ANALYSIS OF TAYLOR’S SWIFT’S ALBUM’S CD COVER

In the center of the picture there is a mid shot of Taylor

Swift. Half of her face is cut out of the frame, showing her from the stomach to the nose. She is

wearing a blue and white jumper with seagulls on it.

Swift is wearing red lipstick, which brings out her lips. The

colours used within the picture are light and faded. This makes

the picture look old and vintage.

The artist’s name is written at he the bottom left corner,

below the picture of Swift. It looks handwritten by Swift to

engage with the fans and make it personal. The album’s title is at the bottom right corner of

the cover. The title is written in the same style as the artist’s

name.

The whole front cover is designed to look as a polaroid photo. Which could suggest

that this album is really personal to her, as the album’s title is 1989 which is her birth year. Swift could have possibly used this front cover as a code,

saying that she is letting her fans to know more about her personal life, all the way back

to childhood.

The flying seagulls on her jumper could symbolise ‘freedom’, as

birds in general are a symbol of freedom. They could suggest that

Swift has changed her style in music, as she used to be country artist. Most of her old songs are

about love and I think that is why she decided to slightly change her style. As now she is known to be a

pop singer, and her songs are more about herself. The seagulls

could illustrate that she feels much more confident about

herself and her music, as she now writes about her life.

The jumper that she is wearing suggests that, Swift doesn’t just

want to sell the album by showing her body on the front cover. It says that, the album is really

about the music and her as an talented artist.

The fact that only half of her face is seen, shows how recognisable

Swift is. As fans don’t need to see her whole picture to know that it

is her.

The track is in the top left corner of the back cover. The

numbers of the tracks are handwritten, just like on the

front cover. However, the titles of the songs are in

capitals and the font almost looks like it has been typed in typewriter. This makes it

look more vintage and relates back to the 90’s,

when she was growing up.

The back cover also is designed as a polaroid.

However, in this photo there is only part of Swift’s face seen. I am quite confident that it is the same picture that is used on the front

cover. Where as, on the front cover she was seen from the

nose below, on the back cover she is seen from the

nose above.

The picture looks vintage, just like the one on the front cover. There is this gold and sand colour effect on top of

the whole picture.

The titles of the tracks give that fans a clue that Swift has shifted to a different and new style of music. Titles such as, ‘Clean’ ,

‘Wildest Dreams’ , ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Blank Space’ quite

literally a ‘clean’ suggest that Swift has a ‘clean’ start in her life. She has left her past behind her, ‘Shake It

Off’.

At the bottom of the back cover, there is a bar code,

executive producers, record label ( and its logo ), artist’s

website, record label’s website.

The inside left cover is also designed as a

polaroid, this links the outside covers to the

inside and clearly shows that the same theme goes though the whole design.

Record label and its logo is vertically

written on the top right side of the

cover.

In the bottom of the cover, there has been written ‘I could show

you incredible things…’. These are lyrics from Swift’s

song ‘Blank Space’. On this cover the

lyrics could also be aimed at her fans as a metaphor of saying, that if you listen she

could create ‘incredible’ songs.

In the picture swift is leaning over a bench,

looking straight into the camera (engaging with

the fans). She is in a room full of benches,

could be a waiting room. Her facial

expression supports the lyrics below the picture. Suggesting that she is ready to show us (the fans) incredible things,

if we follow her. Her look suggests that she is waiting for her fans

to ‘follow her’.

There is nothing written on the inside

right cover.

The picture that is used for this cover

comes from the jumper that Swift is wearing on the front cover. The seagulls

are flying. This could also represent the ‘freedom’, of this

album. As it is a bit different and personal

than her previous albums.

The colours in this picture are light, dull

and faded, which represents old and vintage. These type of colours are used on all of the covers,

this creates the common dominator

throughout the whole album design.

The actual CD looks exactly as the inside right cover, as it has got the picture

with the seagulls. The only

difference is that it has Swift’s

initials and the album’s title

written on. They are handwritten, in colour white and the font is

quite big, so it is easier to notice

it.

Around the CD there is also

mentioned the executive

producers, the record label and the copyright. This is written in a lot smaller font, as it is not that important to the fans.

This is how the album looks like,

when it is opened.

This is how the album looks like, when it is opened with the CD inside

it.

The album (CD) that I have bought comes

in an extra packaging. It is a

card sleeve, where the plastic CD case goes into. The front and back of the card sleeve looks exactly

like the front and back covers on the CD case. I also got photos along with the Swift’s album. They are polaroid photos with her

lyrics at the bottom ( just like the left

inside cover). The photos are there to

connect with the fans, as they make them feel like the

photos are specially for them. The lyrics

are also handwritten, which makes it look like Swift wrote all of

them, even though it is a copy.