the politics of being cover girl

This week kicked off with a glossy-ass bombshell in the form of Vogue’s September cover star and veritable editor — Beyoncé, haven’t you heard? — which is detailed in full here on HuffPost (though Yashar Ali’s Twitter thread will hit you w/the highlights).

Given Anna Wintour’s notorious editorial control (one that’s artistically rivaled only by that of Queen B, so it honestly works) and her rumored departure from the mag, this cover already sounds like a cultural touchstone in the making.

I especially recommend processing the news with celebrity media expert Anne Helen Petersen’s latest newsletter, where within the context of that NYT Mag Gwyneth piece, she sheds light on all the backchanneling & politicking that wrangling a big star for a magazine cover entails.

Tl;dr, a LOT. And it’s brain-bending to wonder: when it comes to celebs and traditional media in the digital age, who needs whom more?

Like Deez Links? Forward to yr artistic rival.