Album Cover Analysis

This is the front cover of the album by Eminem Encore. I choose this front cover based on the imagery it used, as personally this is not my particular taste in music. However i felt the imagery was strong and at times shocking.

The front cover of the album shows a man (Eminem) standing on a stage taking what looks like his final bow after maybe completing a tour for example. The curtains behind him are closing as if symbolising the end of his life. The claret colour of the curtains connotes blood and also re-illiterates the 'end' of his life. Further to this his tie is also red connoting this rather dark mysterious feeling of suspense.

The man seems to have his arm bent looking as if he is trying to hide something behind him. At first glance with the combination of the curtains closing and the dark feeling connoted through use of colour, speculates his intention to hurt people with a possibly a weapon he has hidden. A sense of mystery is further connoted through the image of the audience, the fact the backs of their heads are the only visible feature of their body this connotes further mystery in terms of the intentions of the main character on stage. The sticker in the bottom right hand corner of the album cover displays 'Parental Advisory' this connotes the genre of the music as it is clear that the music on the album contains expletives adding to the gritty genre of hip hop. Aesthetically the cover uses bold dark colours in order to attract attention to the possible customer. The typography is bold and white is used as a sharp contrast to further attract attention.

These further confirm the suspicions created on first glance of the album cover over the intentions of the main character. The imagery featured on the album cover is again used on the inside album cover. The image is the same however it is from a different perspective showing the gun clasped in his hand. Looking at the album cover in detail, it is clear that the audience are throwing red roses on to the stage, this shows further connotations of death and possibly suicide. The second image on the right of the inside CD case, this shows the main character himself with the gun in his mouth as if attempting suicide it is then clear to the customer if they look inside the CD case that his intentions are to commit suicide and possibly kill many of his audience. I was particularly interested in using this CD cover as I believe the imagery used is effective as it almost tells a story without words in a very versatile way.