“Who’s Your Favorite Artist?” Donald Glover’s Swarm Turns Stan Culture Into a Nightmare
Most of us will do anything to support our favorite artists; buy a concert ticket no matter the price, stream their album nonstop, and keep up with their personal lives on social media. But if you’re anything like the star of Amazon Prime Video’s Swarm, your love for your favorite artist can lead to some dangerous decisions.
Swarm follows Andrea “Dre” Greene (played by Dominique Fishback) as her obsession with multiplatinum recording artist, Ni’Jah (played by Nirine S. Brown) pushes her off the deep end and triggers her murder spree. Dre’s story becomes clearer as the series unfolds, and we begin to understand the physiological traumas shaping her decision to murder.
Dominique Fishback as Andrea “Dre” Greene | Swarm
Throughout the series, Dre proves herself to be an unreliable narrator, which often leaves viewers both confused and enthralled. Scenes from Dre’s perspective are hallucinations left for the audience to interpret. While she can often be funny and relatable, you will also feel scared of her. The series has several motifs and metaphors relating to Dre’s relationship with food and hunger, representing her urge to kill. Actress Domonique Fishback perfectly channels details of insanity when playing Dre; from her mannerisms, her reactions to the world around her and her blank, yet terrifying stare when she asks, “who’s your favorite artist?”
Produced by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, the series seamlessly travels between comedy, thriller, and horror to warn viewers of the dangers of becoming too invested in a parasocial relationship with a celebrity. In addition to the star-studded cast, including Chloe Bailey, Damson Idris, Paris Jackson, Rory Culkin, and Billie Eillish, Malia Obama joined Nabers to co-write episode 5, “Girl, Bye.” Nabers told Entertainment Tonight, “Some of her (Malia) pitches were wild as hell, and they were just so good and so funny." "She's an incredible writer. She brought a lot to the table … She's really, really dedicated to her craft."
Swarm opens with a sex scene between Marissa (played by Chloe Bailey) and Khalid (played by Damson Idris) which instantly set it as the #1 trending topic on all social media platforms on the day of it’s premier. Before each episode, the disclaimer, “This is not a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is intentional.” appears on the screen, adding another layer of mystery. Every detail of the series is intentional; without an eye for detail, you will find yourself missing clues. Donald Glover’s signature style is evident in the first episode of the Amazon Prime Video series. It holds a surreal feeling parallel to his work on FX’s Atlanta, where Nabers was also a writer and co-executive producer. This dynamic pairing of creativity and social commentary makes Swarm feel almost like an extension of the outlandish series in the best way. Whether through the episode’s title or something placed in the background of scenes, there are references to real-life moments in pop culture.
When the trailer launched, Twitter instantly lit up with speculations about the series’ references to Beyonce and her fan base, the Beyhive. While Beyonce’s fandom is referred to as the BeyHive, fans of Swarm’s Ni’Jah are referred to as the Swarm, with Dre as the number one fan—the killer bee. The series also uses pivotal moments in Beyonce’s career without fully confirming that Ni’Jah is meant to represent the singer. In an interview with Variety, Nabers said, “So every episode deals with real news stories, real events or internet rumors that have happened, and we have put our wonderful woman at the center of that story.”
The ambiguous ending of the final episode leaves Dre’s fate in question. The truth of the matter is you won’t finish this series with the answers to all of your questions. You might finish episode seven with more questions than ever. But, as producer Janine Nabers reminds viewers, “There’s a mystery as to how Dre got where she was, and that’s okay. It’s okay not to know everything.” While the series showcases the dangers of stan culture and obsession, it also builds the presence of Black women in the horror genre, which is often scarce of diverse representation.
It is unclear whether or not there will be a second season of Swarm or if Detective Loretta Greene in the “mockumentary” of episode 6 will have a spin-off series. While we don’t have the answers to these questions just yet, there is one question you MUST know the answer to if you want to survive… “Who is your favorite artist?”
Dominique Fishback as Andrea “Dre” Greene | Swarm