Album cover development

Maroon 5:

Songs About Jane is the first studio album from Maroon 5, released on 25th June 2002 by Octone and J Records. The album contains internationals hits including She will be loved and This Love with five singles from the album making it into the charts. The album is infamous for being a 'sleeper hit' a term that refers to an album being successful for a long period of time despite having little promotion. All of the songs were written or co-written by lead singer Adam Levine who claims that there is at least one line in every song inspired by his ex girlfriend Jane. Levine also writes that he spent a lot of time in New York where he 'was exposed to an urban and hip hop culture' he believes this had an impact on his song writing and the general idea behind the bands debut album. 

I think the band have tried to match the cover to the genre of music throughout, therefore it explores the urban hip hop theme Levine talked about. The cover itself is in shades of maroon and also black, this links with their name and also suggests inside they will show they can be versatile with their music. I think the name is very clever as it attracts a wide audience of people because it isn't specific of any particular type of genre. From the name of the album I think it is clear the band were targeting at an older audience opposed to a young teen audience. This is because the name is very serious and appeals to people who have experienced break ups. However, personally I believe the name would have been more suited and had a bigger effect on a more established artist as it would attract a fan base and overall audience who would be more interested in an established artists personal life. 

The visual codes include a cartoon woman on the front who could resemble Jane. Hence why she is holding a box with swirls coming from it. This follows the idea that the album tells a lot of a past relationship and spills the truth on Levine's previous relationship. This ties in with how About is in bold font to highlight that it is an album in which through the lyrics he opens up. In addition the woman even seems to be looking away from whats coming out of the box, implying she doesn't want to know or would be ashamed. The woman's hair is long and covers her modesty, this is a way of hiding her identity slightly and although writing about her a promise not to completely reveal who she is. 

Overexposed  is the fourth studio album from Maroon 5 released on 20th June 2012 A&M Octone Records. The genre of this album is labelled as pop and several songs made it into the charts including Payphone featuring Wiz Khalifa. The band released the album after the success of Moves Like Jagger that was featured on the third album which they were not pleased with. They decided after a mixed variety of genres featuring in the album before with Overexposed they wanted to stick to a certain genre. The album explores the pop genre featuring 'reggae beats, soul rock and dubstep influences.' 

I really like the album cover because I think it would stand out against others on a shelf. It is very colourful and gives a good insight into the 'pop' style music inside, rather than a dark cover suggesting ballads and sad songs. The artwork was created by an LA based art project Young & Sick. The collage of cartoons, depicting modern images, crowd the front cover. The cartoons are all different cleverly linking with the title Overexposed suggesting (like Songs About Jane) the album is going to reveal a lot and 'overexpose' the band. In the same way things are seen spilling from the mouth in the centre of the cover. This is the only other album cover out of four that is similar to their debut album and uses similar visual codes to give a significant message.  The parental advisory sticker featured is also similar to Songs About Jane in that it also shows the album is targeted at a more mature audience rather than young teenagers. The name of the album isn't obvious, seen at the bottom left of the cover. I think this is to also tie in with the crowded look of the front cover and potential consumer having to study the cover to find out more, therefore attracting an audience. Other visual codes include a bright and fun colour scheme to attract people suggesting an exciting and upbeat album.