Get the latest gossip

‘Audiences can smell fakeness a mile away’: the creative directors behind pop’s biggest stars

Whether making rabbits for Chappell Roan or dangling Pink upside down, these professionals build entire worlds for pop’s A-listers. They explain their singular craft

The design they submitted for Grammys consideration was a set of paper dolls Sattar conceptualised for the first-anniversary edition vinyl of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which can be slotted into the LP’s cardboard sleeve, cut to resemble parted stage curtains. Kanye West may have established the blueprint with his collaboration with the late Virgil Abloh, while Ciarra Pardo worked with Rihanna for nearly a decade before becoming chief creative officer of the singer’s company Fenty Corp. Oliver El-Khatib grew rapper Drake into a brand, October’s Very Own, now synonymous with Toronto. More recently, Imogene Strauss – who has partnered with Caroline Polachek, Solange and Clairo – worked with Charli xcx on Brat, collaborating on the now-iconic shade of green for the cover and stoking the online memes that helped to turn the album into a cultural moment.

Get the Android app