Rolling Stone March 2020 : SZA, Megan Thee Stallion & Normani by Campbell Addy

[Benn98]

 

[MON]

These women shaping the future of music? Hardly.

 

[Benn98]

These women shaping the future of music?

But only if they're dressed up as ladies of the night. What I'm getting from this is that sex sells, always have always will.

Normani is the only one who looks somewhat passable in a Versace way. Girl on the left looks awful from head to toe, don't know how she made the cut. And just last week a mugshot of 'hot girl Meg' circulated where she spent time in jail for bashing either her mum or her boyfriend. What a fine rolemodel to shape the future!

 

[dodencebt]

Girl on the left looks awful from head to toe, don't know how she made the cut.

Girl on the left is 9-time Grammy nominated and incredibly talented artist SZA, thank you very much.

I love this. It's excessive, and if you listen to these girls you know that this is true to their style.

 

[slayage]

I feel like they could've done something more with them than just putting them all in all-black leather outfits, such gorgeous and talented women they are. Nevertheless I like the vibe but I'd probably buy this for the people on the cover and not for the overall look of it.

 

[mikel]

Love the 90’s R&B girl group vibe.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

Could they not give them their own style? They look like Halloween costumes. I mean really, you got TLC on the left, Janet Jackson in the middle, and Naomi Campbell on the end. I would like to see them, not a parody of other people.

 

[Avonlea]

So tacky and vulgar (not in a fun way) Awful photography, styling and poses. Girls are pretty but they are definitely not "shaping the future"

 

[KoV]

They did SZA dirty with this one, I don’t like the styling on her and it’s just an unflattering shot. Also, surely she and Meg are big enough to warrant their own covers? Normani looks great.


This is likely a sensitive subject, and hopefully I’m not speaking out of turn, but I do wonder why it is that every single chart-topping black female artist is *constantly* sexualized in the press while their white counterparts are not. Is this meant to be empowerment? I wonder how much of that is the artists’ choice and how much is industry-enforced racist tropes.

 

[Benn98]

Girl on the left is 9-time Grammy nominated and incredibly talented artist SZA, thank you very much.

But I don't listen to her music or follow her, so the amount of Grammy nominations she has doesn't really mean anything to me. And anyway, the crux of my comment is based on what I see here, thank you very much.

 

[thenewclassic]

Normani literally always has the same deer in the headlights expression in every pic I see of hers.

 

[MON]

Girl on the left is 9-time Grammy nominated and incredibly talented artist SZA, thank you very much.

Emphasis on "nominated."

Seriously though, how is Sza shaping the future when her breakout was in 2015, last single as a solo artist in 2018, last single as featured artist in 2019? She barely has anything to promote (all of which barely made it to the Top 15). Last solo album was in 2017.

Considering her as music's next superstar after years of hiatus, having nothing to promote, and a relatively weak discography is as d*mb as nominating Bebe Rexha for a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2019.

 

[Deleted member 45369]

I feel like Rollingstone is like Cosmo nowadays where neither can pull in A List talent and have to settle for b list at best. Where’s Drake? Ariana? The real music superstars. Kudos to them for having Lizzo on cover last month tho. A real breakout that deserves the cover.

 

[Benn98]

This is likely a sensitive subject, and hopefully I’m not speaking out of turn, but I do wonder why it is that every single chart-topping black female artist is *constantly* sexualized in the press while their white counterparts are not. Is this meant to be empowerment? I wonder how much of that is the artists’ choice and how much is industry-enforced racist tropes.

I want to say it depends on the artist in addition to some other factors? You wouldn't see Janelle Monae for instance half-naked on magazine covers, she's very much in control of her image. The inconvenient truth is that the three women above probably are as well. At some point you cannot blame the industry, because if it was possible for Janelle to succeed without thirst-trapping IG shots then what's stopping these three?

And to get back to the point I made about why sex will always sell, on Janelle's Insta there's one single shot of her in swimwear (not even sexualised, it looks more body-positive through my eyes!). But that one shot got her the highest amount of likes and engagement compared to any other image she posted (can't count vids because Instagram counts a view even if a user scroll past the vid more than 3 seconds without actually 'playing' it). So here, as well as with all the other women on the cover and a host of VS models and influencers, the bottom line is that scantily clad images alone will bring in big numbers. Now add on suggestive poses, hypersexual innuendo and whatnot and watch how their profile will skyrocket to the point that they're being pushed forward as rolemodels. And yet, you can say 'it is what it is', but guess what, that doesn't mean you have to play by those rules. Looking at you, '9-time Grammy-nominated and incredibly talented artist SZA'.

Also, here we go with last year's 'Women Shaping the Future' cover.....



Rolling Stone

 

[Armani]

Extremely talented artists whom are all deserving of this cover. Not one to focus on skimpy outfits, but who am I? I’m sure there was a much better cover shot option than this, however. Meg is serving classic Meg here, and as we’ve seen from her i-D cover shoot, she is quite photogenic editorially, but the same can be said for SZA and Normani... and alas.

I must agree with @MON ’s comment that SZA is definitely not a “new” artist paving the way for the future, she’s been known for quite a while - and given her own tFS thread was made in the beginning stages of her career, it’s quite easy to see that by simply doing a quick search. Maybe someone like Doja Cat would make a better fit given Candy being a sleeper hit and two songs from her most recent album (one of which I‘m not allowed to name) garnering its own respective success? Saweetie? Rico Nasty?

 

[Benn98]

Rolling Stone March 2020



Women Who Shape the World

Photographer: Campbell Addy
Stylist: Rachel Johnson
Hair: Randy Stodghill, Kellon Deryck, Yusef
Makeup: Ernesto Casillas, Rokael
Cast: Megan Thee Stallion, Normani, SZA



Photographer: Heather Hazzan
Stylist: Christina Ehrlich
Hair: Tetsuya Yamanaka
Makeup: Deana Meluso
Cast: Natascha Lyonne


Photographer: Yana Yatsuk
Stylist: Wayman + Micah
Hair: Larry Sims
Makeup: Latrice Johnson
Cast: Regina King


Photographer: Flo Ngala
Stylist: Iman Ramadan
Hair & Makeup: Terri Watson
Cast: Stacey Abrams


Rolling Stone Digital Edition