Lana Del Rey Digipak Analysis

1. Amy Fogarty
Lana Del Rey “Born To Die” Digipak Analysis
Characters and Narrative events - On the front cover of the ‘Born to die’ album, Lana Del Rey is the main
and only character featured. She is directly addressing the camera and the audience, in resulting in a
powerful and influential effect on the audience. Lana Del Rey’s direct mode of address could relate to her
personality and style of music being strict and slightly demanding. The front cover is a simple medium close
up of Rey’s face and white laced top. By choosing to use a medium close-up this results in the cover
presenting the audience to the Rey’s beauty and voyeuristic features. This is commonly used within the
indie music genre to allow record labels to create representation of the artist much more easily. The
simplicity of the overall design on the both the cover and album as a whole allows the audience to focus
on primarily on Rey’s unique vintage style seen within her outfit, hair and makeup. Rey’s wavy 1950’s styled
hair, nude lipstick and pout is a common feature seen with her albums, posters and adverts. Lana Del Rey
has been able create a visual unique style along with a unique post-modern style music and lyrics. The
front cover of the album shows the audience what Lana Del Rey is, this stylish vintage image. Lana is
positioned in front of a vintage and retro car which is placed just out of camera shot on the right hand
side which reinforces the vintage style of Lana Del Rey herself and her music along with her being outside
for the main cover image which is a stereotypical feature that is used in the indie music genre. Suggesting
that she is more of an Indie genre opposed to pop. The front cover shows a slight element of hyper reality
due to the fact that her face has been airbrushed, this is clearly shown due to her having flawless and
dewy looking skin. The outline to her hair also looks pristine suggesting that the main image of Lana Del Rey
is likely to have been touched up and perfected to suit her vintage style and persona, the overall image
of Lana looks hyper real adding the overall vintage and elegant theme of the album. Rey’s placid facial
expression could reflect and be parallel with the album title ‘Born to die’, as she is knows that her fate is
inevitable and she is consequently waiting for the moment of her death to occur.

2. Amy Fogarty
Technical and Audio Codes - The colour scheme of the front cover displays fresh and youthful colours
which resembles her main target audience. A simple but effective style font has been used to display
the artists name and also album ‘Born to Die’. The simplicity but effective of the font style directly
relates the simplicity and elegance of Lana Del Rey’s music. The boldness of the blue sky allows the
white text to stand out against the blue sky. The colour of the sky has also been used as the colour for
the album’s title, blue is one of the main colours to the entire album. The size of the text is quite large
with it being spread across the top of the front cover, in bold capital letters allowing it to stand out form
the background. The main colours of the album/digipak are red, white and blue which are seen on the
front cover initially the use of these colours could suggest that Lana Del Rey is being patriotic to her
country, as the American flag also features the same three colours, she also uses an American flag in
numerous music videos, one being the music video to ‘Born to die’ which is also the title of the album.
There is also high key lighting which highlights Lana’s features, making her appear more youthful,
appealing more to her niche target audience.
Iconography - A filter has been used on the front cover in order to soften the image which in result
reflects a link between the Lana Del Rey and her music. The most obvious iconography is featured on the
front cover, the vintage and unique style and look. Lana Del Rey’s overall appearance is vintage with
her makeup done simple, hair styled in a 1950’s style and her clothing, giving off a classy persona and
feel. Although quite a lot of her songs can be quite out there controversially and in some cases rather
pop like considering the content, resulting in a binary opposition. Iconography with the American flag is
present throughout the digipak as there is the use of the colour scheme red, white and blue, this is
prominent with the white text and top, blue sky and blue text and red lipstick. The use of the colour red
could also suggest love, lust and passion, the theme of red is the main focus on the CD cover.
Iconography - Is also present within the mise en scene of the
‘Born to die’ CD, as the red roses suggest love and passion.
The colour of red is also used to show her passion towards
America, Lana is ultimately being patriotic as two of the
three main colours on the flag are used on the CD itself. The
red roses represent love and lust, this is also presented
through the songs titles and also the lyrics to her songs.
Technical codes On the CD - The red roses present on the CD relates back to the album’s title ‘Born to
Die’ as roses are sometimes associated with funerals. There is minimal font on the CD, whereas the
overall font layout of the album is bold and eye catching to entice the target audience as it
subsequently takes up most of the spaces, which suggests that the music titles and the music itself is her
life.

3. Amy Fogarty
Iconography - The American flag is again referenced with the use of blue and white on the track list.
The track listing again refers to America, the entire album is a reference to her patriotic persona to
America with numerous tracks referencing American culture such as ‘National Anthem’ and ‘Million
Dollar Man’. On her deluxe version of the album, ‘The Paradise Edition’ the album features a second
CD which has more patriotic tracks such as ‘American’ and ‘Bel Air’. The back cover to the deluxe
album is more contrasting in colours which suggests a more x rated version of the album along with
the album cover featuring a more revealing image of Lana Del Rey.