours give the
poster a vintage and worn out
look, this reflects her style and she
wants the audience to know this.
The picture of her is in the style of
a painting not a picture which
again shows her old fashioned style
and allows a more inconspicuous
finish to the poster.
The use of typography is bold and uses all capital letters. Keeping the writing short and
to the point gives a more minimalist cover and you don’t want the audience to be
overwhelmed with writing as then they are less likely to pay attention to it. She uses the
same font throughout apart from in her masthead of her name, this shows that it is
separate from this and differentiates the normal, informative text from the artist/bands
name.
Her stance in the picture is significantly
relaxed, she looks almost as though she is
asleep on a bed of flowers – this gives an
insight for the audience as to what kind of
genre she is going to be basing the album
around.

6. The fact that the colour black has been
used intensively suggests darkness and
rebellion that could be shown through her
music, it gives the audience an idea ahead
of hearing the album what it will be about.
Gold and black are also the conventional
colours of R n B and glamour in the hip
hop scene immediately giving us an idea to
the genre of this artists music.
As most people are likely to be drawn
immediately to the pictures on the
adverts the artist has chosen to print the
name and album name over the top of
this as a bid to try and maximise the
amount of attention this gets first.
The artist mentions the fact that another
one of her popular songs is also featured on
the album which adds to the selling point –
people that like this song now will be
curious as to what her other songs sound
like and are more likely to buy it if they are a
fan of her other music – this is a selling point
that a lot of artists use to promote their
albums – releasing one of the songs from it
as a teaser etc. She has additionally added
another artist on the front of this,
mentioning ‘B.o.B’ also aids as a selling
point as it widens the audience to people
that also like this artist.
The fact that the artist has chosen to print
her name in gold suggests that she is big in
the music industry and thinks highly of
herself because we often associate this
colour with royalty and wealth.
Centring the information in the middle of the page allows
everything to be easily accessible to the eye. It is underwhelming
because of the lack of depth in the text which is attractive to the
audience because they don’t have to skim read to find important
information – it is all there for them. Including a website for the
artist also allows the audience to access additional information
about the artist before buying the album.
The artists stance in this picture is quite
confident and the fact that her hands are
in front of her head attracts attention to
it – she could be doing this on purpose
and be suggesting she is happy about the
way she looks. Her expression is serious
suggesting the message she is going to
be giving in the album is a serious
matter.

7. The use of graffiti and bright colours
suggests rebellion from the group –
rebellion against norms and wanting
to be different from other groups. The
use of different colours such as red,
oranges and yellows suggests passion
and anger which therefore connotes
to the genre of their music – rock.
Having a black border and then
focusing all the colour in the middle of
the page creates a saturated focal
point and also could connote to ‘the
light at the end of the tunnel’ which
this album could be for fans of the
band.
The picture of the two cartoon
individuals on the front kissing
and the fact that the album is
called ‘21st century breakdown’
could suggest a teenagers kind
of ‘breakdown’ which is usually
to do with love and relationships
– they have then tried to use
irony to allude to this, maybe
trying to mock todays
generation.
Using the words ‘the wait is finally over’ suggests that this album is one that they spent a
lot of time on and perfecting for their market. This makes you want to listen to the album
more because you are putting trust in the artist who has spent their time making it
perfect to listen to. This type of thing significantly appeals to people that are already fans
of green day because after listening to all of their music there is a natural desire for more
and giving this finally after a while is likely to cause popularity for the album.
Again using the mentioning of a popular and previously
released song by the band just increases the likeliness of
people to buy the album if they listen to this music.
As you can see the artist have chosen to
place their band name in a bold white
font and to make it bigger than all the
other typography on the page making it
stand out more and recognised as the
primary bit of information – they have
somewhat ranked the importance of the
information with the colour of the text –
the most important being in white
because this is also seen with the release
date.