Rihanna's album "Talk That Talk" features a close-up image of her on the cover taking up most of the space. She is making a seductive pose with bold red lipstick and dark eye makeup. By using a strong image of herself, Rihanna is both selling herself and the album, which committed fans want to see. The cover draws viewers in with her eyes at the center to look at song listings and purchase the CD.

1. Analysing CD cover..

2. Rihannas album ‘talk that talk’
released: november 2011

3. Image
The image used for the cover of Rihanna’s new album, is a close up of
rihanna herself. There is nothing else pictured on the front and the
image of her takes up basically the whole cover. She is pulling a
rather ‘seductive’ pose with her tongue poking out and all we can see
of her outfit is the collar of a shirt which appears to be zebra print.
Both her pose and outfit stand out along with her makeup where she
is wearing bright bold red lipstick and dark eye shadow. All of this
makes a statement and this is what Rihanna does best. By using this
image of herself you could almost say she is selling herself aswell as
the album, this is what committed fans want to see, Rihanna at her
best. The close up used, shows her eyes dead centre of the
cover, automatically drawing you in…. Leading you to look at the back
to see what songs are listed then lastly purchasing the CD. This is a
good selling technique and is often used on posters. The only other
things visible in this image is her jewellery and her nail varnish which
matches her lipstick. So there is not a large amount of colours used.
This again is common to only use three colours, in this case –
black, white and red. The background is plain white.

4. Text
Rihannas name isnt shown on the front of the cover, just the first
letter ‘R’ this again is done in a slight zebra print. BOLD BOLD
BOLD. Because she has used such a strong image of herself and
because of how famous she has become she is at a stage where
she no longer has to use her name to be recognised by her fans.
On her previous albums perhaps when she wasn’t as famous as
she is today, her name was constantly used.
The name of the album is displayed as a tattoo on
Rihannas wrist, this again is another outgoing thing
as tattoo are seen as quite rebellious. Perfect for
her image. The name is small but stands out
against the colour of her arm and therefore works
out to be effective.

5. Genre
Rihanna sings various styles of songs and has collaborated with many other
artists. Reggae, R&B, pop, hip hop, dance.
But no matter what song she is singing all of her songs have something in
common, they are all daring and contain elements of rebellion or sexual
comments. You would have to listen to the lyrics to understand this. Her image
used on the front cover portrays this image and lets the audience know to
expect the usual rude girl Rihanna!
Audience
The close up image would appeal to both boys & girls and therefore gives a
straight away wide audience. By not using her name on the front, this aims it
even more at her committed fans. This again counts for the target market, boys
love Rihanna and girls love Rihanna! Because she has already released previous
albums and singles the main target market will most probably be her loyal fans.
The album varies from prices depending on shop between £6-£8 therefore it is
fairly reasonable and affordable for those who possibly have a low income and
do not wish to spend a lot of money on music, making an even wider market.
Lighting
The bright lighting used almost makes it even more eyecatching and really shows
off all Rihannas features, it could even be that she has stayed out all night and is
in last nights clothes, as her makeup is slightly tired looking. Rihanna is known
for being a crazy girl so this idea is appropriate!