Similar Texts: Lady Marmalade

Lady Marmalade is a cover of a song by the girl group Labelle in 1974. Originally a soul/funk track, it was remixed into a more modern song by Missy Elliott in 2001 for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, with the vocals split between popular female singers Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Mya and rapper Lil' Kim. The song has always come under scrutiny for it's sexually aggressive chorus "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi c'est soir?", which translates into English as "would you like to sleep with me tonight?". This is also the song we feel is most similar to our own.

The video has a very sexually visual theme to it as it falls back on the film from which the soundtrack is from. The Moulin Rouge was well known all over the world for it's dancers and the invention of the can-can dance by the Parisian courtesans. Because of this the costumes are very revealing and are more often than not just considered lingerie. This is reflective of the lyrics as they are singing about a prostitute picking up a customer for the night, especially  when P!nk sings the line

"He sat in her boudoir while she freshened up

Boy drank all that magnolia wine"

she is seen sitting at a make up table, as is Aguilera in a cutaway, before moving to the bed seen in the background for the following line

"On her black satin sheets is where he started to freak, yeah"

Similar Artist and Text: Christina Aguilera's Stripped

Over the span of her career Christina Aguilera has released albums similar to Jessie J's Who You Are. A notable example is Stripped, released in 2002.

Both album covers feature the artists with their arms above their heads. This could be seen as a submissive sexual invitation, relating back to Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. However with Stripped it is seen as a literal invitation when seen in conjunction with the lyrics on the record. The image is in black and white, which may indicate that some of the views she expresses on the album are very straight forwards, having no 'grey area' to their interpretation. The image, a long wide shot showing her entire body, has most likely been utilised in order to show off her body in a sexual manner, enhanced by the fact she is not wearing a top or bra and instead has long (and obviously blonde) extensions covering her bare breasts, as well as a pair of leather-esque trousers.

The look which has been encompassed on the album cover can be seen throughout the singles released from the record, save Beautiful which, like Who You Are's lead track with the same name, has a more demure video and theme about personal identity. The lead single for Stripped, "Dirrty" has been heavily criticized for being overly sexual both lyrically and visually. However it is this sexuality that is the binding motif between the album and its singles, making them obviously a part of her musical change, as before she was seen as a very clean cut artist. Despite criticisms the song was nominated for three different Grammy Awards, enforcing the point that sex sells.

As the album was released 10 years ago it is difficult to find a magazine advert for its release. I did however find the tour poster that accompanied the release. It followed a very common theme among tours that coincide with the release of a new album in that uses the album cover as its main image. This helps it tie in with everything else.

Similar Texts: Maroon 5's Songs About Jane album cover

Songs About Jane is the debut album by Maroon 5, released in 2002. This album cover features no real person but instead has an artists' impression of a nude woman. Her flowing hair covers parts of her body, giving the impression she could represent Eve from the Old Testament of the Bible, with the red colour scheme connoting lust and danger. She is holding a jewel encrusted box from which there are dark tendrils of shadow escaping. This probably represents Pandora's Box, and coupled with the title of the record the viewer can assume the woman depicted is "Jane" and that she may be a very troublesome character. This is both emphasised by the red colour scale and contradicted by the flowers adorning her hair, which contrastly makes her seem like a gentle character. The only writing on the sleeve is the names of the band and the record. This could be because their fans do not need an image of the band to recognise the album. The fonts are simple and easy to read, therefore not detracting attention from the image presented.