In Pop and R'n'B, the main artist is the focus on the cover whether it be female or male. In the photo's, direct address is used to make the audience feel involved. Examples of this include Lady GaGa's albums 'The Fame' and 'The Fame Monster.' The artists have something that they are known for or relates to a song included in the album. In Lady GaGa's 'The Fame,' she wears the same designer sunglasses she did in her music video 'Just Dance' (of which is her number 1 hit on the album). 'The Fame Monster' on the other hand displays her quirky and unique fashion style with the unusual designer clothing and haircuts. She appears in many unusual outfits in her music videos, as well as in public to set her own star icon for the audience to recognise her with.
Many other star icons such as Beyonce, Katy Perry and Jessie J also use direct address in photo's, as include elements in album art work that they are recognised with (Beyonce with her curvy figure and her message of strong independent woman in her songs; Katy Perry and her abstract music videos, with bright, colourful and voyeuristic costume and Jessie J with her short black bob with straight fringe, and her designed or bright lip make-up).
However, some also have the artists looking in a different direction or away such as in Rihanna's 'Loud' album and Adele's '21' album cover where they are looking down. In the album art work for Rihanna, she appears to have red hair and red lipstick as she has the same red hair and lips in her music videos of the songs that are in her album. Also, most of the songs on her album are about love (with the red hair and lips creating symbolism of love) of which some of them are negative such as 'Love the Way You Lie' being about partners lying and abusing each other in relationships. This may be why she is looking down as she is feeling insecure and hurt by love as she is experiencing different emotions towards it. This is the same with Adele's album cover and songs on her album '21,' where most of her songs are about breaking up with her partner. Her famous song 'Someone Like You' is expressing her best wishes for her ex and the idea she'll find someone just as good as them. The album art work is in black and white to express Adele's sadness of being hurt by love.
In Rock music, I have been looking at a few examples of album covers of this genre too. I looked at an album called 'Riot' by a band called Paramore and an album called 'What Separates Me From You' by a band called A Day To Remember. These two albums both use artistic ideas of album art work for the cover rather than the use of pictures of the band. However, the art work represents their attitudes or ideas expressed in the music included in the album. This could be a good idea for our digipak cover as our song 'Love and War' was about the artist getting frustrated over the fighting involved in their relationship.
On Paramore's album, the word 'Riot!' is repeated over and over again to emphasis the word of the album. It looks similar to when teenagers 'doodle' in class with the scribbled pen look of the words, and the scribbled look creates edge and attitude to the album. The band were still in their late teens when they created this album which suggests the choice for the album art work, but also attracts a teenage audience, specially those who are rebellious and are into the 'emo' scene. The band themselves are regarded as this, so these type of teenagers will look up to them for inspiration.
With A Day To Remember's album, there is a picture of a man in a sand timer, who is most likely watching his life pass by without him (as the man is watching people walk by without noticing he's there), hence the sand timer connoting that his time is running out. Most of the songs on the album have a negative subject within the songs, such as the song 'Better Off This Way' is about leaving someone because they are being treated badly by their partner. This suggests the reason for the negative album cover as the songs and cover link together to show the audience that the songs are about more depressing subjects. The colours on the art work are dull and dark to match with the sad emotions brought up in their music. The text on the album is in capital letters to make it stand out, with more focus on the band name by using bigger font and bold text to catch the eye of fans much easier. 
However, I found an album cover by the alternative rock band 'We Are The In Crowd' which differs from the two above and many other rock album covers. This one features pictures of the band on the front cover, with pictures of the band socially getting along well together and messing around like stereotypical carefree teenagers who like to have fun and party. This relates to the band's target audience of teenagers by making themselves relatable so that other teenagers will look up to them. The colours used on this album are bright and engaging to catch the audience's eye and make it look appealing. The band name is the text that stands out the most with bigger and bolder font than the album title to attract fans like with A Day To Remember's album.
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