Textual analysis of a music magazine front page

Textual analysis of a music magazine front page

The music magazine I have chosen to analyse is ‘Vibe’. This magazine was founded by the legendary producer Quincy Jones in 1993. Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine that commonly features R‘n’B and hip-hop music artists, actors and entertainers. The magazines main target audience are young, urban followers of the hip-hop culture. This is definitely conveyed by the posture of the model on my chosen publication. The model, who is the main (and also the only) image on the front cover is ‘Chris Brown’. He is a very famous American R‘n’B singer, songwriter amongst others. The model leans back with a hard facial expression and he is looking directly into the camera. He has a fair amount of ‘bling’ on (chains, bracelet, earrings, belt and Rolex watch) and is leaning back on small wall. Chris Brown has his hands in his pockets while his right hand does a gangster-like sign. Typically, he also has visible tattoos on his arms and hand.
The background is blurred so that the artist is the readers’ main focus.
Even though the image is a medium shot of the artist, we can imagine that the jeans he is wearing are baggy and he has fashionable, expensive trainers on. Also, the artists’ hat is the renowned American New Era baseball cap, without even being told, immediately you can guess the genre of music this artist communicates.

The layout of the magazine itself is very bold and defiant, with a regular colour scheme of white, green, orangey-red. The orangey-red puffs colour co-ordinate with the artists t-shirt and this works well. The magazines main cover line is white and after the masthead ‘VIBE’ it is the next biggest size. The fonts remain standard all over the front cover. The main cover line asks a question ‘IS THAT CHRIS BROWN?’ As it is so big and eye-catching (just like the image) we know straightaway that the model on the magazine must be Chris Brown. The fact that ‘that’ has been put in italics makes us look at the image to verify whether or not the image is of Chris Brown insinuating he has somehow changed. The consistency of the white and green font contributes to making the cover look ‘cool’ (just like the artist) but yet it still manages to stand out at the same time. The yellow on the puffs connote danger but also the use of it is to get our attention (as yellow is known to enhance concentration). The yellow on the puffs helps draw our attention to them but most importantly the information on it. The puff in the right bottom third of the magazine says ‘CDS ARE DEAD’ in yellow, this makes the colour choice a good one as yellow is known to connote danger and red anger.

Under the main cover line, there is a quote in black but with the word ‘VIRGIN’ in red and the word ‘YOUR’ in italics. This is also done strategically so that the reader/consumer is drawn in and wants to know and read more. As the quote is under the artists’ name, we assume that the quote is from Chris Brown and as it is a personal subject, this can be very enticing to the reader. The word ‘VIRGIN’ is not only in red but it is also in bold, thus drawing even more attention to it. Putting it in red was done intentionally as it relates to what the colour connotes both its positive and negative connotations. For example, love, passion and sexiness are all positive connotations whereby war and danger are some of its negatives. The ellipsis ‘...’ after the word virgin indicates that there is more to come, it gives the reader time to gather their thoughts and it also slightly depicts the artists’ views and personality. Putting ‘YOUR’ in italics is done so that the reader knows and feels like Chris Brown is talking to them, making it feel more personal.

On the right hand side of the magazine front cover there is another set of cover lines indicating what can be found inside. The standard colour duo of green and white is used with the key names (of other celebrities and the most important) in green. The artists’ names included are those of rappers and R‘n’B and hip-hop moguls who are all big names in the genres. 

The magazine cover is unique and very suitable for its target audience even though its layout is pretty much conventional, for example the placing of the barcode, website link and dateline in the bottom left third of the magazine cover. However, this magazine does not have a re-occurring selling line; across the top of the magazine it tends to just have names, key words or phrases relating to articles that can be found in that particular publication. One thing that I have noticed that is conventional of Vibe magazine is that most of the time on the front cover of the magazines there is only one famous face.

These are images of past Vibe magazine front covers.