INTRODUCING THE DECEMBER COVER STARS - PART2
SZA Graces Cover of Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year Issue
To a degree rare even for a musician, SZA’s art is inseparable from the rest of her. Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year doesn’t play an instrument — those gloriously supple melodies and intense lyrics just burst out of her and into a microphone, usually the one on her phone. But they’re unique and sophisticated songs, with an effortless, instantly identifiable melodicism: When she jumps on someone else’s track (whether it’s Kendrick Lamar’s or Lorde’s or Doja Cat’s or Lizzo’s or Justin Timberlake’s or Drake’s or James Blake’s), or even when she’s written one for another artist (Rihanna’s “Consideration,” for instance), you know immediately that it’s her. Her voice preens and pouts and pirouettes like a gymnast, and her music is equally flexible and versatile: At her Madison Square Garden concert last March, she brought out two drastically different artists to duet with her — Cardi B and Phoebe Bridgers — within 10 minutes of each other.
Writer: Jem Aswad
Jem Aswad, who launched Variety’s music section with former executive music editor Shirley Halperin in 2017, has held senior editorial posts at Billboard, MTV News, Spin, Time Out New York and CMJ.
Photographer: Mason Poole
Mason Poole is a photographer currently living and based in Los Angeles and Paris. In 2016, Poole did a photoshoot with Lady Gaga for the promotional images of Dive Bar Tour sponsored by Bud Light.
Erykah Badu Graces Cover of GQ Men of the Year 2023 Issue
At the age of 15, Erica Wright wrote a letter to the universe. “I will do it with the help of God. Nothing can stop me but myself." That's the quote in the US magazine "The Cut", which perhaps explains why we have to look beyond Erykah Badu's music to understand who Badu is. Queen of neo-soul, spiritual wanderer or cultural rebel. In the 1990s, the music scene was small and predominantly masculine. Then musicians like Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott came along and set new tones. Mixed soul with hard beats and rap rhymes. And paved the way for future generations of artists.
Writer: Manuela Hainz
After studying fashion design in Munich and working in Italy and Hamburg, Manuela focused on her journalistic career in the areas of fashion, beauty and style. Since 2021 (and from 2011 to 2019) she has been implementing the style and now also beauty trends for GQ both visually and textually.
Photographer: Sean+Seng
The photography duo both studied Fashion Photography at University of the Arts London and, since graduating, have become one of the industry's most revered duos. Working with the likes of Pop, Arena Homme, Dazed and Vogue, their portfolio is a mixture of glossy fashion imagery, some editorials shot in studios, others against vast open landscapes. For their year in photography, the pair take us across the world.
Daniel Kaluuya Graces Cover of Rolling Stone UK's The Awards Issue
Not even halfway through his thirties, Kaluuya, who turns 35 in February, has already garnered the kinds of accolades that tell a poster-boy success story, making him the obvious choice to win The Film Award, in collaboration with Rémy Martin. After playing Posh Kenneth in Skins — he also co-wrote a number of episodes — he won big-screen roles that have carved a new cinematic language by meticulously exploring the historical and contemporary Black experience.
Writer: Corrina Antrobus
Alongside freelancing in film, Corrina is a Cultural Development Manager for Hackney and programmes community arts festivals and initiatives for the borough including Black History Season and the Windrush Generations Festival.
Photographer: Danny Kasirye
Ugandan-British photographer and director based between New York, London and Paris.
Winnie Harlow Graces Cover of ELLE Canada's Winter 2023 Issue
Since making her debut as the world’s first model with the skin condition vitiligo 10 years ago, she has made a habit of exceeding expectations. In fact, she didn’t initially plan on being a model at all. But it’s not by happenstance—when she struts into Bistrot Leo in New York’s SoHo neighbourhood on a balmy October afternoon, it’s impossible to see her as anything else. Arriving sans entourage and without a shred of makeup, she wields an unspoken power that commands attention. Her arrival brings forth an inaudible whoosh as diners’ heads swivel to clock her presence as she settles onto a banquette.
Writer: Sumiko Wilson
Sumiko is a journalist and copywriter specializing in fashion, beauty, music, and pop culture. Currently a copywriter at CHANEL.
Photographer: CARLOS and ALYSE
Reiner Carlos and Brittany Alyse began as constant collaborators, after meeting in 2013, in their hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. Both having come from their own prospective backgrounds as photographers, they would often find themselves planning projects and imagining ideas together.
Little Simz Graces Cover of British Vogue's December Issue
Yoruba names are incantations that the holder often comes to embody. Little Simz, real name Simbiatu Ajikawo, is growing into hers. “It means brave woman,” she tells me, settling into a plush sofa in a Shoreditch hotel suite, on a downcast October day. For the last decade, the rapper-cum-actor has been battling what she describes as a series of “setbacks and rejection”. Now, she’s rounding out her 20s as one of the UK’s most revered musical artists – the proud holder of an Ivor Novello, a Brit and winner of the Mercury Prize (she might, in the words of Kendrick Lamar, “be the illest doing it right now”). Not to mention her acting work, notably as Shelley in the acclaimed series Top Boy, or as a photographer (her coffee-table book – the *book – was published this year), or even sharing her comfort food recipes on Mob. Does she find that she becomes a master of any skill easily? “Is it bad if I say yeah?”
Writer: Kemi Alemoru
Kemi-Olivia Alemoru is a London-based writer, editor, host and consultant. She is culture editor at gal-dem and writes for Dazed, Vogue and The Guardian.
Photographer: Tim Walker
Timothy Walker HonFRPS is a British fashion photographer who regularly works for Vogue, W and Love magazines. He is based in London.
STORMZY Graces Cover of British Vogue's December Issue
There is no denying Stormzy has given the world incredible shows. Since first going viral with his 2015 video “Shut Up”, he has become the most successful rapper in British history; the only one to have ever seen three albums go to No1.
Writer: Afua Hirsch
Afua Hirsch is a British writer and broadcaster. She has worked as a journalist for The Guardian newspaper, and was the Social Affairs and Education Editor for Sky News from 2014 until 2017. She is the author of the 2018 book Brit: On Race, Identity and Belonging, receiving a Jerwood Award while writing it.
Photographer: Tim Walker
Timothy Walker HonFRPS is a British fashion photographer who regularly works for Vogue, W and Love magazines. He is based in London.
Alicia Keys Graces Cover of The Cut's November/December Issue
To say someone — especially a celebrity, especially a celebrity who’s been famous since before she could legally drink — has “never been busier” may sound trite. But how else should one describe Alicia Keys? At 42, Keys is now not only a 15-time Grammy winner, actress, The Voice alum, founder of beauty brand Keys Soulcare, mom of two boys (Egypt, 13, and Genesis, 8), and wife to musical producer and rapper Swizz Beatz — she’s now also a theater producer.
Writer: Asia Milia
Asia Milia Ware is a fashion and beauty writer for the Cut. She also writes the column “Why Is Your Skin So Good.” She has covered fashion and beauty for seven years, with bylines in InStyle, Teen Vogue, Paper, and Essence.
Photographer: Clement Pascal
Clement Pascal grew up in the French countryside, and after living in Senegal and Egypt for a few years, is now settled in NYC. His practice concentrates on analogue photography with a focus on natural light, a feeling of intimacy and recurring cameos of vintage cars.
Lenny Kravitz Graces Cover of Esquire’s Winter 2023 Issue
Kravitz has long favored first-person storytelling in song, but on two of his recent releases he mainly looked outward. Black and White America (2011), brimming with Obama-era optimism, imagines life in the U. S. A. beyond the racial divide; Raise Vibration (2018) bears witness to the comedown, urging positivity as the necessary response to the divisive Trump tenure. With this new set, Kravitz’s attention has returned inward. His testimony to the power of self-love and personal evolution is searingly specific and at times downright anthemic. It also—and this is important—flat out cooks musically.
Writer: Madison Vain
Madison Vain is the Digital Director at Esquire; a writer and editor living in New York, she previously worked at Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated.
Photographer: Norman Jean Roy
Norman Jean Roy is a Canadian born portrait photographer. Roy is best known for his portraits of celebrities, socialites and personalities. His portraits have appeared on the covers and pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, and Rolling Stone.
Mariah Carey Graces Cover of PEOPLE's Digital Issue
It’s mid-November in Los Angeles. A cold front has lent a slight chill to the air, giving just enough permission for the sold-out stadium filled with Mariah Carey’s fans, known as Lambs, to don their gay apparel. Which is to say, thousands of Lambs are bundled up in various combinations of Christmas beanies, glowing Christmas-tree-bulb necklaces, Christmas sweaters and Mariah Carey-branded sweaters and sweatshirts. (Still Christmas-themed.)
Writer: Jason Sheeler
Jason Sheeler is the West Coast Editor for Departures magazine—the publication distributed to 2 million American Express platinum card members—and contributes to Travel + Leisure, The Hollywood Reporter, Air Mail, Condé Nast Traveler, Vogue, C Magazine, and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Photographer: Nino Muñoz
Chilean-born photographer and director Nino Muñoz has earned acclaim for a signature style that is grounded in fashion, while also steeped in the intimacy and ephemeral moments of classic celebrity portraiture. Nino initially made a name for himself in 1990s New York, with his first big commission for British Vogue working with his long-time friend Gisele Bundchen.
The Color Purple's Cast Graces Cover of ESSENCE's November/December Issue
Walker first published The Color Purple in 1982, and three years later, a Steven Spielberg–directed film adaptation of the narrative was released. The movie received 11 Academy Award nominations, among numerous other accolades. The Color Purple was then staged as a Broadway musical in 2005 and again in 2015, with the latter production garnering two Tony awards—one for best actress, the other for best revival of a musical.
Writer: Felice León
Felice León is a host, producer and multimedia journalist who was born and raised in New York City. Currently working as a video producer at The Root, León has the unique opportunity to work on both sides of the camera.
Photographer: Mickalene Thomas
Taraji P. Henson Graces Cover of ELLE Magazine's Women in Hollywood Issue
Born in Washington, DC, Henson studied drama at Howard University, began acting in the late ’90s, and made her feature film debut in John Singleton’s Baby Boy in 2001. The cult classic introduced her to a wide audience (“from the great-grandkids all the way up to the great-grandmas”). Seven years later, she was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Writer: Juliana Ukiomogbe
Juliana Ukiomogbe is the Assistant Editor at ELLE. Her work has previously appeared in Interview, i-D, Teen Vogue, Nylon, and more.
Photographer: Adrienne Raquel, Zoey Grossman
Adrienne Raquel is a photographer and creative director working between New York & Los Angeles. Inspired by femininity, soulfulness, and color, Adrienne's work is rooted in nostalgia and fantasy while remaining fresh and contemporary.
Zoey Grossman studied photography and fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania. Her images are uniquely feminine, with flawless craftsmanship-her work pulls from the concepts of the intellectualization of beauty and the evolution of her own fascination with the in between moments of what it means to be a woman.
Jennifer Lopez Graces Cover of ELLE Magazine's Women in Hollywood Issue
Lopez began her multipronged career, of course, as a dancer, and acting, for her, always starts “in the body,” she says. “Blocking a scene is choreography; even looping is choreography.” When she’s preparing for a role, she thinks about movement before anything else: “the walk of the character, the way they use their hands, the way they choose to move from one place to the other.” That could mean mastering the thigh-bruising art of pole dancing, as she did for her role in Hustlers, or sleeping in Selena Quintanilla’s actual bed while studying to play her in Selena. Whatever it is, she commits—hard. That’s the JLo promise: You’re going to see her sweat, and you’re going to be riveted.
Writer: Véronique Hyland
Véronique Hyland is ELLE’s Fashion Features Director and the author of the book Dress Code, which was selected as one of The New Yorker's Best Books of the Year. Her writing has previously appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, W, New York magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Photographer: Sølve Sundsbø
Norway-born, London-based fashion photographer and filmmaker Sølve Sundsbø has garnered respect for his otherworldly concepts, stylistic versatility, and open-mindedness towards new technologies, from 3-D scanning to hand-painted retouching.
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