Album covers - Analysis of one, more in general

Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner

A milestone in Dizzee's career, Boy in the Corner was a continuation of the "east end era", where fascinating life-characters whose magical mixture of tragedy, bravado and humour have captured the attention of us everyday sorts seeking a little escapism. This album was succeseful moreso for the brand Dizzee and his label had built up, while the cover, kept in the DIY style of the musics origins (pirate radio), added to anchoring the style.

The style of the cover is fitting to the style of the music. In the genre, everything from the music, to the lyrics, to the artwork, was all designed to be easy to construct on any home PC, with minimal software. The simple "vector art" style of the cover is easy to make. Vectors simple involve taken a photo/image, and placing blocks of colours over otherwise gradiented points. Combine this with the actual photo (a boy in a corner - linked to album name) and it is a good example of something effective that could be done on our own album cover for the project.

The compostition of the cover is fitting with the title of the album, and also portrays some characteristics of Dizzee himself. For example, he is wearing Nike outfit (tracksuit, trainers, gloves), something that is widely worn amoung similar artists, and their target audiences. This helps to anchor the artist to his audience.

He also has his fingers positioned in a "devil horns" shape. This small childish gesture is fitting with the tone of the music and the scene with it. This is the only reminded on the entire album of a more innocent take on life. The actual content of the album serves as a stark reminder that 21st century teenage life is a million light years away from the happy-clappy optimism that marked previous generations.

For instance, the dry humour inherent in the ironically titled "I Luv U" coats a sheer blanket over the tragedy that operates under the guise of teenage romance. "Pregnant, 15 underage thats raw. But its your own fault you said the three magic words (I luv U), its a shame the kid probably aint yours". (BBC)

The back of the cover again, is minimalist tict and a vector (probably of the wall from the photoshoot). It servers no real purpose other than to continue the theme from the the front (so keeping it athestically pleasing), and to give a track list. This list is in the same font as the typography on the font of the album.

Overall, the cover has several connotations of the artist and the music scene he works in. It is in keeping with the slightly ameteur feel of the whole genre, and is a good example of a succesful yet simple cover.