analysis of 3 different album covers

1. SAM SMITH ALBUM COVER
This album cover features Sam Smith at the front in the middle as the centre of attention,
the album will be centred around him and his emotions. His pose suggests he is upset,
since the album name has ‘lonely’ featuring in the name, it would communicate the
message that the album will have sad songs, about his emotion. Sam Smith’s eyes are also
closed, he isn’t inviting the audience in, which further isolates him. He is dressed in dark
clothes but his skin is very pale, his has a glowing look to him. This is created by the
lighting used in the photoshoot. The composition of his hands is like he is praying, perhaps
he is praying for better times, or more friends, perhaps even a partner.
The dark background creates further contrast to his skin
colour, this makes him appear cold, thus this further
isolates him, making him look alone and isolated. The
mood and tone of the music on this album is going to
be sad and mellow. Sam Smith also isn’t sitting up
straight shows that he isn’t happy with his life and the
situation he is in at the moment. It’s almost like he
wants to isolate himself from the audience and
everybody else. The font is plain and doesn’t take away
from the main artist, suggesting the album is
methodological and came from the heart, it wasn’t
processed a lot.

2. NICKI MINAJ ALBUM COVER
This digipak cover is very minimalist and simplistic. It doesn’t feature the artist on the front,
which is strange for Nicki Minaj as she is well known for being self indulged and putting
herself on the front of most things she sells. The significance of the finger print can link to
her individual style. Nicki Minaj does have a well known individual style, just like everybody's
finger prints are different; her style is different. The significance of the pink connects to her
image, she often presents herself as a ‘Barbie’ type girl, thus the pink represents this on the
front cover. The pink will also appeal to her female fans.
Furthermore the use of the paint like splatter looks a lot
like a make up splash, this can represent how Nicki uses
lots of make up. However it could also represent that she
is taking her make up off, and this album is her stripping
herself back the basics. The white background can also
represent her simplistic style. Or the pink print on the plain
background can represent herself against all the other
music styles. So although she doesn’t feature on the front
of her album, it still represents her style and her
personality in the music industry. Also the font of ‘ the
pinkprint’ is like an autograph as if she has signed it, the
album is hers, and is from her style.

3. THE SATURDAYS ALBUM COVER
This sexualises the women in the band, it appears that they could potentially be naked.
They actually all do look wet as well, so the image in provocative. They are all wearing pink
lipstick, which shows the unity within the band. The fact they appear naked yet all have full
faces of make up on, heavily sexualises them. This can be to attract male audiences as the
men want to date them. Also attracting the female audience as they want to be them, and
look that perfect and attractive. Their composition shows them as all being important, as
none of them are taking up more space than any of the other ones. The background has a
gradient and is plain, it makes it look like light is shining behind them, making them seem
angelic. The font used is curved and looks playful, not rigid and structured. The font can be
a representative of the band and the band’s music. In that the music is easy listening and
the girl members are easy going.
The use of the gradient background can be a symbol of
the depth of their music, this album may have lots of
different types of songs with lots of types of different
emotions. There facial expressions are all the same and
are quite harsh, this can represent how the music
industry has made them. That they have to harsh, or it
could be a signal that they are serious about making and
selling music.