ALBUM COVER ANALYSIS – JAKE

BUGG – JAKE BUGG

Alex Harris

This is the album cover of Jake Bugg’s debut album which as you can see is self named. The first noticeable feature of the music video is Jake’s face slightly off centre and he is almost looking downwards as opposed to directly at the audience. This suggests that he is more interested in the music than selling his own image, as it looks like a very basic album cover. This is reinforced by his jacket which is zipped all the way to the top showing his casual, slightly dull showing he doesn’t care about dressing in a lavish way. When paired with his mod haircut it is very clear to see he was influenced from bands like Oasis. This basic album cover also connotes that Bugg is somewhat detached from the industry and just enjoys making music and sharing it with his fans, which hardcore music fans are likely to appreciate.

Another prominent aspect of this album cover is the self-named title. This makes sense for a number of reasons. The text is dark to make it stand out in front of the light background and the record label will want to get his name well known. The choice to not have an album name, I believe is a strong one. For his first album Bugg was not well known and one of the best ways to get his album known his name is to self name it meaning his name and album are being promoted at the same time. From his second album ‘Shangri La’ and live shows, this font and layout has been used over and over and now to his fans it’s become his logo to some extent.

Genre: It is clear from the greyscale album cover and Bugg’s britpop like image that his genre is more than likely be similar to bands such as Oasis and Blur. For those who aren’t aware of Blur and Oasis, they mainly perform alternative rock.

Target Audience – I believe it’s fair to say that Bugg attracts a more mature audience. After being to two of his gigs already he has a generally fair mix of genders, for fans and a good mix of ages starting from around 15 going up to people aged around 50. By also aligning himself with classic singer songwriters he reinforces this notion of him being a traditional singer-songwriter.

Star Image: Bugg has a very original star image. Not one that he is put a lot of thought into yet one that has build very strongly in recent years. Bugg is seen as a role-model by many because of his background. He comes from a poor town in Nottingham called Clifton which you hear in his song ‘Two Fingers’. People compare him to a British version of Bob Dylan.