Analysing A Music Magazine Double Page Spread.

This is the double page spread from the Amy Winehouse issue of Rolling Stone Magazine. Rolling Stone magazine is a magazine devoted to all things to do with music and popular culture. It is published and printed every two weeks. Amy Winehouse is a very successful artist who has sold millions of albums across the world and in the process has gained a lot of fans too. This will have worked well for the magazine because a lot of her massive fan base will have bought the magazine just to see the Amy Winehouse article.

The purpose of this double page spread is to tell the readers and Amy's fans about what was happening in Amy Winehouse's life at the time of the issue. This double page spread conforms to the house style of the magazine by keeping all of the font the same and keeping it very similar, if not the same as the font on the front cover. The picture is in black and white, as well as the writing, this keeps everything looking similar and professional.

The title of the article is; 'The Diva And Her Demons'. This entices the audience to read on because the reference to 'Diva' tells the reader that the article will be worth reading to find out what sort of 'Diva-ish' behaviour Amy has been up to and the reader will also want to find out what Amy's demons are as it will give them an indication or provide answers to why she behaves the way that she does i.e. drugs, drink and choosing unsuitable and reckless men as boyfriends.  It continues; 'Amy Winehouse is in love and on top of the charts.  Now all she has to do is survive both.' This draws the reader in more as they not only want to know about her music but also her love life and it hints at whether or not she will be able to cope with both and whether she will succeed or fail. A convention has been used in this article which is a quote of something that Amy has said. This is a good convention to use when trying to lure her fans in to reading the article because they are interested in what Amy has to say often because of it's outrageous nature.

There is a good balance with the picture and the amount of text that there is on the page. The main image is on the right hand side and the text is on the left, it is split  exactly equally. However the back ground is also the image and it does cover the whole of the spread, which I think has a nice effect and makes it all about Amy Winehouse. The main image is a picture of Amy Winehouse. She is wearing only a bra and some shorts and is lying in a very suggestive pose making her look daring, sexy and interesting and worth reading about. This makes the article appeal to men as well as women because men might want to be with her and women might aspire to be like her and be as daring as she is. Overall the light in the image looks natural and quite light, the grey scale effect that has been added in editing has made the atmoshere of the image look moody, cool and sophisticated all at the same time which relates specifically to Amy Winehouse as she always comes across as cool and often moody too.  She is sporting her signature bee-hive hair and bold, harsh winged eyeliner familiar to fans and that makes her unique and different. The only prop that has been used in the image is the duvet that she is sitting on, giving the impression that she is in bed, this combined with the suggestiveness of the pose makes her appealing to a male audience. Her facial expression looks quite soft and inviting and she is looking down, luring people in in a non agressive way - not scaring them off as she has been known to do in the past. The image conforms with the genre of music because Amy Winehouse is a very popular recording artist who tops the charts.

Alliteration has been used in the title of the article; 'The Diva And Her Demons'. This makes the title sound catchy and memorable and will make readers want to read more about it. The tone of this double page spread looks quite friendly, making Amy look good as an artist by using phrases such as 'Amy Winehouse is in love and on top of the charts.' and printing a flattering picture of her. This magazine uses standard English, which makes it seem sophisticated and professional, giving it a more high end status and attracting a wider audience.