CD Cover Textual Analysis

1. CD Cover Textual Analysis

2. Adele
 Adele is a pop singer who generally releases slow and
mournful music. This is represented through her
album covers, as we can see the main focal point of
the CD cover is Adele herself, looking very blue and
deep in thought. This is shown by her pose and also
the colours and contrasts of the CD covers as we can
see on both ‘19’ and ‘21’ the colours are dark and
simple, there’s no bright colours which reflects the
type of music her album is going to be.
 Adele also created a motif through her CD covers and
a general trend has occurred through her last 3
albums which have all been her age at the time of
release, ’19’, ‘21’ and ’25.’ This is recognised by her
fans as her style and title of albums. This also suggests
that because she is using her age as the title it
suggests that these songs are personal to her different
stages in life. Suggesting that these songs are
relatable and true to life.

3. Rihanna
 Similar to Adele, Rihanna is also a pop singer however also
categorised into R&B. This is shown through her CD covers, just
like Adele the main image and focus for the covers is the artist
(Rihanna) and as we can see to the right, “Talk that Talk” and
“Loud” both include close ups of the artist. However, in
comparison to Adele’s slow and mournful music, Rihanna
creates loud and vibrant music. This is shown in her CD covers
as you can see the colour difference between Adele and
Rihanna, Rihanna uses a lot of vibrant colours such as the red
lipstick on the cover of ‘Loud’ and the high contrast making the
cover look really bright on ‘Talk that Talk.’
 On both of the covers to the right, the artists name is not
displayed, the most we see her name is “R” on ‘Talk that Talk’.
This suggests that Rihanna is an extremely popular artist and A
list celebrity, meaning no name is needed on the front of her
album cover as people will immediately recognise the singer by
the images of her and the style.
 The typography for “Loud” is simplistic and quite transparent,
keeping the focus on the main image – Rihanna. The letters are
also spaced out quite far suggesting that sound travels far
when it’s “Loud.” The typography for “Loud” is a lot softer than
“Talk that Talk” as it looks as if the font is floating, suggesting
softer music such as the song “California King Bed.” In contrast,
“Talk that Talk” the album title is still small keeping the focus on
the main image, however the “R” for Rihanna is quite sharp
reflecting a more R&B and edgier music style from this
particular album.

4. Metallica
 Metallica represents their music through their
album covers, as seen in the images on “Master of
Puppets” there are grave stones in crosses
representing death. The colours surrounding the
crosses are red, representing danger. This style of
music is metal, which is heavy music.
 The typography for Metallica’s iconic band logo is
very sharp and pointy making it look dangerous.
Although the band is very well known and one of
the most iconic metal bands ever, the band still
chooses to use their name on their album covers.
This has become very iconic and a motif for
Metallica as their band logo is used for promotion
and sales such as on T-Shirts and posters.

5. Eminem
 Eminem’s rap music is known for the deep
meanings behind his lyrics, as he raps about
his life and his experiences. Through these
albums you see this being reflected in the art,
“Recovery” and “The Marshall Mathers LP”
both show this as Eminem is seen alone and
in isolated places. On the covers he is seen
walking on an empty road which possibly
represents his journey from one point in his
life to another. On the other he is seen alone
curled up near an abandoned building,
suggesting fear. This allows the audience to
connect with his life.
 “The Marshall Mathers LP” uses very dark
contrasts and the light focus is on Eminem
alone, whereas “Recovery” is brighter and
shows the bright blue sky possibly
representing moving onto better things.
 Eminem’s typography, like Metallica is
significant and constant for his name where
the “E” is backwards this again is a motif and
a way to recognise him although not as
significant as Metallica’s.