Celebrity

Some might say we live in the city of celebrities — the city of Hollywood actors, influencers and larger-than-life personalities. This is a version of the city, but it’s not the version that most everyday Angelenos experience. In the words of Tinashe: “There’s so much realness and real people and real experience here.”

What is celebrity in 2024 anyway? We no longer follow or idolize the same narrow set of people. On the one hand, we have wider access to more role models; on the other, it’s harder for any one person to stick when we can easily move on to the next best thing. In her conversation with artist Nicole Miller, Harmony Holiday unwaveringly announces “the end of the classic model of celebrity.” Together, Miller and Holiday imagine what it would be like to “restore people to their humanity” instead of idolizing them. What if we brought the people we admire back to the Earth? What if we paused to consider them within their everyday contexts, as “real people” with “real experience”?

For our Celebrity issue, we sat down with a range of artists we wanted to celebrate, and while honoring their accomplishments, we also asked them: What does it feel like to perform? How do you turn off the performance? How do you draw the line between life and art? In other words, what is it like to be a human going through such creative transformation?

In her conversation with me, actor Laysla De Oliveira shared her lived experience of coming to Hollywood to make it — a cliché idea at this point that is nonetheless still a reality for ambitious actors. And staff writer Julissa James caught Tinashe mid-tour; her reflections on performing for a crowd — how it’s fed and changed her — were especially fresh.

We couldn’t have a Celebrity issue without considering the true drivers of culture: the icons of the underground, of subculture. For an epic feature, Babylon L.A.’s Lee Spielman interviewed three skater legends— Na-Kel Smith, Junior Gutierrez and Davonte Jolly — as they spent the day in downtown L.A. with photographer Atiba Jefferson. And in Tokyo, the duo behind L.A. fashion brand Freak City found their creative soulmate, rap duo Yurufuwa Gang, and bonded over what it means to make art with your partner.

To close out the issue, Rebekah Pahl talks with L.A.’s own astrology celebrity, Chani Nicholas, to figure out once and for all the meaning of Saturn Return and why so many (including the pop girlies) have identified with it. Whether you’re in your Saturn Return or have one on the horizon, this read might just be a guiding light as we turn the page into an uncertain new year.

Elisa Wouk Almino
Editorial Director

Image logo by Ana Gómez Bernaus For The Times