This is Blues & soul magazine, it is the most popular soul magazine. The filter on it is quite retro which conveys the genre and a lot of bright and bold colours are used in the text to attract the audience and demographic.
The Masthead: The font of the masthead looks like it could be 'Impact Bold', this can connote that the magazine writes articles that are bold and that make an important contribution to the music industry. It is written in yellow, this can connote that the one of the magazine's values/ethos is to represent the chosen genre of music in a joyful and happy light. The colour yellow also symbolises 'riches',
The main image: It denotes an attractive black female undressing or dressing. She takes up about 3 quarters of the page implying her importance to the magazine. This woman will show sex appeal to men which encourages them to buy it. She is the main focus as her fans will see it more value for money as the focus isn't on anyone else but her.
Her hair is slicked back and simple which implies classiness. The director of the shoot would've directed it like this to convey an enigma and mystery. Her skin is showing and she isn't wearing trousers or proper clothing, the only clothing denoted is the yellow material and her arm seems to covering her breast as she pulls down her boots and is undressing, This has tasteful sex appeal to men that like the genre and the boots connotes glamour and femininity which woman may look at and aspire to or aim to mimic.
On the blues and soul magazine website i found this:
ABOUT BLUES AND SOUL
Published 6 times a year, Blues & Soul Magazine covers the latest UK and US urban music info, including; News, charts, reviews, event and clubbing info + our signature world renowned in-depth interviews and on influential artists past and present.
This magazine doesn't publish any other genres and is niche and it appeals to its niche audience. It's target audience is mainly males likely aged 24-30. This is conveyed from the front cover as we see a male gaze portrayed by the main image. The Mise en scene is clear and not busy. It is blue which isn't a harsh or exciting colour so the focus is on the sexy woman with promiscuous boots and bright eye catching yellow clothing; the colour yellow is typically linked to joy and happiness. Because of the mise en scene the focus is mainly on her. Also the target audience can also be seen as male as the text and layout of the magazine is bold, simple and there isn't a lot of text. In addition, blue is stereotypically considered a masculine colour.
