Album Cover Analysis - Westlife.

Westlife are an Irish pop band. However, over the years they have changed their genre slightly, to mainly love songs rather than pop. Pop itself has evolved as a genre and has merged with hip hop. Westlife are not a conventional pop group because they are not as young as most of the groups in the charts. The cover hints at love songs in the unsubtle title 'The Love Album'. The rose also helps to indicate love. This gives us the genre.

As they are on the cover it demonstrates that they can be sold as an image as well as music. They are widely recognised and also a lot of people find them attractive. All of this will help to sell their music, and ultimately make them more famous. They have a distinctive image as they are not how we imagine other boy bands i.e. JLS. They are not half naked on the cover like most other boy bands, instead they have evolved into a man band, as they are much more mature than boy bands, and therefore appeal to a wider and perhaps slightly older audience.

The title 'The Love Album' pretyy much does what it says. It contains love songs that they have either written or covered. The fact that it contains love songs would probably appeal to an older female audience, but we must not dismiss younger audiences as well. The title is simple, much like the band themself. They have an established fanbase and most boy bands are compared to them nowadays, or aim to be like them. They are well known for writing love songs and this album sums up their genre. The name goes with the picture as it is very engaging and almost seductive.

The use of the black background and white light purely on them emphasises the image. Black also represents mystery and also seduction in some way. Even though it is a plain colour, it works as the band do not like to use bright colours, as that is mainly associated with younger bands. From the positionning of the band we can tell that Shane is the front man or main singer as he is in the chair and the others are positionned around him. They all have different facial expressions and gestures, however they all have a serious look and are concentrating on the camera. They all have some kind of 'rugged' look about them as they either have their top buttons undone or part of their shirts also. This creates a sort of 'sex appeal' and will automatically make the album more appealing to the audience. The use of the rose being held by Nicky also relates back to the theme of love. Love is associated with the colour red and also roses. One rose is said to be the most romantic flower you could give to someone. They all have different poses however they all come together very well. Shane looks relaxed in the chair, whereas Nicky is posing on the floor. Kian is leaning into the chair which looks almost a flirtacious pose, and Mark is turned slighty away to the left, which creates mystery about him.

The use of the light creates an almost mock candle light situation, once again associated with love. This is because of the dark background and one single light (on the band). It creates a romantic mood which is reflected in the poses of the band members which indicates a rugged sense which is appealing. The camera angle of straight on almost makes it look like a painting. It is a very simple image which makes it effective.

I believe the typical target market would mainly be female, from the age of late teens right up until the middle ages. This could be because women idealise with the concept of love more than men, typically. The idea of an album called 'The Love Album' goes along with this idea, which is backed up by the use of the rose and the seductive poses.

Album Cover Analysis - Linkin Park

Linkin Park are an American rock band. From the cover we can tell that they are not a pop or mainstream band as they have not used any bright colours. We can see that they are an alternative band as the cover could be seen as promoting vandalism, and this represents that they are not afraid to take risks. However this could also not be vandalism, it could be someone working on some sort of creative project, and I feel that the band want the audience to be left in the dark as to what the image actually shows.

The artists are not on the front cover. This could be because they were already a very famous band when this album was released, and they felt that they did not need to advertise themselves as they already had a very wide fan base, and they were happy with that. They could also be going for the creative approach to an album cover, which I feel actually works because it gives scope for different interpretation, as does their music.

The album is entitled 'Meteora'. If you look up the definition of the word it is a complex of a monastary in Greece. In Greek it also means "In The Heavens Above". It is unknown to the audience whether or not the group based the album on the definition of the word or whether they simply liked it. The word will not be well known to the audience and therefore it could mean different interpretations could take place, or people may simply over look it.

The setting of the actual image could be in many different locations, however I believe that it is in a studio. The character in it looks like a professional graffiti artist who could be doing some work for the band. Another interpretation could be that the band just wanted an artistic or powerful image to appear on the cover and they set the whole thing up for advertising purposes. From a distance it looks like someone crouching on the end of a wall, and this kind of optical illusion goes with the mystery that the band have already presented through the name that noone will know about and the picture that people cannot decide what it is. The band are represented as being young as this kind of art work is mainly appreciated and carried out by young people. They are not actually seen on the cover and therefore are obviously not image focussed. They would probably say "we try to focus on the music" or something very stereotypical to the rock genre.

The use of an almost sepia tone throughout the image provides us with an authentic picture that the audience can recognise. This also shows simplicity and originality to the group, which is how some of the best music is created. It shows that they do not need to hide behind any fancy images or colours on their album and they can almost be 'stripped back to basics' and that they are purely who they want to be. Costume is dark which goes along with the tone of simplicity as it is black. As there are cables on the floor it shows that the band are not too safety conscious and this could relate to their music as well, as in they do not mind taking risks.

I believe the target market is young people, as it means that they can interpret it with their young minds. Also it contains graffiti or artwork and this is mainly appreciated by younger people.

Album Cover Analysis - N-Dubz.

This is an album cover of N-Dubz 'Against All Odds', which was released in 2010. The genre of the album is hip hop. There is no major give away, however there are hints dotted around the cover. Firstly the bands logo which is printed on the had and also in the left hand corner in the blue box is in a grafiti font. Grafiti is associated with deprived housing which has an association with rap and hip hop and youth. This can be seen in the buildings behind the band which are obviously flats, and this is the sort of area that hip hop is generally associated with.

The artist is on the front cover, and this shows that the band are very much aware and promoting their image. It also shows that their image can sell their music and that they are widely recognised. They have a very distinctive image also as we can see that Dappy (on the far left) wears his hat different to how most people wear those hats. It has been recognised that he does that as his trademark, and therefore continues to do so.

The album is entitled 'Against All Odds'. This shows that the band can conquer anything and will continue to make music no matter what. They have been criticised in the media on many occasions and this could be what the title is referring to. It is known that they are a very 'off the wall' band and that they are in trouble sometimes. It is almost a silent promise to their fans that they are strong and that they will still make music no matter what people and most importantly, the media say about them.

The background of the cover is a dark blue cover which indicates mystery and seriousness. It also indicates masculinity which two members of the band definately show. It is also associated with danger as in this case there is what appears to be lightening all in the sky. This shows electricity in the sky and shows that the band is almost 'electric'. It sheds a dark sky on the buildings which is a council estate and these are associated with danger and crime. The fence just behind them indicates an urban setting which fits with the band as they are from a North London council estate. It also shows youth as it could be that they were in some sort of playground or court. The band are represented as rough, and this can be seen by the pose that they are making. They all have serious facial expressions, and Tulisa (centre) has a half smile to show that she is the playful one in the group and as she is the only girl she probably gets a lot of attention. The poses that the boys are making shows that they are no nonsense. Fazer has his finger on his lips which shows that he is not afraid of expressing his opinions. Dappy has a pose that is an alternative to sticking 'two fingers up'. This shows that he is crafty and cheeky.

As they are all positioned close to each other, this tells us the same for their relationship. The camera is slightly angled to the left and they are all looking directly at it. This shows that they wish to connect with their audience. Their clothes are quite casual which shows that they are relaxed. Tulisa's top is low cut which shows that she likes to flaunt herself and be the centre of attention. The background is low lit and they are high lit. This shows that where they came from is a dark and tough place to live, and they have made it out of there and have become stars, which is represented in the bright lighting state that they are in.

I believe the typical target market is young people as they are young as well. Their serious poses suggest that they take no nonsense and this is the approach of many young people and the band can therefore relate to them. A lot of young people also come from tough backgrounds, and the group are good role models when it comes to creating your own success.