3. The Weeknds second studio album ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ possesses a digipak format which
incorporates an overall minimalistic aesthetic whilst at the same time standing out, from its contemporaries,
with the use of evoking imagery. The most immediate eye-catching part of the front cover is the Weeknd
himself in which his head is centred in the middle. It includes his signature hairstyle that he’s known for with
the dreadlocked mane. He has an emotionless facial expression as his eyes look directly to the audience,
grabbing their attention. The portrayal of the Weeknd on this album cover suggests that he has some sort of
mental illness or is suffering from ‘madness’. This is evident in his deliberately-induced blank expression
which seems to be concealing his true emotions behind the ripped paper effect resembling a black and white
photo, connoting to the idea of beauty behind the madness as the album’s name implies. The torn paper effect
can represent the idea of something trying to escape or rather claw its way out from within i.e. the Weeknd's
true feelings. Alternatively, the fact that it seems to be a black and white photo of the Weekend and taking into
account his face being all distorted with creases and cuts it can be suggested that the Weeknd has kept his
true feelings of madness to himself for a very long period of time and thus the photo has been damaged out of
frustration. People take photos to capture and treasure a certain moment of time and in this case the Weeknd
wanted to forget it so he tore it apart. However, now it's been reassembled to form this disjointed and broken
identity which he wants to showcase to his audience. Also, the use of a dark colour palette builds on this
broken identity making it feel edgy and ominous. All of this representation provides a hint to the consumer of
the type of music the album will contain without even looking inside. Presenting them a general idea that the
music contained in the album will be based on broken relationships and heartbreak as this is a common
convention of R&B music.
It is clear that the Weeknd and his producers put much thought into crafting their digipak and intended for the
artist to be the main focal point of the cover. Notably, apart from the Explicit content logo in the bottom corner
of the front cover there is no other form of writing. This is unconventional of many digipaks which tend to
include at the minimum the artist's name and the album title in order to ensure that the customer is fully
informed of who exactly the creator of the content is. However, in this case more emphasis has been put on
the Weekend in which the album title: ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ is embodied by the visual image of his
face. This risky decision by him and his producers showcases their confidence and that they are making a
statement selling the digipaks like this. They are insinuating that the intended audience for this album are
already aware of who the Weeknd is, merely by looking at his face and that the artist is at the point of
popularity that his name and title is not necessary to include as him and his rather ‘mad’ styled hair alone is
enough to sell the product. Although, the front cover does not include much information the back cover on the
other hand includes much more information for the consumer to read. It includes the conventions of digipaks
such as the tracklist, barcode, copyright mention, record labels and other extra information. Notably, the back
cover continues the ripped paper effect with a dark background. It also, has the tracklist centred at the top in a
simple font in yellow which contrasts well with the dark background making the songs stand out more for the
consumer to read. The yellow colour is also used on the cd cover which includes the album title and the
artist’s name.
Front Cover
Back Cover
CD Cover
Track Booklet
This digipak also includes
a booklet inside which
contains extra information
about each individual song
in terms of production. It
continues the theme of the
ripped paper effect and the
black, white and yellow
colour palette. It often
features the Weeknd and a
certain women,
presumably a previous
partner, in a collage-type
positioning whereby they
overlap each other. This
connotes to the idea of
their broken relationship.
The font used for the lyric
titles is distressed and is
reminiscent of the vintage
italian horror look. The
murky yellow used can
represent caution,
sickness, and jealousy
which fits well with the
nature of the album being
about heartbreak.
5. The Weeknd’s second studio album: ‘Beauty
Behind the Madness’ has a magazine advert
which promotes the album’s release; including
the release date, August 28th, of the album. It
also includes the albums name and the artist’s
name: The Weeknd. They are all centred at the
top on a slanted angle. They are in all capitals
and uses the same font as the track booklet
which continues the distressed theme. Below
the title, is the vinyl version of the album with
the vinyl record partially exposed coming out
from the case. They both include the close-up of
the Weeknds face with the ripped paper effect
and the case having the explicit content logo in
the bottom corner like the cd version of the
front cover. Below the album are the logos of
the record labels and the artist's name.
Everything has been kept to a minimum and
simplistic style like the album cover. It is clear
that the marketing team intended to relay the
same edgy message and identity of the Weeknd
throughout the entire promotion of the album,
using himself as the main focal point.
7. Rihanna’s fourth studio album: ‘Rated R’ possesses a digipak format which incorporates a very edgy and dark
feel to it. The main focal point of the front cover is a close-up of Rihanna herself holding her hand over part of
her face. She, like the Weeknd, is looking directly at the camera however the use of heavy black eyeliner helps to
enhance the eye and make it somewhat more intimidating, which therefore grabs the audience's attention more
towards the eye than to Rihanna herself as if you were looking deep into her soul. In addition to the thick
eyeliner, the rest of Rihanna’s outfit and style is much akin to gothic and emo subcultures which is clear that she
is representing. This is evident in the accompanying black lipstick, large piercings, shortened sides with dyed
hair and the black leather jacket. The fact that she is covering a portion of her face represents the idea that she
is dark, sinister and mysterious in nature. The accompanying heavy jewellery on her hand can suggest that she
is protecting herself. On the bottom right corner is the album's title which is really small and blends in with
Rihanna. This seems intentional as to suggest that the title is of not real importance and rather the attention
should be to Rihanna herself. There is also the letter ‘R’ on the top right corner. The font is jagged and almost
rusting. This can represent the embodiment of her new identity as Rated R refers to age rating and this could
show her transition from her previous works which included album covers that had more of a light-hearted,
bubbly feeling to it. In this case, she wants to showcase that she has matured and show her audience that she is
strong and determined as previously Rihanna suffered from physical abuse by her partner. The entire cover is
layered in a monochrome black and white colour palette which adds to the sinister, dark look she is going for.
All of this representation provides the consumer a general idea that the content of the album will be about toxic
relationships and the personal experiences Rihanna went through as these conventions can be seen often in
R&B's.
The back cover continues to represent Rihanna in a similar way with her ‘dark’ bad girl appearance. She is
wearing a different outfit and is not in black and white which helps to contrast her tanned body with the black
background. This time, it is a long shot of Rihanna’s entire body which shows that she is wearing minimal
clothing with transparent suspenders and fish-net style lingerie. This helps to represent her as very provocative,
sexy and appealing whilst at the same time stylish and sophisticated. She has her back towards the audience
and is holding a cigarette in her hand. This further builds the image of her care-free attitude as the cigarette
implies that she has little concern for her overall health and the intentional use of minimal clothing exposes her
and implies that she has nothing to hide. The back cover also includes the typical conventions of a digipak such
as tracklist, barcode, record label logos, copyright information and production teams. The cd cover of the album
has the letter ‘R’ as the main focal point which is the same one as the one in the front cover. It has a dark,
brownish background with the letter ‘R’ seemingly carved into it. This colour brown represents stability,
reliability and dependability which further builds the image that Rihanna has matured.
Front Cover
Back Cover
CD Cover
9. This is the magazine advert for Rihanna’s fourth
studio album: ‘Rated R’. It continues the theme
from the album with the black and white saturation;
providing the dark, secretive nature to it, People
seeing this may feel that she and the album are
straying towards a more punk/rock feel which is a
very different from her previous album covers
which were much more bright and vibrant. This
poster also includes a monochrome theme to it
however it includes red text to highlight the main
songs in Rihanna's album: ‘Russian Roulette’ and
‘Hard’. This is to make them stand out to the
audience who are interested in the album. The
album cover itself is contained within the poster
which is underlapped by a ripped piece of paper
which states that Rihanna has a new album which
features the artists Russian Roulette and Hard.
