teach the celine piece along with the gay talese piece, u cowards
Every j-school’s been teaching Frank Sinatra Has A Cold as a model of the kind of reporting/insight-mining you can do about a celebrity without actually talking to them, but THE SMART ONES, if they know what’s good for them, will know to teach this Celine Dion profile from The Walrus alongside, because the angle is genius: What do you do if you can’t get an exclusive with one of the divas of the century herself? Interview the people who know her best — not family and friends, no sir, but her impersonators.
Anyway, it’s a must-read piece of Celine lore but also a great meditation on a once-in-a-lifetime kind of stratospheric fame and how deeply it can affect the rest of us normies. Here’s a lil’ taste:
If you think you have imposter syndrome in your career, just imagine making a career out of being an imposter. Gigs can be sparse, and a solid performer might make $800 for a good night’s work. And, though tribute artists gush about the star they’ve applied their talent to mimicking, they have to live with the possibility that their idol would prefer they just not—not reflect their brightness, not ape their talent, not play them for yuks and cash. They might not see themselves in the imitation at all.