A warning, this episode contains discussion of suicide.

In the new series, Swarm, Dominique Fishback plays Drey, a socially awkward young woman who's obsessed

with a mega pop star Nijja, who's a thinly veiled analog for Beyoncé. Chloe Bailey plays

Drey's sister Marissa, and when a life-changing event occurs, Drey's obsession with Nijja

takes on a more sinister tone. Donald Glover co-created the show and it definitely shares an

off-kilter vibe with his previous hit Atlanta. I'm Aisha Harris and today we're talking about Swarm

on Pub Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Join me today is culture writer and critic Shamira Ibrahim. Hi,

Shamira, welcome back. Hi, Shut, thank you for having me back. Yay! Also with us is writer Kiana

Fitzgerald. She has a book coming out in July called Ode to Hip Hop 50 albums that define 50 years

of trailblazing music. It's available for pre-order now. Hey Kiana, welcome back to you too.

Hey Aisha, good to be here. Yes, this show. I'm sure we will have so many thoughts.

First off, Swarm stars Dominique Fishback as Drey, a shy retail worker who's living in Houston.

Drey only cares about two things in life. Her sister Marissa, a makeup artist played by Chloe

Bailey, and Nijja, a pop superstar played by Nareen S. Brown. Nijja has a loyal and very online

fan base known as the Swarm who have crowned her as Queen Bee and aggressively sing her praises while

defending her against any naysayers any chance they can get. Does that sound familiar? I think it

does sound familiar. This show was created by Jeanne Neighbors and Donald Glover,

Glover directed the pilot, and all seven episodes are streaming now on Prime Video. We should

also note that Amazon supports NPR and also distributes some of our content. Now, Drey's obsession with

both Marissa and Nijja takes a dark turn after a devastating incident. That's all I'll reveal

about Swarm for now because it's a very twisty show. We'll go around and give our initial impressions

first, take a break, and then we'll dive headfirst into full on spoiler waters later in the episode

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