CD cover analysis

50 cent - Guess who’s back?This album is a compilation album by 50 Cent, released in 2002. The title of the album is ‘Guess who’s back?’ which is linked to a personal experience he faced when in 2000 he was shot by a gunman. This suggests the reason for the name of the album.The music genre is hip hop/rap. It could be recognised on the cover if you think stereotypical and automatically have connotations that guns, diamonds and the fact he is black link in with the genre. The artist does appear on the front, but is not the primary as I believe the gun is. Having the gun as the focus it has lead to me to believe that the album will contain aspects of violence. Carrying on from this, there is a ‘parent advisory’ warning on the cover showing that it is not suitable for young children which makes people believe that the songs will have grown up/ adult themes. The name of the artist is clearly noticeable as it is bold, clear and in black making it stand out if it was in the context of being on a shelf in a CD store.

Mumford & Sons - Sigh no more. Sigh no more is the first studio album that Mumford & sons have released. The music genre is alternative/folk. From a distance this could be hard to realise if you are not already a fan or know about the band as they’re are know blatant leads to know this. But if you look clearly, some instruments are shown which could give hints to the music genre. Another aspect is they are all wearing ‘folky’ outfits which represents the genre. The fascination I have with this album cover is the concept of it. The band members are stood in a shop window and the first reason for this that came to my head was ‘shop owners advertise their clothing in shop windows so.. they are trying to sell their selves as a band and their music whilst it is in a CD shop, hence why they are specifically shot in that setting.’ The white shop has connotations with purity and innovative which are words you could associate with this band. The name of the band is placed at the bottom along with the album name, which is clear but quite understated, compared to the 50 cent album.

Senses fail - Let it unfold you.

‘Let it unfold you’ is the debut album from this American rock band. The music genre is emo/rock/post punk. I personally believe this is obvious as the cover image is very strong, shocking, and edgy. Which are all words linked to the rock genre. The name of the band typography is black and bold making it clear. But the focus is the image within the mirror. It is vibrant and quite terrifying. The connotations I get from the whole cover is that the emotions, history the man is trying to express but cant, but they are all exposed in the mirror. Which could link in with the idea that the music is uncovering deep emotions that the band are trying to express. Also the idea that everyone has their ‘inner self’ is being showed in the image. The contrast of the black and white against the fiery orange makes this album cover stand out. Like the Mumford & sons album cover it is very original compared to the 50 cent album cover which has a close up shot of the artist on the front cover.