Textual analysis of a music magazine front cover

Textual Analysis of a music magazine front cover

I have found a music magazine that I will analyse to help me get a rough idea of what music magazines will be like and what type of main cover image and cover lines they have on a music magazine as I will be making my own music magazine front cover as well as contents page.

            The music magazine which I have found and I am going to be analysing is the magazine “Vibe”

            The denotation of the front cover is that you can see a woman dressed up in a suit wearing a hat with her hand placed on her head. The woman is photographed with a long shot with her eyes not looking at the camera, but of screen and she is also seen with a big smile. The women is seen standing in front of a brick wall whilst this photograph was taken and also on the front cover surrounded by the woman are several cover lines which some are in are bright yellow font colour. Behind the woman, you will also be able to see the masthead, Vibe. At the bottom of the left hand side of the magazine, there is also a bar code.

            The masthead of this magazine is “Vibe” which is written in bright yellow writing which makes it stand out from the brick wall background. The connotation of the masthead “Vibe” is that because it is in written in yellow font, it suggests that the magazine is very fresh and up to date as yellow also connotes freshness and happiness. You can also tell that this is a music magazine as the masthead is “Vibe” as connotations of the word vibe are moving to music and dancing. The masthead is also written in lower case letters and it looks quite solid and hard however, it looks like its a little bit opaque as you can see some of the outline of background of the brick wall through it. This connotes that as the writing looks quite solid, it means that the magazine itself is up to date with not only music, but also some of the artist and as the masthead is also a little bit opaque, it can also suggests that the magazine has a little bit of the funky side as well as not only updating you with R’n’B/Hip hop music but also getting the readers to understand the lyrics more and what the lyrics actually mean to the singers/artists.

            The main cover image of the front cover of this Vibe magazine is a medium long shot of the singer Janet Jackson. Janet Jackson is seen standing up leaning against a wall with a very comfortable pose with one hand in her pocket and one hand on her head. Janet Jackson is also seen with a challenged role as she is seen wearing a suit. Wearing a suit is a challenged role of a female because you don’t really see many females wearing suits as girls are normally seen as wearing girly clothes such as dresses and skinny jeans etc.  Her suit is dark grey and you can also see that she is wearing a white shirt on the inside with a white tie. The dark greyish colour of her suit connotes that she is strong willed and up for anything and this can also contradict with her plain white coloured shirt and tie which she is wearing on the inside of her suit as the colour white connotes and symbolises her innocence and purity. By Janet Jackson wearing a suit, it connotes that Janet is not your “typical female” as she is wearing a suit which shows her power and authority just like any other male artists. By wearing a suit, it can also connote that Janet Jackson is very comfortable and confident with her music and her style, just like her brother Michael Jackson who was also praised for his music and was known as the “king of pop”. Janet Jackson might also want to be following her brother’s footsteps as she is wearing a suit to show everyone that just because she is a female, she will not give up her singing career and can be just like the other male artists out there and she won’t let anyone let or bring her down as she looks very happy and is smiling and also her pose is very relaxed too, to connote that she is very confident and happy.

            The main cover line is referred to the main cover image of Janet Jackson as the main cover line is “Janet off the wall”.  Her name “Janet” is written in bold red capital letters to show the readers that she is the latest hottest singer around as the colour red also connotes being sexy, yet very dangerous. The words “off the wall” has the effect on it which looks like it has been sprayed painted on to the background of the brick wall which connotes Janet is up to something mysterious and cool.

            The other cover lines on this Vibe magazine as well as the main cover image gives the genre away. The genre of this magazine is Hip Hop/ R’n’B. You can tell because the main cover image is of a sexy R’n’B singer, Janet Jackson who is famous and also has a famous brother. The cover lines also mention Hip Hop/ R’n’B singers such as Rihanna, J.Lo, Dr.Dre and Lil’ Kim. All of these artists are very famous in the music industry and is also known for their hip hp/R’n’B songs.

            This magazine not only updates you with the latest music but also with the latest gossip/news and also updates you with also “15 crucial video games” which connotes that this magazine is not only based on music but other things young teenagers are interested in. This then shows that the target audience and the people who are most likely to read this magazine are people who are teenagers and people who like hop hop/R’n’B music.