In my textual analysis I will be talking about the main points you will need to actually analyse a music magazine. I will be talking about the information which the readers look for to buy their magazine.
This magazine front cover consists of a coloured photograph of a women looking directly at the camera. The photograph taken is in a medium long shot showing her head, arms, waist and hands. She is standing up (legs visible) posing her hips at an angle. Her knee is visible in the shot. The background of the photograph is grey and the photograph covers the whole magazine cover. Behind the female is the masthead and in front of her are nine separate cover lines in the colours white, red and black. The photograph women’s name is in large white letters in a serif font. The white is repeated in the different cover lines. The barcode is visible in the bottom right hand corner.
Q’s masthead is very extraordinary with the red background and the white letter on top. The front used is a sans serif font. The masthead is just one letter to signify power. The style used is similar to the toy shop called “toys ‘r’ us” font which proves my point of the one letter showing power. The letter ‘Q’ tells the readers that it is questioning whoever is on the cover, which gives the scene that their readers want to always know more about celebrities and are not scared to ask.
The celebrity which is photographed is the victorious Lady Gaga. She is posing by her hips at an angle with her hand covering her breasts and her other hand touching her trousers. Her pose, body language, facial expression and clothing are very sexually suggestive and desirable.
Her clothing is rubber latex trousers with spikes on the edges. She is not wearing a top but just some rubber gloves which the fingers are purposely long. This costume is chosen specifically to appeal to the target audience of the magazine who are most likely to be male. She is not wearing any clothing from shoulders to waist but her hands are covering her breasts although you can see the shape of them. This shows she is appealing to her male target audience.
Her non-verbal communication is also very desirable. She is displaying her mouth half open with nude colour lipstick and her white teeth. She is looking directly at the camera with her bold eye make-up and wild hair style. The lighting is in a high key as the photograph is displaying the morning time. There is no setting but just a grey background which represents how she attracts her readers and is therefore representing her half nude theme.
The main cover line that relates to her photograph says “Lady Gaga has risen”. This is making a reference to the album she made called ‘the fame monster’. She is representing how she has changed from singing in bars and night clubs to singing live at concerts. Her costume is very exposed and she represents that her music video is exposed through her costume. The other different cover line tells us that this magazine doesn’t just concentrate on Lady Gaga but in fact other singers. This magazine doesn’t just concentrate on one genre of music. The other artists mentioned on the other cover lines are Madonna, Gorillaz, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Julian Casabancas, John Lydon and Jedward. These artists are from the rock, pop, genre. The only person mentioned who is not a musician is mumford & sons. The way the cover lines are written reveals that this magazine is also interested on current news. Some of the cover lines are in a sans serif font and some are in a serif font. This suggests that Q magazine isn’t afraid of mixing and is confident that their readers will enjoy their magazines.
Considering all these points I believe that Q magazine has a wide range of audiences from the ages of 20-55. The gender it would appeal to would be males because they would already know about this genre and the type of cultures. This magazine has a wide range of musical styles and this will attract the readers more. The readers are likely to be well educated.
Overall, I have found out what appeals to the readers, what a magazine must have to get their readers attention and the type of photographs they use.
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