Analysing The Back Of CD Title-cover-art.

This is a title-page CD cover art for Britney Spears’ debut album Circus.

The main eye catching thing upon this piece of artwork is the main image; there we see relaxed Britney spears lying on a bed filled with pillows and luxury whilst a child/ dwarf clown is presenting her with a cake with lit candles on the top. This could have many meanings, with the most probable being a celebration as this album was in fact released on her birthday which collaborated with the other idea that she has spent a decade with the same music production company, Jive. Therefore the birthday cake could be a celebratory momentum, this idea is reinstated as Britney isn’t looking at the character holding the cake, she seems to be looking ‘behind the set’ towards the camera crew or an item actually behind the audience, I find this very interesting due to the fact of it does not seem posed or un-naturalistic at all, it creates a strong sense of realism and is allowing the audience to have an exclusive look at Britney Spears behind the production of the album, and off the record which is strongly valuable due to the level of celebrity Britney is deemed to be. The lighting within the image is very low lighting which suggests intimacy and reflects something personal and closed off from the rest of the world; the colour pallet also is pinks, reds and oranges which also suggest intimate, sex and passion. The image is also retaining the circus image by the gypsy cloths and rags and I also like the way the image of sex is used very subtly only just by showing a small bit of flesh. The black heels which she is still wearing on the bed, I feel also reflects sex and fetishism however also reflects the idea she’s a strong, sexy and independent woman who makes up her own rules as it’s rather odd and strange to wear shoes, in particular heals on a bed.

The listing of the songs which are on the album are again, in the same font which are used on the CD front cover, this links the whole product together and also is constantly reinstating the theme of the album which is, in this case: the circus. The song list is in red, which reflects and connects with the colour pallet within the main image, with suggests my idea of intimacy, passion and up-close-and-personal. This means the songs are very close to the singer and celebrity therefore it makes the audience crave to listen and understand what the songs are about.

The number of the songs is in a total different colour to the red used to name the songs; the numbers are printed in a blue. I feel this represents the colour of the sky which suggests freedom and being allowed to sing and perform about what ever Britney is emotionally feeling or inspired by at the production of her album, I also feel is suggest the idea of the album is fresh, brand new and sharp. Where it says ‘Bonus DVD’ is written in green, which also suggests something fresh and new especially powerful with the word ‘bonus’ as it suggests the singer has never given out a bonus DVD before, something like this is brand new and fresh, reinstated and backed up by the fresh and bright colour green.

I love how the titles of the album of the song are framed, it’s as if they are written on a banner just like it’s advertising the Britney Spears’ circus, to some extent it is as her album is her circus just not the literal form of a circus. The background of the banner is yellow which connects with the colour of Britney’s hair and also the pillows she is laying on, this can suggest the idea of these songs have come from her head, they are her creation.

At the bottom of the page there are the usual conventions which you expect to see on the back of a CD cover which are the manager’s name, Music Company and barcode. These are pretty much seen on every CD backing-cover-artwork. They are pretty much used for easy retail use and for legal reason and promotion for the record company.

This was a very interesting CD backing-cover-artwork as it’s interesting to see how the management and production staff manages to keep the themes of the album, even on other strong images. It’s also interesting to see this in particular through the font and framing of the product as a whole.