Ayo Edebiri: more than the favourite

It’s been a lot of American Vogue today, I know. But that’s because the magazine has done a great job choosing the three cover stars of the November issue to promote Vogue World Hollywood coming up in the next few weeks. 

Ayo Edebiri, brand new Chanel ambassador, is one of those stars wearing a look by new Chanel creative director, Matthieu Blazy and her fresh Chanel bob. 

The interview is fun, because Ayo is always fun. But does she always have to be fun? We are currently three years into Ayo’s celebrity and she’s now beloved for her performance on The Bear, for her Letterboxd reviews, for her hilarious red carpet moments, and for being Irish, LOL. Fame is tricky to negotiate though because being the favourite can be limiting. Some artists thrive in it, and others find it restrictive. Ayo seems to be getting ahead of this with the choices she’s made, in particular her role in Luca Guadagnino’s After The Hunt. Her character is called Maggie and this is how she’s described in the Vogue profile: 

“Maggie, to put it plainly, is a bit of a pill. She’s affected, sneaky, entitled (her adoptive parents are major Yale donors), and she takes a grating pleasure in talking down to people, especially men. Edebiri will often build playlists around her characters, and for Maggie, the sound profile was “a lot of noise. A lot of chaos and depressed, misplaced anger.”

That is not the Ayo who gets memed online basically every time she steps out. This is Ayo exploring the experience, artistically, of being unlikeable. Or, as she says more diplomatically, “Oh, maybe people just won’t understand Maggie”. But maybe that’s the point because then she goes on to say, “There’s something really freeing to being like, People might just not like her or might not understand her actions.”

It’s Ayo’s way of giving people what they need, and not what they want. Or, perhaps, choosing for herself what she needs and not what she wants as a more challenging and ultimately more fulfilling way to advance as an artist. 

“So many artists can become a character to people, or an idea to people,” she’d mused. “And then when something deviates from that idea, then it’s like, Wait, what’s going on? Do we like this?”

I do like it. I like that she’s not allowing herself to chase the dragon of popularity. That she’s in a polarising film playing a polarising character who might not pop off on TikTok in a positive way. And this is OK, better than OK, because wouldn’t it be so boring to just keep doing sh-t so that people keep liking you? 

This is easier to say than to actually do. It’s so hard to not want to be liked. People say it all the time but I’m not sure they mean it and I don’t judge them for this, especially in these times, when being unliked can manifest itself in a digital scar that feels permanent. But Ayo seems so thoughtful about perception and staying grounded, making sure that she can hear herself even when her celebrity is at its loudest. So I hope she will continue to follow in the direction her creativity wants to lead her, without having to be concerned about anyone’s approval. 

Click here for more of Ayo in Vogue. 

---

What else happened today…

Alexander Skarsgård wears a shirt with dildos and butt plugs but they don’t jump out at you right away… or maybe I’m just not that perceptive. (Go Fug Yourself)

Aziz Ansari tries to justify why he performed (and got paid) in Riyadh on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Can’t not take the question from a man who recently survived an attempted censorship. (Pajiba)

Shailene Woodley on preparing to play Janis Joplin. (Celebitchy)

The Mary Sue’s list of the 10 best coming of age movies of all time. No arguments. (The Mary Sue)

Haircut trends from Paris Fashion Week – or what I like to call wishful thinking because I haven’t changed my hairstyle since when I started using a Blackberry. (Refinery 29)