A.S - Analysis of Print Media

The album cover I will be analysing is for the album ‘Sam Sparrow’ release by solo artist Sam Sparro. It was released in the UK one the 28th of April, 2008 and debuted at number five in the charts.The genre of the album is clearly pop, or quirky pop. This is evident through the font used, and the vast amount of colour against a dark background. Pop is often related to bright and glossy colours and modern fashions, all of these conventions are used in the album cover.

There are a variety of visual techniques used, one of which that is particularly noticeable is how the advert captures the audience’s eye with the title at the top centre, with the large image taking most of the space below it. They are both in a central position to the square layout, ensuring that they attract people’s attention. I don’t believe there are meanings generated through this main image and title, as most of the semiotics are present in the finer details such as font, background and image. The only uses of words on the cover are ‘Sam Sparro’ which is used as both the album title and artist. As it uses the linguistic device of alliteration, it creates a catchier title that will perhaps stick easier in people’s minds. References to popular culture include the sunglasses that Sam Sparro is wearing in the image, with the lines going across the lenses. These sunglasses were first brought to attention to the public in Kanye West’s video for ‘Stronger’, and are now a staple item of many people’s wardrobes, but for more a of a humorous than fashion reason. The fact that these are used in the album cover connote that the artist is modern and is a current artist who could appeal to many of today’s younger society.

To begin with, the main image of Sam Sparro represents him as being a popular music artist, as the image is of a photograph of him, made up of glossy bright colours. Much of these colours are seen to be almost dripping off the image, as if to represent Sam Sparro as being indulgent and a luxury, as dripping is reminiscent of these aspects. Around the edges of the image, the colours are blurred in lines, as if it is moving at an incredible speed. This could represent him as hurtling towards stardom, and this is reinforced through the fact that the background is of space with a black background with many stars. This idea of space could also represent Sparro as being something that is out of this world, and perhaps extremely different from anything we have heard before. The actual image of Sam Sparrow is slightly towards the right and from a slight low angle; he is also wearing a slight smile. This smile represents Sam Sparro as being serene, and happy with how his career is going. The fact that it is at a low angle connotes that we should look up to this artist and his talent. It is an almost god-like picture. The font used for the album title and artist is also quite a futuristic style to choose, as it is in a silver metallic colour, with sharp angles. There are also edited indents on some of the letters. This futuristic look could again reinforce that he something different and new. There is also a little sparrow image in the ‘o’ of Sam Sparro, which appears to be his trademark as it is present on the advert as well. Richard Dyer's 'Star' theory says that a person is only seen to have a star persona by being both absent and present and both ordinary and extraordinary. This is portrayed in this album cover, as Sam Sparro is seen as being ordinary through his hat and sunglasses (fashionable items) but also as extraordinary as he is seen to be in the stars.

I believe that this text would be consumed by quite a young audience, perhaps aged 13 – 30 as from the cover it connotes a very modern pop electro sound. I also believe that this album would be consumed by a more curious music audience, perhaps looking for something slightly quirkier from the average pop song, due to its interesting use of visuals on the cover.