FEATURE ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON HOMEWORK

NICOLE SHERZINGER'S GLAMOUR FEATURE ANALYSIS

Glamour magazine's page 262 feature story centers on the famous 35-year old Musician, Fashion Icon and Xfactor judge Nicole Sherzinger, using her image as the main featured image. As Nicole is a 35-year old star who grew up overcoming many obstacles in life such as broken relationships which makes her an inspiration to many women ranging from the ages 25-40, using her picture and story suggests that the secondary target demographic of this article is women between the ages 25-40 who have relationship issues that look up to her success as an inspiration, however, it may also primarily appeal to the target demographic of her fans( people that love her music and personality) ranging from the ages 15-30 which mainly comprises of girls.

It is a first person narrative which mainly uses a not too formal language such as “Last night Nicole Sherzinger went back to her day job", this statement doesn't use slang but doesn't have a formal vocabulary such saying 'profession' instead of 'job', and it also uses quotes. However, further down it uses completely informal languages such as "balls it out", the word 'balls' is a colloquial language for a man's testicles so using this word brings an informal and casual connection with the reader. Another colloquial word used is the word "cojones" which means 'to have balls/to stand up for something’; this is informal because a professional person or even anyone can't grasp its meaning without looking it up in an urban dictionary. The feature uses a white background and has all its fonts in black, this is to create a focused attention on the text so the readers won't be distracted by different colours, these colours might had also been used because black represents courage and hence that is what the story talks about, having the fonts in black enhances the theme of the text. The feature uses Calibri (Body) font for its text and uses Century Gothic fonts for its main cover line capitalizing the words "FAMILY PERSON" to add emphasis on its importance.

The image is a single image which covers about 80% of the double page spread, aligned right with the text covering about 20% aligned left. The main cover line is in the center of the text space therefore cutting the text into two parts. The feature uses the informal and chatty language register therefore addressing the reader as a member of a crowd which mainly consists of Nicole's fans. In the image, Nicole wears a blue jumper which stops at at her hip revealing her feet in black suede shoes, sitting on a couch. The colour of her jumper(blue) represents freedom which connotes that she is free of her burdens/ heartaches and is back on her feet, she gives the readers a direct mode of address which emphasises her courage and the gaze of" yes I'm back on my feet", the black shoe on her feet connotes that she is now bold and strong enough to stand on her feet, the greenery in the background of the image suggests that she is a natural and not faking her personality like some other stars do.

Like in the double page spread, on the front cover of the magazine Nicole Sherzinger's image is used as the main image where she also gives a direct mode of address but in the image on the front cover she is fully clothed unlike in the feature where she wears only a jumper that stops at her hip with no trousers. Some of its fonts like in the double page spread are black which also enhances the theme of the text (courage), informal words such as "sex" and "weirdest" and "balls" are also used in the cover lines of the magazine's front cover. The article does require prior knowledge because it doesn't clearly explain Nicole's lifestyle in a nutshell such as " after her split from Britain's own F1 Champ", if the reader doesn't know who Britain's F1 Champ was or what transpired between her and this Champ, they won’t understand what the text is talking about. Another phrase which isn't comprehensible without prior knowledge is "Lewis dedicated his historic win at the Hungarian Grand Prix to Nicole", at this point if the reader has no idea who Lewis is or how he relates with Nicole and what A Hungarian Grand Prix is they won’t know the message it is trying to send out or understand that bit of Nicole's bibliography.

Compared to the Nicole Sherzinger's feature, this feature also uses the image of a Musician named Kelly Rowland. Unlike Nicole Sherzinger's, this feature of Kelly uses two images, one big image of her dressed classy and glamorous but also with a direct mode of address which accompanied with her posture and outfit connotes her success as in contrary with the other little picture on the left, she is in the main image presented as an independent and successful musician. Both features use quotes and are in the first person narrative, they also use black fonts which enhance the theme of the text and also use a white background which allows the reader focus on the text instead of the colours used. Both articles use colloquial languages which creates an immediate bond with the readers, the main target demographic of this article is women ranging from the ages of 18-30 as her looks are too sexual for a younger person.