Album Cover Analysis - Nicki Minaj

Pink Friday is the debut studio album by American recording artist Nicki Minaj, released on November 19, 2010, by Young Money,Cash Money and Universal Motown. It features guest vocals from Eminem, Rhianna, Drake, Will.i.am, Kanye West and Natasha Bedingfield. Pink Friday debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 selling 375,000 copies in its first week. It ultimately reached number one and spent 73 consecutive weeks on the chart. As of February 2015, it has sold 1,930,000 copies in the United States alone. Nicki Minaj did however release her first mixtape on July 5th, 2007 called Playtime is over. She was originally signed with Young Money Entertainment and Dirty Money Entertainment. 

Based on the album cover I would say that the audience is young females, aged from 16 - 25. The colour pink is often linked to girls so it therefore comes across as very feminine. The colour of the album cover also however links to the name of the album 'Pink Friday'. The colours make me presume that Nicki Minaj is very feminine however she looks quite airbrushed in this photo and she looks quite like a doll/Barbie. This perhaps signifies how society sees her as fake, so she is showing herself how the media would usually see her. She is wearing a bright pink wig and lipstick, this tone is brighter than the rest. This would put the attention on her face rather than the rest of the image.

The writing on the album cover is quite subtle as it is very small. However because it's directly at the bottom away from the images at the top it is noticed easily. Also although the colour is a light grey it still stands out against the background also at the bottom. The word 'Pink' is written in the colour pink and is the only word to be a separate colour, it is the same shade and the image above. The colour pink has connotations with innocence so perhaps the word pink is highlighted to show that like a doll she is innocent.

The PinkPrint is Nicki Minaj's latest album. It was released on December 12, 2014, by Young Money, Cash Money and Republic Records. Minaj co-executively produced the album alongside Birdman, Lil Wayne and Ronald Williams. It was recognized as Minaj's strongest project to date, and was ranked as one of the best albums of 2014 by several publications. It debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 244,000 copies. In February 2015, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales exceeding 500,000. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 22 on the UK Albums Chart.

This album again uses the colour associated widely with females; Pink. This suggests that the audience is young females again aged from 16-25. The finger print looks like it has been created from some sort of makeup I would guess that the makeup is nail varnish because it is worn on your nails which are linked to your hands to the finger print is close to it. The finger print is probably Nicki Minaj's and I think this has been done to show that she knows her identity. Everyone has their own unique fingerprint so this cover shows she finally found who she is and wants to be and this is represented through the fingerprint. 

The cover is very simple and uses the colours white and pink like her first album cover did. They link in that the both use the word pink in the name to show the femininity of the product. I think that they contrast because the first cover shows her as a doll unsure about her identity and making herself look how society would want her to look but now she has found her identity and has decided who she is. I think the second cover is also trying to how that people are finally accepting her for who she really is and she is now allowed to be herself without the result of so much controversy.