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1. Rihanna Unapologetic
Digipack analysis

3. Target Audience
Rihanna’s demographic is largely female, in the
working class, and are between the ages of 16-
28. Since her music labels are America (Def Jam
and Roc Nation), most of her audience would be
based their as well as in other western areas
such as the countries from the UK.

4. Rihanna has decided to present herself with a medium shot, in a very
masculine manner by having short black hair that is considered to be a
man’s hair cut, as well as being in such a position where she is very open
and having strong body language. Black can connote power as Rihanna is a
very popular music artist. Perhaps she feels that with her hair like this, the
cover would be portrayed powerfully and confident thus attracting the
audience.

5. Not only is she looking masculine but also presenting herself sexually by having a
open and somewhat vulnerable (with the words covering her face) position and
being naked, with seductive eyes. It is well known that Rihanna portrays herself as
a sex symbol, especially in this cover as the title of the album ‘Unapologetic’ is on
her breast as she knows that the center of attention will be on her breasts. The
word ‘Unapologetic’ and why it is in such a position could mean that she is not
sorry for making herself sexualized. Also, the background is white which makes
Rihanna whole body stand out even more, again attracting the audience.
‘Unapologetic’ is the only word that has black scribbles behind it, which helps the
audience understand that this word out of the others is the title.

6. Another example where Rihanna is sexualized but also masculine is in
the music video of the song Pour It Up from the same album. In the
video, there is a medium shot of Rihanna sitting and spreading her legs
in a masculine manner style (manspreading), but this contradicts her
female sexuality as she is wearing very revealing clothing. However,
this could also mean the male gaze as she is being heavily sexualized
with the revealing clothing and the leg spreading could mean that she
is waiting and ready for sex.

7. The style of the words is similar to
graffiti which is associated with the
R&B genre, which Rihanna is apart of.
The words surrounding Rihanna such
as ‘happy, fearless, fun and sensual’
could be what she feels inside and how
she portrays herself.
The two dominant colours, black and
white, are very contrasting, which
could mean the two different sides of
Rihanna. The public image as one and
the other being her true inner self.
The fact that Rihanna does not have
her name on the cover means the she
is so famous that she no longer needs
to show her name but only needs to
show her face.

8. The colours of the CD also match the album
cover with the main colours being black and
white. The writing on the CD appeals more as it is
a silver shiny colour, since she wants to highlight
her name and the album name. Unlike the cover,
the CD has her name on it which appears to be
hand written by Rihanna herself. This attracts the
audience on a personal level.
The image on the CD appears to be a section of
Rihanna’s face (from under the eye to the
mouth) with the black colour seeming to be
running down and smudged. This could mean
that her true self is coming out represented by
the black. It could also mean that she wants to
have a fresh new start by cleaning away the past.

9. The back cover consists of the company logos’, the barcode and other fine print for
legal and sales purposes. The cover has a black and white filter on it, again
representing Rihanna’s public persona and her true self, or her good and bad side.
The track list looks hand written and messy, again Rihanna is trying to relate to her
audience on a personal level. The main image is of Rihanna, looking very vulnerable,
as if she is trying to hide herself. The back image contradicts the front. The front is
very open, confident and she is nude. While on the back, she looks defenceless, she
is clothed and trying to hide her face. This links back to the two sides on Rihanna.
The image she wants the world to see (the front) and the other side that she wants
to hide and cover up.

10. Reflection
Overall, Rihanna’s Unapologetic album cover is very
unconventional for an artist who is in the pop genre. Covers are
usually bright, colourful, bold and consist on many things. Artists
such as Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Drake have
followed these conventions.

11. Reflection
Compared to other pop artists albums,
Unapologetic is visually simple and basic. The
only colour besides white, black, and grey that
stands out is Rihanna’s skin colour. I think she
broke conventions and created this, to strip
away any distractions so that the main focus is
her picture on the front cover, since it is the
most eye catching aspect of the album.

12. Reflection
Studying and analysing Unapologetic and other
digipacks, has given me ideas on how to plan
and construct my own digipack. I don’t have to
make my own digipack complicated such as Lady
Gaga’s Artpop but I would want to keep some
conventions of the pop genre (variety of
colours), and not have it as colourless as
Unapologetic.