Unorthodox Jukebox (Bruno Mars) - Album Cover Analysis

Unorthodox Jukebox (Bruno Mars) - Album Cover

The Grammy Award winning Album, Unorthodox Jukebox, was released by Pop/R&B sensation Bruno Mars in 2012. Featuring a gorilla playing a jukebox as the main focal point of the design, the CD cover is a relatively basic looking piece. The image on the front has been produced by taking one simple photograph. Having the image in the centre of the album cover, on a plain background suggests it is highly important through the album’s meaning. Many of the songs on the 10 track disc have songs linked to love and the confusion of emotions that come with love itself. The confused looking gorilla connotes the types of feelings someone may go through throughout the course of a relationship. Gorillas are often seen as strong, dominant animals which may reflect on the power some characters have in relationships. On the contrary the slightly reluctant and confused expression shown through the ape’s body language indicates some people may not understand certain things within relationships. Many of the lyrics in Bruno Mars’ songs further show this.

Unorthodox Jukebox’s 3^rd track on the album, “Gorilla”, links back to the bold image of the gorilla on the cover. The lyrics (which were written by The Smeezingtons) describe how Bruno Mars feels like a gorilla when he is having sex and how he is high from cocaine (metaphorically). Powerful lines such as “You and me baby making love like gorillas” further conveys his strong passion for sex and adds to the importance of the image on the front of the album. The way in which the design of the cover links the name of the album and one of the songs works really well. It’s effective because it means the track can be easily identified to being part of the album.

To add to the image’s background. It has been said that many of the instrumental pieces in the song ‘Gorilla’ give a 1980’s feel, similar to that of songs by Prince. This nostalgic feel to the song could suggest the reasoning behind the name, Unorthodox Jukebox and also the use of the Jukebox in the album cover design. Jukeboxes played a huge part in the music industry during the 1980’s and it could be argued this iconic piece emphasises the link between his music and the era of the eighties.

Doo-Wops & Hooligans (Bruno Mars) - Album Cover

Having compared this album cover to his first album, ‘Doo-Wops and Hooligans’ I noticed both had very plain backgrounds. I also like how the album covers use little colour but still paint a very strong image. Also, the cover designs on both depict a certain emotion. I feel this is an effective way to generate feelings to the CD before the audience has even listened to the song. It’s also a good design idea because it strengthens the lyrics in the different songs on the albums.