Westlife is a famous boy band which is widely recognised over the world. From first glance at this album cover you can easily distinguish that this is a boy band and not a solo artist or a mixed sex band. West life are a boy band who’s style would fit the conventions of what we are trying to achieve in our own digipak. They use the same genre and types of songs and portray a slick layout with each member of the group looking fashionable and well groomed.
From looking at the dominant reading path you can easily tell that this is a boy-band. The reader’s eyes are automatically drawn to the centre of the page and in this case it is the name of the band and album. From then on you explore every band member singularly from front to back. The reader’s eyes will look towards the man at the front of the album cover and work their way back. Lastly the reader will begin to explore the album cover in more specific detail and try to look into what is happening in the background. This background is set outside with trees and green grass which they are walking across. This signifies a ‘naturalistic’ environment which they are associated with which will appeal to not just one specific target audience. If Westlife were to have a more futuristic or modern background the older generation may be put off by this and see it as ‘youth music’. They use neutral colours and nothing stands out too greatly, the blend of greens and the white sky gives a laid back effect which maximises its sale to all ages. From the clothes the band members are wearing e.g. fashionable/casual jeans and shirts or waistcoats the audience is given the impression that these men are in some ways ‘easy going’ and loveable characters with a likeability factor for everybody.
Each of the band members generate a certain sex appeal, their well groomed and fashionable look adds to this sex appeal as well as their ‘stylish hair’ and good looking faces. This generates a cult of youth and beauty which maximises their fan base, attraction of more female fans, which makes this more of a business in selling themselves rather than their music. Each member of the band due to their fame and good looks brings about a sense of ‘sexual desire’ to certain females all over. This inevitably helps them sell more of their albums/singles which leads on to more profit for themselves. This process however all boils down to their fortunate genetics of being good looking and ‘sexually desirable’ to a lot of women.
The title in the middle of the page is part of the earlier mentioned ‘dominant reading path’. The simple white bold letters allow the audience to determine the name of the band easily and it anchors the rest of the page well due to its simple layout. The background connotes ‘nature’ and ‘wildlife’ which gives the audience an inset to the minds of the band members showing their tranquil side and perhaps ‘love of the naturalistic environment’. Each of the band members looking to be ‘down to earth’ and well rounded individuals; they do not look completely driven by just fame but have a passion for music. The name of the album ‘back home’ emphasises this because home is a place associated with warmth and safety, the looks on the band members faces shows a desire for this warmth and safety of ‘home’. On the other hand if they were completely driven by fame it would be each of them dressed in revealing clothing with a modern look to the album cover with their photos being taken by the media and complete stardom. This album cover doesn’t connote this at all, they are all famous individuals and they chose to keep themselves looking like role-models for both young and old audiences.
All of these stages add up to how the band is being represented or perceived in reality. Using dyers critical framework on stars it is evident that the term ‘star’ was a set of mythological meanings which contained common values of being in music stardom. These common values consisted of youthfulness, rebellion, sexual magnetism, originality, creativity/talent and success against all odds. Westlife matches each of these traits which are key to making them a successful band. 'Dyer' also mentions that ‘the star image is incoherent’ relying on two different key paradoxes. The first paradox being that ‘The star must be ordinary and extraordinary, the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer’. This paradox matches up well with Westlife and their genre and status over the world. They can both be seen as ordinary by the way in which they dress and their mannerisms, however on the other hand they can be seen as extraordinary by their fame and talent shown in their music.
The product will be targeted to be sold in mainstream shops such as HMV and other high profitable music stores. The reason being for this is because Westlife are not a band starting out and trying to sell a minute number of records to create a name for themselves. They are already an established band with clear goals to make money and have a likeability factor by making good music for everybody to enjoy and take pleasure in listening to it.
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