Analysing Music Magazine Covers

Denotation- An icon brunette haired girl posing with arms up close to her chest, most likely taken in a studio against a pink background. The girl is modeling a black glittered and floral dress and is surrounded in symbols; text, cover lines masthead etc.

  Connotation- The pink of the front cover connotes feminine, innocent, young, fun and bright. The Front cover on the whole gives the impression of romantic, vintage, classy, independent, successful, powerful, love, happiness, cheerful, spring, summer, weddings, valentines, peace, princess, passion, cute, fairytale, sweet and flirty.

Anchorage- ' The new Queen of Pop' limits the connotations to peace, passion, classy, independent, successful, powerful as the word 'Queen' indicates respectable women of high social class and power however the word 'Pop' calms the instant explosion of authority widening the range of ideas from less serious and formal to more fun and causal feminine, young, fun and bright, happiness, cheerful, sweet, princess and flirty. Words which were initially crossed your mind such as wedding, valentines, romantic, vintage, cute aren't so valid anymore due to the text closing the range of connotations. However summer, spring and flirty can be defended as the flowers wrapped around her body give this floral seductive feel. The fairytale thoughts could be explained by the princess atmosphere created by the text 'Queen', the pink background, flowers and how they are placed around her head as if it was tiara.

Looking at how the icon of Katy Perry is represented in this image I would say would be Dominant ideology as she is posing flirty, girly and seductive which is consider the norm; females should be attractive if they are to be accepted in society, especially if they want to impress the males.

Every magazine has a specific target audience and goes through the process of profiling and for ‘Billboard’ I believe that the type of reader it attracts is as follows:

· Female

· Falls into the category of 16-22 years old

· You enjoy a good gossip and follow the Celebrity lives.

· You Listen to Pop music

· You have an interest in Fashion

· Your ideal holiday would be a city break (Paris/New York) or a night life break to Ibiza

· Your Saturday night would be a girls’ night out/in depending on your mood

I believe that the psychographics of the audience (teenagers/ young adults ) for this type of magazine would be achievers or aspirers as the bubbly pop mag would attract the type of person who wants to do well and have the urge to achieve. The audience that the magazine would appeal to is someone who has the values of playing now and enjoy life and have to be something, so therefore would fall under the category of Post-modernists and/or Hedonists. Looking at the Jicnars scale, the reader that the magazine would attract would be someone who falls into the C1 category.

Denotation- An icon of a girl wearing a white top and a crown. There is red liquid which we assume is blood running down her face. One of her arms are reached up to her head where her hand tilts the tiara. The icon is surrounded in symbols; text, circles, masthead, barcode cover lines etc.

Connotation- The white top and tiara purity, innocence, softness, royalty, powerful, princess, angel, quiet, pleasant, understated elegance, sleek, glamorous, rich. Looking at the magazine front cover as a whole expresses the ideas of nice, romance, playful, delicate, formal, conservative, sophisticated, energy, war, danger, strength, horror, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Anchorage- 'Mad' and Bloody' restrict the connotations to energy, war, danger, strength, horror, power, death, crazy, hurt, anger, however the 'Good' is used in the same sentence ' So What's So Bloody Good', this play on words and a contrast of good and evil opens a wider range of connotations such as purity, innocence, softness, angel, quiet, pleasant and kind due to the word 'Good'. To further the idea of good and evil the background is light with a shadow of dark creating a gloomy and cloudy feel possibly portraying what evil lurks within the shadows and dark. There is an ongoing theme with contrast of good and evil; the icon of Lana Del Rey is wearing a tiara which links in with earlier connotations ideas like royalty, powerful, princess which are normally related to positive/ good words. Running from the tiara (portrayed as good) is supposedly blood that can been seen has horror, hurt and danger which conveys evil in the theme throughout the front cover.

The icon of Lana Del Rey is represented as mainly dominant ideology following the norm of society with women being attractive to others, however this is challenged with Lana Del Rey wearing a crown showing power and capability of having the rulers status which expresses that women can be more powerful than men. Also the blood running down her face slightly is rebellious damaging the typical attractive women status which therefore also makes the icon fall into the category of Emergent ideology too.

Every magazine has a specific target audience and goes through the process of profiling and for ‘Q’ I believe that the type of reader it attracts is as follows:

·Female/male

·Falls into the category of 16-22 years old

·You go to a lot of concerts and Festivals

·You Listen to chart music

·Your ideal holiday would be a city break (Paris/New York) or a campout to see a festival.

·Your Saturday night would a night out with friends (mixed group)

I believe that the psychographics of the audience for this type of magazine would be achievers or radicals as teenagers, which is the target audience supposedly believe they are different and are at the stage where they have the urge to achieve something. The type audience that the magazine would appeal to is someone who has the values of playing now and enjoy life and have to be something, so therefore would fall under the category of Post-modernists and/or Hedonists. Looking at the Jicnars scale, the reader that the magazine would attract would be someone who falls into the C1 category.