Analysis of a Digipak - Lady Gaga

Research - Task 9 (part 3)

Born This Way is the second studio album by American singer Lady Gaga, released by Interscope Records on the 23rd of May 2011. It is a follow-up to her internationally successful album The Fame and EP The Fame Monster. As co-producer of every track on the album, Gaga collaborated with several producers, including RedOne and Fernando Garibay, who she has previously worked with on other albums. She also worked with artists such as E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons and Queen guitarist Brian May. The music of Born This Way stems from the dance-pop styles of her previous material while incorporating different genres from her previous releases, such as electronic rock and techno. It features a broader range of genres such as opera, heavy metal, disco, house and rock and roll while its lyrical topics feature sexuality, religion, freedom, feminism, and individualism. Despite the divided opinions amongst religious and conservative commentators, the album was well received by music critics who praised the varying musical styles and Gaga's vocals. Born This Way received three Grammy Award nominations, including Gaga's third consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.

The front cover of the digipak is a close-up shot of Lady Gaga's face in black and white, with the exception of her red lipstick which is the only pop of colour across the whole digipak. The boldness of the red connotes a sense of danger and seductiveness, which suggests that themes of this may be present throughout the lyrics in this album. The pop of red also brings attention to the singer's mouth, implying that what she has to say is important, and that these messages will be featured in the lyrics of her songs.
The artist is also featured wearing very heavy eye-line, with the rest of her face very minimal in comparison. This brings the focus of the image to her eyes, and as the singer is also using direct address in this photograph, this helps to attract the audience and create a connection with them so that they will be more encouraged to purchase the album as she is staring directly at them.

The colour scheme of black and white is present throughout the whole digipak, as the spine of the digipak and the back cover are also lacking any bright colours, which suggests that this album is much more serious and sophisticated than her previous work. The colour black commonly connotes danger and mystery, whereas white is the binary opposite and portrays purity and innocence. This suggests that the singer has two sides to her personality, and can often be conflicted between the two.

The CD inside the digipak also follows this colour scheme, and is covered in white, serif typography. The font used is very spiky and clustered together. The spikiness of the font suggests a dangerous and edgy connotation, suggesting that these are personality traits that the artist portrays through her music. Lady Gaga is the largest piece of text throughout the whole product, which implies that she is the most important aspect, and that the album will revolve around her own life and personal experiences. The graphology used throughout the digipak is quite plain and serious looking, which illustrates that Lady Gaga does not require lots of bold, bright imagery to sell her products as she is hugely famous all by herself.