Analysis of a Digipak - Katy Perry

Research - Task 9 (part 5)

Teenage Dream is the third studio album by American singer Katy Perry. It was released on the 24th August 2010 through Capitol Records. Musically, it contains pop with influences of disco, electronic, house, and hip hop. Lyrically the album revolves around teenage love, partying, self-empowerment, and personal growth. The artist co-wrote every song on the album, and also worked with a number of producers and writers, including Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Tricky Stewart, StarGate, Greg Kurstin, and Ester Dean.
Upon its release, Teenage Dream received a range of mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented its production and themes whilst criticising Katy Perry's songwriting. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 192,000 copies in its first week. It was later awarded three times platinum by the RIAA, selling more than 3 million copies in the United States and charting within the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 year-end chart three years in a row. As of July 2013, Teenage Dream has sold 6 million copies worldwide. The album and its singles earned Katy Perry seven Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Record of the Year, as well as winning International Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2011.

The front cover of the Teenage Dream digipak features Katy Perry lying on top of a pink cloud which resembles candyfloss, completely naked with a full face of makeup and her hair slicked into a retro, 1940's style. She has used a theme of sweets and candy throughout the design of the digipak, with the typography for her name resembling strawberry laces, and the title of the album resembles candycanes and she uses the red and white stripes which hold these connotations. Her name is the largest use of font on the digipak, which illustrates that she is the most important feature of the album and may also suggest that as she is the main focal point, the songs on this album may be very personal and revolve around her own experiences and life choices.

As she is featured on the front cover not wearing any clothing, this will attract the 'male gaze' which is Laura Mulvey's theory relating to women in the film and music industry. She claims that audiences have to 'view' characters from the desired perspective of a heterosexual male. The camera tends to linger on the curves of a female's body, and the female body is often overly-sexualised in order to attract large audiences. This is certainly present in this image as the singer is completely naked, with her curves partially covered by wisps of the cloud. This suggests that the singer is seductive and provocative, but as this album has previously implied that the tracks are personal to her, her lack of costume may be to imply that she is completely stripped back and vulnerable with her lyrics.

The back cover of the digipak continues the candyfloss and sweets theme, as the typography for the tracklist yet again resembles strawberry laces, and within the majority of the song titles the singer has included a candy sweet to replace letter O's. This theme illustrates the singer as having a fun and innocent side to her personality.

Inside the covers of the digipak, the singer has included two extra photos of herself to help sell her product and attract her audience. The first is a close-up shot of the singer as she is lying back in the clouds, and the other is the singer surrounded by various cakes. These two images reinforce her sweet aesthetic, and also the fun and innocent personality trait she is conveying. However, her seductive facial expression in the first photo also shows that she has another side to her personality which is much more provocative and sensual. Inside the digipak she has also featured two CDs that are layered with images to continue the theme of sweets and candy. The first disc resembles a donut, whilst the second resembles a stereotypical American candy sweet.