In i-D Loves, we look back upon the last seven days in our calendar and pinpoint the pieces that best represent the current moment. No matter what you’re in the mood for this weekend — be it the best music of the year so far or a countdown of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s best fashion — we’ve got you covered. Here’s what i-D loved this week.
Need some new music? Here’s where to start
While the popstars preparing to return in 2021 with their delayed comeback records are waiting in the wings, the current musical landscape has been gutted and reformed, allowing niche artists, many on independent labels, to have their moment. As such, 2021’s slew of records so far are already game-changing. From Mica Levi’s stripped-back genre-less sonic experiment to Jazmine Sullivan’s talked-about Heaux Tales, here are the best 15 records of the year so far that deserve your attention.
These furbies are fucking freaking us out
For some, lockdown turned people towards knitting, Animal Crossing, or baking and eating their body weight in sourdough. But others found it easier to pass the time by making jacked up Furbies and posting them online. So what exactly is going on with these Frankenstein kid’s toys? And why, when we close our eyes at night, are their rank little faces all we see before bed? We don’t know, but writer Tom Forster tries his best to get to the bottom of it here.
Hugo Comte, master of pop’s new aesthetic, has released a monograph
You know his work, either as one of fashion’s most respected photographers, or the man behind the outward facing images of Dua Lipa and Caroline Polachek. Hugo Comte’s art, semi-surreal and sharp, often like the sci-fi promo imagery of an early noughties games console, has been embraced across different cultural spheres. Now he’s made his first monograph, and told Ryan White about the six pictures that define it. Find out what he said about them here.
The 9 RuPaul’s Drag Race looks that give us life
Okay, Drag Race UK continues to be the only thing to look forward to with every passing week of this panasonic. Here we look back upon the fashion serves of past episodes, compiling this: The 9 most iconic outfits in Drag Race herstory that we are violently obsessed with. See Tom George’s picks here, and stan Bimini.
Nature is healing — these arthouse movies should be on your cinema watch list
After a trashy year in which cinema trips were few and far between (or maybe non-existent for some) 2021 promises to get its shit together. On top of the blockbusters that were delayed in 2020, remember to make space for the more modest arthouse movies that persevered throughout last year, taking up space blockbusters were too scared to fill. The lure of Dune might be massive for some, but these 10 movies that premiered at this year’s Berlinale deserve your attention just as much. Check them out here.
Madison Beer, a very good pop star, gets very frank in this interview
Pop star Madison Beer has transformed a life of being scrutinised in the spotlight into an off-kilter debut album, one that tackles the trauma of fame, heartbreak and her struggle with Borderline Personality Disorder. “I think that I’ve been pretty crucified over the past few years for things that I do and have done,” she told Alim Kheraj. “It can be hard because I’m still young, you know? I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do or how am I supposed to not make mistakes.” Read their full conversation here.