Friday 06.26.20
Pabllo Vittar
Pabllo Vittar was born in São Luís, Maranhão, on the northern side of Brazil but she spent most of her childhood in an area close by called Caxias, Pará. At 17 Pabllo moved to São Paulo to pursue a career in music and entertainment. From an early age Pabllo considered herself a true performer, “I was always a show off and loved the spotlight! I used to sing in the church choir as a kid, and as a teenager I used to do everything I could to be on local TV shows, perform as a singer or dancer anywhere and everywhere I could.”
Pabllo considers herself a drag queen, but she is just as much a pop singer and songwriter. It’s her music that has catapulted her to such enormous fame both in Brazil and now around the world. Currently she has over 10 million followers on Instagram, and she was just featured in Calvin Klein’s latest ad campaign. Her song ‘Timida’ with Mexican icon Thalía (which came about after connecting through the DMs) has been watched over 15 million times.
We asked Pabllo to collaborate with us on creating a cover story and were at first unsure exactly how we would pull it off given the restraints of a global pandemic and subsequent quarantine. Turns out with the right amount of creativity, beautiful things are possible.
Where do you live now? Now I live in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais! It’s not a big city as São Paulo and I love that! …
SELF-PORTRAITS BY PABLLO VITTAR | ALL CLOTHING BY CALVIN KLEIN.
Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe has always felt ahead of her time. She’s an artist who seems made for every era she’s in. Janelle released her first music (a demo titled The Audition) in 2003. Three years later she formed a joint venture with her own label Wondaland Records and P. Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. She’s been nominated for eight Grammys but has maddeningly not won any even though her 2018 album Dirty Computer is considered a masterpiece by many critics and fans. In recent years, Janelle has stepped into acting with roles in Moonlight, Hidden Figures, and the Amazon series Homecoming. She’s also stepped more into herself. After a transformative skydiving experience, Janelle decided to open up publicly about her sexuality.
We spoke to Janelle in two conversations, one mere days before the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and then another time after the protests against his murder and broader police brutality had erupted in cities across the country. On both occasions we found her to be thoughtful, open, and fully engaged. She is “building and squadding up” and ready to work as hard as ever to demand justice for the thousands of black people killed by police each year. She was crystal clear about the message she wanted to share with the world during our conversation and during this Pride month: “All black lives matter.”
How are you doing? It’s so hard for me to answer that question, honestly. But I just ate, so that’s good. In general, I’m not in a good space. …
Sunday 06.21.20
Brooklyn Liberation — An Action for Black Trans Lives
The rally took place outside of the Brooklyn Museum — about 15,000 people attended.
Sunday 05.31.20
Get involved now!
Here's a list of places where you can donate
Destroying property has been an essential part of the fight for civil rights of people of color in the US. It is an expression of outrage that cannot be ignored. Black people are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of white people. And certainly the history of white supremacists murdering and torturing black people stretches further back than recorded history: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amaud Arbery, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Keith Lamont Scott, Rodney King, Marquette Frye, Emmet Till among so many others.
Remember that everything is connected.
Angela Davis once said, “Certainly the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender movement would not have been conceptualized in the same way had it not happened against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement… “
In 1969, Stonewall was the site of riots, of destruction, of breaking windows, slashing tires, throwing bricks, and lighting fires. It was a tipping point, a moment that demanded the spotlight of the American media through brute force. And keep in mind—there is only one known photo from the first night of riots. It shows the homeless youth who slept in nearby Christopher Park in a clash with the police.
Accountability and change were won through disturbance and exposure. In 2020, smart phone cameras and viral hashtags have become the tools of public outcry. Let them know we are watching. Get involved and collect evidence of this moment. Demand a better tomorrow.
HERE’S A LIST OF PLACES WHERE YOU CAN DONATE:
BLACK LIVES MATTER. …
