Analysis of a Music Magazine Front Cover #2

This music magazine varies slightly from the ‘NME’ magazine, which I analysed previously, however it still displays most of the usual conventions. The artist within this magazines main image is Chris Brown, who is a well-known hip-hop/R&B artist. Again, the image of Chris Brown covers the magazines Masthead, which is ‘VIBE’, possibly because it is a popular, already recognisable institution. It is also a commercial institution, like NME. Additionally, the masthead is printed in a large, bold font, of white colouring, which ensures that it stands out upon the splash.

The way in which Chris Brown is displayed represents him in a particular way to the audience; he looks self assured and confident, displayed by the look on his face and the way in which his cap is perched upon the side of his head. He also carries a certain ‘swagger’ about him, also represented by his body language, and the way one hand is in his pocket, the other making a signal to the audience to present this. A typical stereotype for an artist of this genre is a confident, tattooed person sporting plenty of expensive jewellery or ‘bling’. Therefore, Chris Brown’s presentation fits this idea. For a male, Chris’s hat and baggy jeans also fit this stereotype. The image has been shot from a tilted angle, looking upwards and therefore making the artist appear bigger and more dominant. It is also a long shot, ensuring that we can see both Chris Brown’s facial expression and read his body language. Similarly to the NME magazine, the main cover line (the largest and most recognisable cover line upon the cover) is in relation to this main image, and therefore to Chris Brown. It also contains an item of speech which intrigues the audience and catches their attention: ‘I’m still a virgin’, this may shock fans of Chris Brown, before it then states ‘…in your eyes’. We are then intrigued to read on in order to understand the meaning of this statement. Each of the other cover lines are situated in a list towards the right-hand side of the magazine, all of which relate to popular artists and their music.

Though the main text colour of this particular magazine is white, all key words are displayed in a different colour; generally green but on few occasions either red or yellow. The banner is again displayed at the top of the magazine, and is therefore the first thing visible when the magazine is displayed within a shop. The banner states an area of content that will interest the readers and attract them into buying the magazine; in this case, the downfall of the famous Debarge Family from the 1980s. The barcode is situated within the bottom left-hand corner, along with the dateline and magazine website. As all content within this magazine relates to hip-hop/R&B/rap music, the target audience will ultimately be anyone interested within this particular genre of music. Also, as many of the artists stated upon the front cover are fairly modern, such as Will.I.Am, Chris Brown and Usher, I would say this magazine targets an age group of around fifteen to twenty five year olds. Though the main image is of a male, I would also say that Vibe’s target audience is both male and female orientated, due to content stated within the cover lines. For example, ‘The 30 hottest spots for hip hop and R&B on the web’ would be of interest to both genders, with cover line such as ‘Usher’s exes’ being particularly of interest to females.