Album Cover - Paloma Faith 'Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?'

The cover of Paloma Faith's Debut Album is a good example of a contemporary album cover. It combines concept with the simplistic use of the artist as a central figure.

Objectively, one can see the pair of doves resting on Paloma's hands perhaps a symbol of freedom, a reflection on the music, or an artists perceived personality, in this instance it is a correlation of the name Paloma that translates as dove in English. Similarly, the subjective connotation of the denoted rose like halo would suggest a beauty and innocence in the representation of Paloma Faith as a musician and as an audience one would expect this explicit use of misé-en-scene to derive the sounds of the music.

The costume that she is wearing is a mixed media based design, the black lace brassiere is indefinitely sexual in her target audiences age group although, this is counteracted with body art in the form of a black, tribal/floral tattoo. This contrast of white skin with dark ornamentation is sensual and seductive in representation, a reflection of the common stereotype of women in the popular music industry. Simultaneously, the deep red and quiffed hair are iconic in the modern stereotypical image of a woman in the 1940s/50s and this amalgamation of old and new is actually attributed to the vocal style of the artist and the genre of music, Popular Soul.

In Cinematographic terms there is a brilliant use of the rule of three, in which the doves head direct a triangular point to Paloma's face, establishing her as the important figure in this medium shot. The contrast of the foreground to the background of this image, a 'doll like fantasy' image in the foreground is opposed by a common Parisian bathroom (stereotyped wooden shutters, blue walls, steam and an old radiator). Perhaps the image director decided to compose the image in this way to promote a sophisticated elegance in a overstressed environment, connoting the artists position in the popular music scene and charts.

As a starting point the visual coordinator for this artist had probably already designed the brand icon for Paloma Faith as is reflected in the font used for the title of the singer and album. Consciously they denote that of a music hall in 1920's - 40's America, again a throwback to the sound of the album but also this particular use of font relies on an audience pre-composed representation of that time period and assumes a level of intelligence from her audience of teenage/youthful 20's to 40s in the working context.