Rihanna's album "Loud" features images that tell a narrative of love and sexuality. The front cover shows Rihanna with red lips implying lust, as if thinking of a lover, while clues on the back cover and inside imagery portray a more provocative and raunchy side. Symbols like roses and wedding dress imagery further the love story narrative while technical aspects like lighting, tattoos, and gold curtains provide clues about her character and background.

1. Characters
It is conventional that the R’N’B artist features on their own
album. Usually female stars from that genre are normally
portrayed sexually, for example with the close up with the red
lip connotation sex and love. The name of the album ‘Loud’
links with the bold colours of her hair and lips, which applies
the strong female attitude that she creates. The tattooed ink
also adds to the era of her edgy character rather than
appearing as this flawless role model.
Narrative Events
We guess from the images that Rihanna is or has been in love. The mode
of address on the front cover is neutral, which adds enigma to the
audience. This could mean that she isn’t looking directly at us, but is
thinking about someone else. Additionally the colour red supports the
image lust. With her lips apart, with red lipstick, it implies that she has
heavily made herself up for this special someone.
Iconography
The iconic symbol of love that is covered over Rihanna’s album is
the rose. Additionally the image inside the CD where she is
laydown in a bed of red roses, she is wearing what looks like a
wedding dress. This again adds to the narrative of her love story.
Again by having the mode of address neutral is implies to the
audience that she is thinking.
Setting
The back cover photo displays Rihanna’s more
raunchy side than innocent photo on the front cover.
This is due to the tattoo’s that are exposed; additionally
with her hand in between her leg it gives a more
provocative image. With Rihanna looking directly to the
audience it gives her more of a sexual character. The
gold curtains in the background symbolise her wealth
and fortune. They also give the impression of a stage,
although it looks an old abandoned pub, it gives
enigma to the audience about her story. Furthermore
with the plain wooden floor it gives her more of an edge
rather than a high status place scenery, which makes
her more relatable to an audience.
Technical andaudiocodes
The front image lighting is high key to exaggerate Rihanna’s
flawless airbrushed features. Additionally the shadowing is
extreme to show the contrast with her glowing skin. This
could be the connotation that there is a dark side to the love
story that she is implying. Although the back image has low
key lighting is add more to the mystery. The name ‘LOUD’
with large spacing is the conventional R’N’B writing. To add to
that it links with her colour scheme, with the colour scheme
being so vibrant.