Kings Of Leon

Kings Of Leon (KOL) is an American band which was formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. This band are particularly unusual due to the formation of brothers and cousins, the group consist of the main singer/guitarist Caleb Followill, bassist Jared Followill, guitarist Mathew Followill and drummer Nathan Followill. In contrast to today, during the beginning of their success their music was a mixture of an upbeat blend of southern rock and garage rock influences but today we see them expanding their sound to include a variety of other genres such as alternative rock.

Like other boy bands, throughout their album releases KOL have chosen to add mystery to their image by not posing on the front of their albums in an obvious way. Although they have included images inside the digipacks, the front cover is a different image that would reflect the particular album in some way. For example, one of their first albums 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' features the famous band Queen's 1975 album 'A Night at the Opera' but KOL have edited the image to give it more of a floral look but eye catching at the same time. 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' includes their southern rock styled music which compared to their recent songs is very different due to the twang of their origin in their early days.
From having this album myself, I can see inside the digipack that the album has included an image of them all standing alike staring at the camera. Compared to their recent image, they all seemed to have the look of long hair which emphasises the contrast, their youth and also how they were brought up in Tennessee. Although it can come across as quite feminine by having a flower looking image on the front of this album, they have made it more masculine by making the background black but it also becomes more bold with the contrast of colours and sophisticated.

In 2010 when KOL released their 5th album called 'Come Around Sundown', their audience noticed a change in their image. Although on the front cover of this album they hid themselves like their earlier covers, inside the digipack you can see how they wanted to represent themselves individually to bring a more personal appearance to the audience. Another contrast between their recent albums and their earliest ones is that 'Come Around Sundown' is shown as more positive with the light colours and sepia effect on the photographs whereas their 3rd album, 'Because Of The Times' is more of a mysterious album cover with the black background again with a white image on the front.

 In terms of Mise En Scene, Kings Of Leon have been styled in a typical boy band way but that would attract a wide range of audiences:
- From looking at this photograph to the right, you can see that by Caleb wearing a cross necklace symbolising his religion which will attract audiences from different religions and societies.
- Having no expression on their faces and just looking at the camera brings out their rebelious side, their boy image and their southern look.

Recently, KOL have released a song called 'Supersoaker' along with a music video. Compared to their previous music and videos, this music video brings their alternative rock genre as well as their interpetation of the lyrics through the ages of the 1950's. The music video features a love story set in the 1950's using the rock and roll culture to reveal the angst of teenagers and the sensual ideas of them. They do this by using different effects to the lighting and colours, for instance they tried to get the look of pop art and did this by hand tinting and technicolour film. 

The music video involves the band performing in a concert styled format but with shots of the love story. The video includes long shots of the band to identify the surroundings, set the scene and to emphasise the mise en scene such as clothing and props. Medium shots are also used to identify the band individually and in some shots the camera is tilted upwards, for example when the camera focuses on Jared Followill on the bass, the camera is tilted upwards to make him look bigger and powerful with his bass guitar.