Analysing Albums by Solo Artists

I thought I would conduct some research into albums by solo artists to see how they differ from an album for a band. I will also look at artists of different genres in order to gain a wider perspective and understanding of how they may or may not use similar conventions.

Taylor Swift:

Pictured above is the album 'Speak Now' by Taylor Swift who is an American country-pop singer. Her album cover shows an image of her with her name and the name of her album. Both texts are of different font styles, however they look similar and the swirly writing effect that they create show how Taylor has a signature look. This means that the audience will be able to identify with her. The image of Taylor herself (mid long shot) is what dominates the cover and her pose gives the impression that she is swinging her dress around with purple paint like effects added on to give an overall effect. This is significant because as the main artist, the emphasis needs to be on Taylor and she needs to be the main source of attraction in order to catch the audience's attention. 

Jordin Sparks:

Pictured above is the self-titled debut album by Jordin Sparks who is an American pop/ R & B singer. Jordin's album is very plain and just consists of an image of herself and her name. The shot used of her is a medium close up, which once again draws all of the emphasis onto Jordin in order to ensure that she is the main focus for the target audience. From the mise-en-scene, I can establish that Jordin is dressed quite casually which could reflect her personality and she may also want to look quite simple as this is her debut album. There are no bright colours and the colour black is what dominates the cover as she is wearing black against a grey/black background and her name is in black too. The font used for her name is of a specific font, which I personally like as it is clear and coherent. 

Leona Lewis:

This is the second album 'Spirit' which was released by British pop singer Leona Lewis. All of the space on the front cover has been used by the image of Leona herself, which is a close-up of her face. The image is plain and Leona has neutral make-up on which reflects her personality and also doesn't create any dominating contrasts on the cover. Her name and album title have been done in the same font and in capitals which shows how Leona has kept to a consistent house-style. The colours of the text are also quite basic.

50 Cent:

Pictured above is the album 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' by the hip-hop artist 50 Cent. I chose to analyse this cover because I feel that there is a lot of representation on it through analysing the mise-en-scene. Firstly, a special effect used makes it appear as though somebody has aimed a gun at 50 and shot through glass, but missed. Guns and violence are usually associated with hip-hop. 50 reinforces this view as he has several tatoos down his left arm, is standing topless, wearing an expensive watch and a very 'bling' chain with a cross on it. This shows how he is conforming to the general stereotype of an hip-hop artist. The parental advisory label also indicates the nature of the content of his songs which once again shows how swearing is very explicit with hip-hop artists. 50 Cent's name is very big and bold, particularly the '50' part which gives the impression that 50 is making his mark in the music industry as an established, dominant hip-hop artist. However, the title of the album 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' is in a rather fancy font which draws a contrast to his name. A medium long shot is used of 50 showing how he is the main feature of the album to attract the audience.

Calvin Harris:

This is the album 'READY FOR THE WEEKEND' by Calvin Harris, who is a Scottish electro-dance producer. I thought this would be a good album to analyse because Calvin hasn't featured a picture of himself on his cover, unlike most solo artists and has a picture of a woman with funky glasses instead. This shows that it isn't always necessary to include an image of the artist themselves, as they can have an image associated with them or that is different from them completely. Calvin's name is written in a kind of technical font, like we would usually see on a digital clock. This suggests that his album is quite unique. The whole front cover also has a house-style as we can see that the colours of grey, black and white resonate throughout the cover.