BEYONCE

Promotional ideas

Posters

Official album cover

ANALYSIS

‘I Am.. Sasha Fierce’ is an unusual name for the title of an album, and again similarly to the Mika album, ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ I analysed, the title is not actually a song on the album. ‘Sasha Fierce’ though, is not as straight forward a title, as it means nothing to most of us, however, once I researched a little into ‘Beyonce’, I found that it is what she calls her alter ago that was ‘born’ when creating ‘Crazy in Love’ in 2003. Her latest album cover gives the impression that she is stripped bear of all her emotions through the songs that are present on the CD as she appears naked on the front cover, not only her body, but her make up too. Additionally, all her promotional products for this album such as the posters are practically in black and white which could show that her alter ego is all about wanting all or nothing or something along that scenario. There is no ‘sitting on the fence’ on decisions or anything else. However, it could also be to do with how clear cut everything is, on the posters and album cover you see her and only her, so the songs on the album could link to her emotions. The images are also quite simplistic but very effective. For instance, on the posters, Beyonce’s hair is all the same style and although she is dressed up the background is plain, there is nothing else to distract attention from her.

Furthermore, the video I’ve chosen to analyse - ‘Single Ladies’ – has been created in black and white so fits in well with the rest of the promotional ideas. Once again, like Mika’s songs, the lyrics are very repetitive and gains the song a lot of interest as it will have people singing along and no doubt, dancing along with it too. In addition to this, the only people in the video are a couple of backing dancers and Beyonce, and that could reiterate the fact that as ‘Sasha Fierce’, she likes to be the centre of attention, as in addition to this, all her outfits are more revealing and flattering. On top of this, the only choreography that really fits in with the lyrics is when she sings ‘you should have out a ring on it’, and the other moves are energetic, confident but unusual; if most people tried those moves, they’d be deemed uncool unlike Beyonce, where this works in her favour and shows her famous curves off even more. Moreover, she is admired by many men and women for her curvy figure and is seen as a fashion icon, so it allows her to be ‘different’ and yet still succeed. This can be seen through her originality on her posters, especially when she’s dressed as part of a motorbike, as well as on her videos featured on the album .