Taylor Swift's album cover evolution showing her artistic growth and branding
1. Album Covers.
I’ve started by looking at Taylor’s
albums from her daibue to her
most recent release. It is clear to
see how she has grown and
changed as a an artiest though
time. I am going to look at how she
has made gradual adjustments to
mature her style as her targeted
audience grows. From this, it is also
clear to see aspects of her covers
which have stayed the same
throughout for example, the fonts
she uses for her name, she has her
shoulders bare and she is never
directly facing the camera.
2. The main colours of her first
cover are greens and blue
which have strong ‘earthy’
and ‘natural’ connotations
which suggest that Taylor as
an artist is ‘pure’ and ‘fresh’.
The sketched butterflies add
a kind of free and organic
feel to the cover of this
digipak which helps to tie in
the natural themes.
Links can be made between
the curls in the title font and
the curls and waves of the
artists hair as both seem free
and unruly and linking to the
natural theme of which is
ideal when aiming to attract a In terms of costume and make-up , it appears as
younger audience. though Taylor is not wearing any. This links with
the natural theme that is running throughout the
image.
3. Here her costume is showing a lot of skin and is very feminine. The flowing layers in seem to
resemble blooming petals along with the pink and purple colouring of the dress itself. This
all creates a very girlie atmosphere.
Linking to the The plain white
butterflies in her studio background
first cover here that Taylor is set
the title of the against hold
album ‘Speak connotations of
Now’ looks as clarity and
though is has innocence.
been hand
written. This One thing that as
makes the cover remained the same is
feel more the style and font she
personal has used for her
suggested that name. this shows
Taylor has added that the she as an
her own writing artist s becoming a
to the cover like brand.
she would a In this cover it is easy to see that the image of Taylor is airbrushed and
dairy. she is heavily made up. This helps to suggest that she is growing and
maturing as an artist. It also makes this cover look more professional in
comparison to her first cover.
4. Here Taylor is made up but
less heavily airbrush and is
not making direct address,
this is less inviting to the
audience and looks as though
she is turning away from
them in an attempt to
conceal some thing
supported by the fact she is
looking downwards. I don’t
think this works will with the
statement font used for the
title of the album.
She has kept both her curls
and the font her name is
printed in and in this cover
the two are even linked
through the colour scheme
showing that they are both
part of her brand. In contrast to her pervious covers here Taylor has used a strong block
front and has is printed in all capitals. This suggest the Taylor is
making a bold statement with this album.
5. Similar to the cover of ‘Fearless’ Taylor is not making direct address, instead she is looking down
and in the cover for ‘Red’ half of her face is covered with a shadow possibly suggesting that she
as a secrete which she will reveal in the album.
Unlike her pervious covers
here Taylor is not in a
studio nor has she been
super imposed onto a
background as her image
was in her first album,
instead she is outside with
what seems to be natural
or soft lighting.
The cover suggests that Taylor
is trying to rebrand herself as
an artist. She has changed the
font in which her name is
printed and her hair is smooth
and wavy. This would also
appeal to a different type of
female audience
The colour scheme is much more subtle and natural with mostly browns and tan shades apart
from the lipstick and with links to the albums title. The colour red holds connotations of
passion and strength which does link to the messages portrayed in previous covers.
6. Comparing Taylor to Other Artists.
The covers use very similar colour
scheme with only a few main
colours.
Both artists have used the same
block font for their covers choosing
to use all capital letters in both titles.
The costume and make up are both extremely similar in these covers (white collard shirt
and red lipstick), due to strong links between music and fashion.