Analysis of Album Covers

Eminem - "Recovery", "Relapse"
I have chosen to analyse Eminem's album covers as these covers have lots of meaning as well as insight on his life. His album covers usually reflect on what happened in his life as well as on the music on the album.

The first album " Relapse " was released after a long break from producing music, Eminem was preparing for this album for a long time. The music in the album is about his improvement and recovery from his addiction to drugs. The cover reflects on this recovery, this is shown by his face made from medicine pills this represents his addiction. The design on the CD also relates to this as it is a cap of a medicine box.

The second album cover that I have chosen to analyze is his newest album "Recovey" this was released shortly after the the previous album as the last album wasn't a success, this album also relates to his recovery we see this by Eminem sitting in a room which is made from clear walls in the middle of a city. The reason behind this is to show the audience that he has made a recovery from the addiction and is living a normal life.

Music Director - Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler
 Anthony Mandler (born on the 18th April 1973 in Los Angeles) is a music video director which directs music videos for many artists such as Rihanna, Drake, Jay-Z and many more. Rihanna is the most frequent collaborator which he likes to work with his work is displaid trough the popular videos on the music charts around the world such as "Rihanna - Only girl in the world", "Drake - Over", "Usher - OMG". These music videos have very high standards as they depend on the wealth as well as the popularity of the artists. 


Anthony works really closely with the artists to create the perfect product which the artists desire. He works around his starts and their needs, they just place ideas in his mind and he makes it work. the Collaborators keep in contact at all times to make sure there are no misunderstandings between the artists and the work produced.











 Here is an example on the first music video collaboration between the producer and Rihanna. This music video reflects back on the artist life as well as represents her in the way she would live her life. Anthonys work is mainly represents the artists in the current era of time, this is represented by the change in the music videos overt time. An example of this is shown by Rihanna being a sexy innocent girl who fits in the crowd however contrasting on the later work done with the artist Rihanna is represented in a completely different way. This is demonstrated in the music video "Rihanna - Wait Your Turn" the concept of this video contrasts the first video as Rihanna brings a completely different appearance upon her self. In this video she is shown as a dominant character as she is experimenting with her clothes as well as her hairstyles.

This music video director is also known for the use of close ups this is shown in his work over the past years. In most music videos he creates the use of close ups allows the audience to get more insight on the artists as well as allows the audience to gain a bond with the artist.

Star Image

Star image

Apply Goodwin’s theory to a music video of your choice

One of the first points that Goodwin’s theory demonstrates is the genre characteristics. Genre characteristics are the particular elements in the music that are recognisable by the audience; different music has different signifiers to recognise the genre. For example a typical heavy metal genre is recognised by lots stage performance as well as excessive piercings as well as dark clothing; however a contrast to this would be hip-hop based music genre this type of genre is all about the appearance of the artist as well as the main characteristics such as: jewellery, exotic cars, seductive women as well as clubs, drinks and lots of criteria related to money. In this music video all the characteristics of the hip-hop genre are present; T-Pain the main artist in the video is a wealthy artist who likes to show it. This is represented in the video by the cars and jewellery. The screenshots represent the artist with wearing the jewellery as well as approaching the club in an expensive car these represent the generalisations of the hip-hop based music videos.

Goodwin’s theory also suggests that there is a correlation between the music and the lyrics in the music videos. An example of this would be if the artist was singing and the music video on the screen would relate to the lyrics. Goodwin’s suggests that the visuals in the music video reinforce the lyrics of the song. Goodwin’s suggestion is also present in the video I have chosen in such moments as when the artist sings about the bartender “I like the bartender” then the audience are able to see a bartender serving drinks at a bar this represents the visuals being reinforced in the video; another example of this is shown when T-Pain winks at the bartender “She gave me a wink, I winked back” these significations amplify the lyrics by the music video.

Another suggestion by Goodwin was similar to the one above however this time the actual music was amplifying the music visuals. A representation of this could be demonstrated by the dancers in the music video dancing to the music as well as changing moves depending on the sound changes in the music. An example of this in the T Pains song is when a clapping sound is played in the club then the audience are able to see the artist clapping this amplifies the visuals for the audience; signs of subliminal moves are presented in the video for the audience to get a flowing feel of the video however the audience do not notice the synchronised clapping as the artist carry’s out the action in the video.

The demands of the record label are also another aspect of Goodwin’s theory. The record labels that the artist work for have demands for the artist to product work that will allow advertisement as well as a recognisable image for the artist. In this music video there are allot of the demands of the record labels; these are represented in the video by the name of the club that the video takes place; the name of the club is “Club Nappy Boy” which is also T Pains record label that he works for. Another example of this is represented in the co artists clothing Akon is the music video; Akon wears a jumper which has a “Konvict” logo print in the middle of the jumper. These represent  the both the record labels of their own in the video; those may be the requirements of the record labels which want to advertise their presence in the videos.

Goodwin’s views on the frequent reference to the human body in represented in most videos nowadays this is because this theory is very successful. Most of the new artists display their bodies in a sexual way which attracts new audience. Goodwin often refers to woman as “objects” this is a true statement as most of the new music videos use woman as seductive object to attract the male audience. This representation is displayed in the T Pain video where T Pain is sitting on a bed with a girl who is wearing seductive sexy clothing. The male audience develop a sexual aspiration towards these women which makes the want to watch the music videos as well as wait for the next ones out. The woman’s legs in the screenshot to the right are the main point of attention where the audience focus on.

voyeurism

In this screen shot the women are seducing the men by performing sexual dancing and therefore the male audience gain pleasure from watching them. The chairs act as if there were men on the chairs and therefore the men can imagine themselves being in them.

The woman in this screen shot is seducing the man by being in a sexual pose as well as wearing seductive clothing. The special effects on the screen create an effect like the person is behind bars and you cant reach her. This ads to the sexual desire of the viewer.

This effect represents the seductive woman to be split into two people and therefore this could represent that the viewer receives twice the pleasure from watching the video. It could also represent that the one of them is for the video and the second one is for the viewer