Magazine advert analysis of Rihanna 'Rated R' Album

This is a magazine advert for Rihanna’s album ‘Rated R’. The magazine advertisement looks unique and a lot different compared to Drake’s ‘Take Care’. This is because the medium close up shot of Rihanna makes her look angry, aggressive and scary. This look is supported by the heavy eye makeup and rings worn in the album cover which is not common in an RnB album. However Rihanna is seen to be unique through the way she dresses showing the audience her personality and the kind of person she is. In the image the audience can see that Rihanna uses her right hand to cover her eye which indicates that she is possibly hiding something making the image look more mysterious. The ‘R’ in the top right corner which stands for the album’s name ‘Rated R’ looks as though it has been carved which suggests that the song is about pain which has left Rihanna with deep scars making her the way she looks in the image.

The advertisement mainly consists of three colours which are black, white and red. These colours are symbolic as the colour black symbolises fear, anger and pain. The colour white symbolises purity and innocence and the colour red symbolises love, danger and aggression. All three of these colours relate to the album as they represent Rihanna’s feelings and what she is going through. The magazine advertisement has a torn effect in the middle going across the page which is effective as it has blocked writing on it. This effect could be used to show the audience that she has been torn apart as her name is on the torn side and her image is on the opposite side. The name of the artist is also in blocked writing which attracts the audiences’ attention which is crucial for advertisement as it shows the audience who the album belongs to. In contrast, the writing under it is in small font which looks simple and balances the whole look of the advert.

In the magazine advertisement the name of Rihanna’s two songs are written in bold and red which stands out and attracts the audiences’ attention as it looks eye catchy. Also the colour red is a stereotypical colour of the RnB genre which connotes love, pain and hurt. The name of these two songs stand out as the font is large which means that the target audiences for these two songs are more likely to buy the album. The advert also uses the parental advisory symbol which is important as it indicates the type of content the album consists of so that they can take into account whether it’s suitable if they want to buy it for their children.