Name of Artist- Ne-Yo
Title of CD- because of you
Executive Producer- The Carter Administration
Record Label- The Island Def Jam Music Group
Date Recorded and Released- 2007
There is only one image on the front cover and that image is an extreme close-up of Ne-Yo. Although you can only see the one side of his face there is a lot of emotion to be seen. The fact that his head is bowed gives a number of impressions to the audience- it looks like he id hiding his face from the world or he is too afraid to face the world. This view is further proven as it can be seen that Ne-Yo is wearing a hats if to shield himself from the world. Ne-Yo’s facial expression comes across as sad, his eyes looking down give the impression that he id trying to hide his emotion from the world; it’s almost as if he is too afraid to let the world see his sadness. Half the front cover is blank and grey with Ne-Yo’s image being faded in approximately about half way in. This affect give’s Ne-Yo a ghost like appearance. This links into the impression if Ne-Yo being sad, it seems like Ne-Yo is trying not to be too dominant or in your face like some other artists do. The ghost like effect furthers this idea that even though Ne-Yo isn’t always at the forefront he is always there even if you don’t notice him at first. The ghost like effect also implies that something has happened to make him start to fade away to become a ghost; it is almost like he is dying inside. This ties in with the title of the album which is ‘because of you’. The title is very simple however it captures the audience as it makes the audience question the title as there are hundreds of possibilities and connotations to this. Is it a positive thing? Is it a negative thing? What actually happened because of the person? Who is this person? Friend? Family? These are just some of the questions raised by the title. The title ‘because of you’ is a very simple title just like the photo on the front cover and just like the front cover image it brings hundreds of questions to mind. This is very telling about the artist that although on the surface Ne-Yo may seem simple or easily figured out however if you take the time he will show you that he isn’t easily figured out and that he will intrigue you. The font and size of the title helps to build on this idea that simplicity is more intriguing than complicated. Having the title in lower case letters as well as it being black builds on the image of simplicity even the font is very simple. Very interestingly though Ne-Yo’s name is in the colour gold; the colour gold brings instance connotations bright, star and rich. Ne-Yo’s name being in gold instantly associates himself with these gold connotations and this builds on the connotations which have already been built up about Ne-Yo: that he is a star. Furthermore that he doesn’t have to do anything fancy because he is naturally a star and that is why his name is in the lower case and in the top left hand corner.
Similarly to the front cover there is only one picture of Ne-yo on the back cover, however unlike the front cover this image goes from Ne-Yo’s head down to three quarters of his body and a tree can be seen behind him. Having three quarters of Ne-Yo’s body is like the opposite of n iceberg whereas instead of most of the burg being under water most of the ice burg is above water. So in this case most of Ne-Yo is above the water, meaning that he is very easy to read (this fits in well with the front cover image). Moreover the body language and facial expression of Ne-Yo is a very relaxed one with him leaning against something, this further builds on the image of Ne-Yo being very relaxed, the fact that he is leaning against something shows that it was a very relaxed and easily flowing album to make. However on the other hand the casual stance could indicate something else, it could indicate that this album was a very stressful album to make (which would tie in with the title of something big happening) and now that he has got everything off his chest he can just relax (hence the casual stance) and breath. A tree instantly connotes nature and this tree being behind Ne-Yo gives off the impression that the music that Ne-Yo produces and the lyrics that he writes comes naturally to him, that he doesn’t get other people to write or produce his music for him. Furthermore nature also connotes tranquility and calmness this could indicate that the cd is a very calming and relaxing one. All of the image is see through just like the image on the front cover, having the same effect on the back cover as on the front carry’s through the same connotations that Ne-Yo is a goat and is fading away or is just starting to come back to life. The font colours on the back cover are black and gold, with number of the track and the featuring artist (if there is one) being in black and the name of the song is in gold. This is the opposite of the colour scheme which is on the front cover where he artist is in gold and the title is in black. The colour black is a colour which is associated with professionalism and work so having the featuring artists name in the colour black symbolizes that whilst Ne-Yo is casual and relaxed about his music he can be professional. Moreover having the featuring artists name in a different colour to that of the title of the song makes the name stand out more, especially when the background is white. Ne-Yo has a big name on his cd in the form of JAY-Z and making it stand out more will appeal to people who are a fan of Jay-Z as Jay-Z is a massive artist. Furthermore Ne-Yo has Jennifer Hudson featuring on his album and at this time Jennifer Hudson was an up and coming singer and Ne-Yo having her on his album shows that he supports new singers. The titles of the songs are in the colour gold and this connotes to the audience that Ne-Yo’s music is magical its gold. Moreover underneath the titles of the songs there are three symbols, one is for Mercury Records, the second is for Def Jam recordings, and the last one is for Compound Entertainment. These record labels are well known record labels and having them on the back cover shows that he has massive support behind him as well as that he must be a good artist to have three record labels backing him.
Ne-Yo is one hundred percent an R&B artist and this is signified by the front image. A typical convention of an R&B artist album is that there is a dominating image of the artists face for example Alicia Key’s album ‘As I Am’. Ne-Yo fits into this as there is an image of Ne-Yo’s face which dominates the front cover. Moreover the font that is traditionally used is very simple and bold using in the colours black, red and white. Once again Ne-Yo fits into this convention as the font is very plain and simple as well as being black and gold.
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