If anyone has earned the right to dissect the mythology of pop stardom, it's Petra Collins. The photographer and director has spent years operating at the very center of it - shooting portraits of some of music's biggest names and directing videos for Olivia Rodrigo, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Cardi B, among others. She hasn't just observed the machine from a distance. She's been inside it.
Now, Collins is channeling that access and experience into a new photo book, reported on by Dazed, that promises something far more complex than a glossy celebration of celebrity. Her vision of stardom is dark, twisted, and fascinating - and honestly, that makes total sense given what she's witnessed up close.
Why this book matters
There's no shortage of coffee table books featuring beautiful images of famous people. What's rarer - and more interesting - is work that tries to reckon with what stardom actually does to a person. The drama, the chaos, the strange unreality of living at that level of visibility. Collins has a front-row seat to all of it, and her artistic instincts have always leaned toward the psychological rather than the purely aesthetic.
Her photography has long played with themes of femininity, performance, and identity - ideas that map directly onto what it means to be a pop star in the current era, where artists are simultaneously expected to be relatable and otherworldly, authentic and meticulously constructed.
A portrait of an industry, not just its stars
What makes Collins' perspective particularly compelling is that she isn't an outsider looking in with wide eyes. She's a collaborator - someone these artists have chosen to help shape their visual identity. That trust creates a different kind of intimacy, and a different kind of image.
The result, based on what Dazed describes, is a photo book that feels less like a fan document and more like a complex, sometimes uncomfortable examination of what the world of pop stardom really looks like when you're standing right next to it. Think less red carpet, more backstage existential crisis - and all the more compelling for it.
For anyone interested in photography, music culture, or just the strange machinery of fame in 2024, this is shaping up to be a genuinely worthwhile addition to the bookshelf.
