Album Covers

Album covers are an important factor an artist has to take into account when releasing an album as it is the first thing a listener will notice when seeing the CD in a store or downloading the album on iTunes. In many cases the listener will automatically remember the album cover and associate it with the song on that album, making it easier to remember the name and the artist.

Beyoncé's cover for her album "4"

Different genres of music usually have different types of album covers. For example, a pop artist will usually have a picture of themselves on the cover, especially if the artist is female, this is because most people recognise pop artist by their face as they are in the public eye more than other artists. Groups such as rock bands will usually have a picture that holds a meaning behind it and relates to the message that the album is trying to convey.

Biffy Clyro's cover for their album "Opposites" 

Fall Out Boy's cover for their album
"Save Rock and Roll"

Eminem and his album covers: 

The Eminem Show (2002)

Some artists put more effort into their album covers than the average artist and although to the average person it may not seem like the cover is anything special however to the fans there is a lot of meaning behind it. One artist that does this extremely well is Eminem, as his albums all tie in to each other he has album covers that all follow each other too. For example his three albums "The Eminem Show", "Encore" and "Curtain Call" all follow the theme of Eminem being is the spotlight on stage, and as you can tell from the names of the albums they follow the structure of a concert. The first picture is him preparing for the show, then then next cover is him bowing down at the end of the show preparing for the encore, finally the album is the end of the show, the curtains are closing and roses have been thrown at his feet.

Encore (2004)

Curtain Call (2005)

Eminem also done this with another series of albums that all tie in together about his struggle with drug addiction; "Relapse", "Refill" (bonus tracks for Relapse) and "Recovery", Eminem made the album Relapse after a 4 year hiatus from recording music due to being in rehab for his extreme addiction to pills (mostly sleeping medication) and almost dying from an overdose. This inspired a lot of the tracks on the album and to reflect this the album cover that was chosen was Eminem's face made out of pills. He then released an album a year later called Recovery apologising to his fans for his absence and vowing to never drink or touch drugs again. There are two alternate album covers for this album, one of them illustrating Eminem walking away from his past life and an open road into the future. The other cover showing Eminem boxed off from the world, maybe referring to his time in rehab and the fact that although he is caged off from the world he is still in the public eye and cannot escape. 

Relapse (2009)

Refill (2009)

Recovery (2010)

Another set of albums that tie in with each other are "The Marshall Mather's LP" and "The Marshall Mather's LP 2". These two albums are Eminem's most personal albums and this is why he name's them after his real name instead of 'Eminem' or 'Slim Shady'. The first MMLP is about Eminem's struggle's growing up and about his family etc. this is reflected in the cover by Eminem sitting on the porch of his childhood home in the slums of Detroit as it is about Marshall revisiting his childhood and almost reliving the experiences that he struggled such as not having a father, his mother neglecting him and taking drugs, and his brother being taken away by child services. He then released the MMLP2 thirteen years later and he describes it as being a revisitation to the first MMLP, he tries to right all his wrongs by apologising to his mother for previous songs directed at her. The album cover is the same house from the first MMLP although now it has been boarded up at the windows, the garden is overgrown around it and Eminem is not sitting on the doorstep as he has now moved on to a better life. Also the deluxe edition of the MMLP2 has a cover that gives the image of looking out on to the house through the back window of an expensive car, almost as if we are looking from Eminem's perspective as he drives past his childhood home. 

The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)