Textual Analysis: Blender Music Magazine Front Cover 1

In my textual analysis I have written about a music magazine called blender. I have tried to analyse the front cover clearly.

This magazine has a colour scheme to make it stand out; the colour scheme is bright and contrasting. The main figure is of a women looking directly at the camera in a medium long shot from head to waist. She is standing up looking back at the camera by turning her head over her shoulder. She is posing and showing her back, shoulder, arm, bum etc. The background of the photograph is white and the female is enlarged on the front cover to take up the space. Behind the females head is the blender masthead and on the sides are separate cover lines in the colour theme of black and pink. The female’s name is in black and pink and heavily enlarged. There is no barcode.

Blender’s masthead is very visible by the bold black letters in a large font. The font is a sans serif font and the whole word is in capital letters. This font is bold and clear and has connotations with other music magazines. The words “blender” comes from a manufactured machine which makes fruit into juices, giving us suggestions that this magazine has every music story in it and it combines with the songs. Also the word “blend” from “blender” has connotations of merge, combine, and match which suggest that there are connotations of information in the magazine. All of the people that have used or said the word blender have represented this magazine by mixing. This suggests that this magazine is risky and not scared to mix. This therefore shows the word “blender” is associated with a music magazine.

The female character which is the front cover is the successful, Californian singer Katy Perry. The composition that Katy Perry is posing suggests that she is trying to be flirtatious. This is shown through her body language, clothing and the way she turns to see the camera.

Her costume is a pattern styled bikini which is made of fabric that shows a lot of cleavage also, she wears really small shorts. The costume has been chosen deliberately to appeal to the target audience which are mostly males or young teenage boys. The clothing she wears represents her new song kiss ‘n’ tell. Her bikini is representing the new generation of 2008 which suggests what young girls should dress up like. She wears a bow styled headband, watch, and bracelet which shows that it appeals to the younger generation and makes her look young and playful. She uses non-verbal communication to be seductive and powerless. She is looking directly at the camera and posing which suggests she wants to be playful. The lighting is put in a particular position to show all the tones in her body. There is no setting which suggests that she is alone and gives connotations that she is being seductive.

The main cover line that relates with the image is “Katy Perry: kiss ‘n’ tell with pop’s bi-curious babe.” This quote is referencing her song kiss ‘n’ tell. She is shown to be advertising what she did with bi-curious babe. The different cover lines suggests that the magazines don’t just talk about genres of music or main musical songs but in fact it “blends” with what celebrities get up to in the music industry. The other artists mentioned on the cover lines are T-Pain and David Cook. The only person mentioned who is not a musician is T-Pains wife. The way that cover lines are written suggests that the magazines focus on celebrity lives. All the cover lines are in bold fonts which are going with the masthead fonts. This suggests that blender is combining the stories and following the masthead and blending. This suggests to the readers that the stories are true.

The main target audience “blender” appeals to is young teenage boys and girls but mostly boys between the ages of 14- 21. They would have knowledge of the music culture and the interest of wide range musical styles in the music industry. They are also likely to be interested in the newest artists out.

Overall I have found out about what makes a music magazine appeal to its target audience and that magazine have to have a colour scheme or they have to have a relationship with each other through the fonts, styles and sizes.