1. Amy Fogarty
Character – On the front cover there are five different animals
present which represent each member of the band, which could
indicate contribution to the music along with their personalities. The
main cover image has intertextual links with Queens album cover ,
as the animals which represent the band members are positioned in
a similar style to Queen’s album cover. The main cover image is
directly parallel to the album’s name “Native”. The artwork for the
album was brought up on the idea of how different, each member
of the group is from each other and that each one of the band
members is like a different animal. Frontman Ryan Tedder is
represented by a fox, drummer Eddie Fisher is represented by a
mountain lion, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown is an owl, bassist Brent
Kutzle is a gazelle, and lead guitarist Zach Filkins is the bison. Brent
Kutzle came up with the idea of calling the album Native.
According to Kutzle, it means indigenous to every country and how
different they are as individuals.
Iconography - Animals have been used instead photos of the
band themselves, in order to create a more meaningful and
powerful image. This also suggests that the band is focusing more
prominently on promoting their music rather than promoting
themselves in order to sell the album.
Narrative - The front cover of the album is a conceptual piece of artwork. The
digipak consists of soft pale colours that create a desert and smoke like effect
which is a parallel image with the album’s title “NATIVE”. The main covers
'spiritual animals’ also suggest a different style of music that they are producing
in comparison to their previous albums. For example these all go with the album
title which is 'native' the cover suggests that their music has become more
adventurous with the cover and title relating to American history such as Native
Americans. The album has a running theme throughout of dry deserts and wild
animals, suggesting they are more connected with their music and it suggests
they are going back to basics, original and un-processed music.
The five-headed
beast is comprised
of a Bison, a Gazelle,
a Mountain Lion, a
Fox and an Owl with
each head
representing a
member of the
band.

2. Amy Fogarty
The back cover of the album features
tracking listing to the album. The layout and
use of colours creates a neutral and simple
effect, in result drawing attention to the
cover more. The band has chosen to use
earthy colours along with 'tribe' like symbols
which again reinforce and supports the idea
of native concept and album title. The
animals featured on the front cover have
been used to create a double exposure with
members of the band behind them. Each
animal represents each member of the
band, the band are suggesting that each
animal is the bands spiritual animals, each
animal represents the different personalities
of the bands members. The animals used are
all very different and are also animals that
you wouldn't usually associate with each
other suggesting that although they are all
different they are strong and work well
together.
A lot of colour has been used throughout the digipak suggesting that the
band’s music is quite diverse and that each song is different to another
one of the album. Although a lot of colours have been used they aren't
bright, quite mute and connote elements of the earth colours have
been used to reflect the albums name and overall effect the band want
to project through the album and the songs.