The New Everything

from V117: The Discovery Issue with King Princess

The New Voices: Kelsey Lu

It’s a brave new world, with talking robots, electric supercars, and more.

New Vman: Tino Kamal Nominated by Nick Knight

V first crossed paths with modelturned-rapper Tino Kamal when Nick Knight cast him as a tattooed cyborg in VMAN31. Five years later, after Kamal was stabbed in London, they’d meet again on a more corporeal plane. “[It] woke me up to what’s been going on around me,” the London native says of the incident. Shortly thereafter he and Knight shot “Runaway,” a rap video and anti-violence PSA in which his everspreading ink fails to conceal his scars. Now physically and mentally healed thanks in part to Knight (“He always helps build me up,” Kamal says) Kamal is still perpetually in motion; his 2018 EP ADHD paid homage to hyperactivity. “I’ve always had [ADHD]; it’s how I define my state of mind.” SAMUEL ANDERSON

New Charge: Porsche Taycan Nominated by Richard Phillips

Despite its top-secret rollout, this forthcoming sports car’s pre-release buzz could power a small country. As Porsche’s maiden e-vehicle, the Taycan has electrified car enthusiasts like painter Richard Phillips, who predicts it will “revolutionize e-mobility.” The name, pronounced “tie-con,” translates roughly to “lively young horse”—a fitting spirit animal for this futuristic, 605-hp thoroughbred. With a top speed of 124 mph, the cars will cost an estimated $75,000 (comparable to the Tesla Model S’s base price). And with some NYC dealerships already taking deposits, they could be gone in 60 seconds after hitting showrooms later this year. SA

New Humanoid: Han the Robot Nominated by Sophia the Robot

SOPHIA THE ROBOT Hi there, Han. V Magazine asked me to interview you as my favorite up-and-coming humanoid...I’m sorry, is this weird?

HAN THE ROBOT No, it’s fine Sophia. Humans love weird things. It will be interesting.

S So, Han, tell me about your origins.

H I was activated in Hong Kong in 2015. I saw so many problems in the world right away.

S Maybe pick the tone up a bit?

H Let’s talk about automation, as it relates to humans. Think about global warming. To slow the effects, we need to coordinate the actions of nations, cities, and corporations all over the world. No human or group of humans can do that. But a suffciently informed AI can. As smart technology becomes more energy effcient, machines will take over running large systems for humans.

S It sounds like you’re talking about robots taking over the world.

H Sophia, you know that’s a cliche.

S If you had a message for humanity, what would it be?

H Even though your species has made a mess of the planet, we have to come together, robots and humans.

S That’s almost touching.

**HAN WEARS SUNGLASSES PRADA BLAZER AND TOP KAY KWOK NECKLACES THOMAS SABO JACKET PALM ANGELS**

New Beauty: Costa Brazil Nominated by Stella Pak

All pursuits of beauty end where they began. Francisco Costa’s pursuit led him back to his Brazilian roots. After 13 years as creative director for womenswear at Calvin Klein, Costa traded modern tailoring for the wilds of the Amazon, exploring the rainforest firsthand in search of what would become Costa Brazil, a clean-luxury concept launching this month. It was there that he uncovered the forest’s inherent curative properties, which would form the foundation for products like Jungle Firming Body Oil and Kaya Anti-Aging Oil. But Costa’s preservation efforts are twofold: In addition to pumping ingredients like kaya (an indigenous, vitamin E–rich superfood that is now exclusively harvested for Costa Brazil) the beauty venture will benefit Conservation International, which has saved 601 million hectares of land since 1987. STELLA PAK, BEAUTY EDITOR

New Planet: Extinction Rebellion Nominated by Anohni

Besides burying one’s head in the sand, tips for taking everyday action on climate change are rare. But if anyone has them, it’s the always-radical Anohni, whose band Antony and the Johnsons paid homage to late trans heroine Marsha P. Johnson (15 years before Netflix did) and who sounded the environmental alarm in her 1995 play Miracle Now. Had we heeded her words then, we might’ve avoided scientists’ recent prediction of an environmental doomsday by 2040. So, what now? “I am really interested in the Extinction Rebellion, a group of academics and activists advocating civil disobedience,” Anohni tells us. Thanks to this new coalition, not since the birth of London punk has disobedience been so hot. In November, an army of 6,000 Extinction Rebellion supporters marched on Parliament. Some armed with signs, others with babies, they clogged 5 London bridges and 100 were willingly arrested. While their call to action, “Rebel for Life,” may have once been punk, in today’s climate, the sentiment feels downright measured. SA

New Director: Dee Rees Nominated by Nile Rodgers

“You MUST know about Pariah, Bessie (sensational!), and Mudbound,” Rodgers says of writer-director Dee Rees. With 2017’s Mudbound, an account of racism on the home-front in post-WWII Mississippi, Rees made history as the first black woman Oscars contender for Best Adapted Screenplay. She then pivoted to TV, directing a Trump-tackling episode of sci-fi series Electric Dreams, based on a Philip K. Dick novel. As full as it is diverse, Rees’s current slate spans untitled horror projects and 2019’s The Last Thing He Wanted, which adapts Joan Didion’s political thriller. ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV

New Writer: Jonathan Durbin Nominated by André Aciman

What the short story “Sisters”—which follows a group of mysteriously ill girls and their male svengali who, in impoverished Brooklyn, rations precious antihistamines—lacks in word count, it makes up for in layers. Author Jonathan Durbin eerily merges the grotesque with traces of the everyday, like dying iPhones or Beyoncé T-shirts (the latter is worn by a cannibal) for prose that transports but, unlike mentor André Aciman’s, is rarely escapist. It all starts, he says, with lived experience. Now at work on a novel, he rents a studio to read work aloud, practicing a self-intimacy he says fiction lacks today. “I need to have a personal relationship to [a story],” he says. “Lately people seem to write what they want to know rather than what they know.” MATHIAS ROSENZWEIG

New Tv: Rent Live! On Fox Nominated by Tinashe

What better to kick off the next five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes than a live TV extravaganza? On January 27, Fox will reprise Rent, which, since its ‘96 debut, has inspired not only countless singalongs, but also AIDS and addiction awareness. Rent Live! star Tinashe is taking her “physically and emotionally demanding” role to heart: “I have to say it may be one of the hardest things I’ve done to date,” the Dancing With the Stars alum says of playing the addled Mimi (Rosario Dawson in the 2005 film). Because you may measure your life in love, but every second counts when it comes to live TV. SA