Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear

The artist, Sia, is known for choosing to live anonymously in the spotlight by hiding behind a blonde wig and never revealing her face. Therefore she uses iconography on the front cover of her album, by using imagery of her wig and showing only the outline of a face. This therefore conforms with her tradition to remain hidden and anonymous; something very rare for such a successful artist. The wig shown on the digipak is overexposed with light, reflecting the spotlight that the artist is in. The rest of the front cover remains minimalistic and is pure black, which mirrors the mystery that lies within Sia and also complies with the album title through being the colour of fear, death, danger etc. The artist and album name are placed at the bottom of the cover, in a sans serif hand written font. It appears to be very childlike and messy, and is written in white chalk. The informality of the font could possibly be a representation of the dysfunctional way that Sia constructs herself; complying with Dyer's star theory that artists are not real people, they are a construct.

The disc shows continuity by using the same font as shown on the front cover for the album title. It remains minimalistic, using only black and white, again complying with the connotations of the album title; 1000 Forms of Fear. The album title is placed on a white strip that runs across the disc, following the audiences line of vision. This could symbolise a road or a path, representing a beginning and an ending, again a portrayal of the mystery that lies between Sia's construct and her real life. The dismantling of the words, just like the front cover, portray instability and disfunction.

The back cover uses the same iconography as the front cover through showing Sia's wig, and is again overexposed with light, however this time we see an image of it thrown on the floor. This could perhaps be a representation of a new beginning for the artist, as connoted on the disc from this digipak. Inferences could even be made to associated the image of the wig on the floor with overcoming fear, reflecting the 1000 Forms of Fear album title. Continuity is again how through the font used for the track list. This is placed in the top right hand corner, and in a very small font, suggesting Sia wants the sole focus to be on the imagery on the cover. The barcode and record label information is also of very small size and tucked away in the bottom right hand corner.