Heavy make-up and well-groomed hair, plus glamorous (high key) lighting: this aims at both females (who can identify with or aspire to be like her) and younger males (sex appeal)

The direct gaze (the way she looks straight at the camera) makes her appear a confident figure, helping to appeal to young females who look up to glamorous celebrities (the album title: Fearless!)

The handwritten style of the artist name suggests a personal touch, as if she is engaging directly with her fans (the ‘gaze’ helps with this too)

Quite a lot of bare skin! The choice not to go with a more conservative costume suggests not just glamour for female fans who aspire to be like her, but use of sex appeal for a young male audience too

The rear panel is almost reassuringly dull or sensible; perhaps this might help encourage parents and some older fans (a secondary audience) to buy?

Looking at these points, younger females (8-15?) seem to be the primary target audience

Track titles add more evidence that younger females are the primary target audience: ‘Love Story’ and ‘Fifteen’ for example!

At first, this seems to be aimed to an older market, with the old person on both front and rear representing the target audience. The framing of the old man alone on the bench could be seen as a sympathetic ‘reading’ of the problems older people face. The character is denoted (represented) as old by the walking stick, wool hat, heavy coat, grey slacks, wearing a shirt, wearing gloves and simply by being alone.However, the heavily stereotyped nature of might suggest that humour is intended, and that actually this is primarily aimed at a youth market

The details that suggest that this is dance music also make it now seem less likely that this is aimed at an older market: the track ‘Head is a Jungle’ and the note that this is an ‘MK Edit’

Although not everyone will know this, there is a similarity with a TV/online character that appeals to a broad youth audience with the cheeky humour involved (Bad Grandpa)

The shoes might be another sign that this is not what it first looks like – these could have been heavy, dark-coloured shoes, but instead are light-coloured and more commonly associated with youth

If it is aimed at a youth market, the choice of background could be seen as risky, being quite dull and dreary

By focussing solely on a male character, the male audience seems to be the primary target – there certainly isn’t any ‘sex appeal’ being used to widen the appeal to a female market!

Comparing the Two• There is an interesting contrast in age: the Taylor Swift cover suggests a

similar age range to her, but there are some elements which make this reassuring for a possible older, secondary audience

• The Storm Queen example at first appears to target an older market, but there are signs that the stereotype of the old man is intended to be humorous, maybe linked to a TV character that only a youth audience are likely to be familiar with

• Identification is a key factor with the Swift cover, not least the handwritten artist name, but her glamour is also used to attract both male and female audiences, even if the track titles make clear that the female audience is the primary target

• The Storm Queen cover takes more risks, and its lack of positive elements for a female audience might suggest that males are the primary target