ICONS

It has been said that we live in an attention economy, where power and influence are often determined by what grabs and arrests us most fully, whether it's a 30-second TikTok video, a stirring performance, a transporting piece of writing, or a call for justice. That's why where we choose to invest our attention is so vitally important. The individuals in this year's Icons portfolio are people who command it. They captivate us, connect us, entertain us, move us, stoke our obsession, and inspire us with the urgency they bring to their work. They not only speak to this moment, they are also helping to define it and give it meaning. They've each made their marks and some of them might be making history. But most importantly, they all understand what can happen when our eyes, hearts, minds, and energies are all pointed in the same direction.

DOJA CAT is reimagining pop stardom in her own fearlessly provocative and occasionally trippy image and the reward is in the long, strange journey.

By ANGIE MARTINEZ

There’s a case to be made that it was during the pandemic that the internet finally subsumed us— which is precisely when Amala Dlamini, a.k.a. Doja Cat, became a global pop star. Dlamini, 27, was born in Los Angeles and spent time as a child with her mother at an ashram led by jazz musician Alice Coltrane.  But she is also a member of the connected generation whose creative DNA is defined not by a record collection as much as by a swirling torrent of songs, sounds, clips and memes. She has been releasing music for more than a decade, but her mainstream breakthrough came in late 2019 with “Say So,” a masterful mash-up of disco, hip-hop, and funk vibes that became a left-field sensation on the eve of lockdown, inspiring a TikTok dance challenge. Since then, there have been more hits, tours, and a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Kiss Me More,” a collaboration with SZA off 2021’s Planet Her. In June, she released “Attention,” the first single from her new album, Scarlet, which will be accompanied by her first arena tour this fall. Dlamini sat down with rap-radio legend and media entrepreneur Angie Martinez to discuss art, fame, and finding your way—on Instagram and IRL.

ANGIE MARTINEZ: An icon by definition is “a person or a thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration.” Do you see yourself as worthy of veneration?