Necklace / Syster P
Shirt / Humana
Chaps / Stylist’s own
Joy M’Batha is a firecracker ready to take the music scene by storm. Her image is self-assured and unapologetic, whilst her sound is a free-spirited take on electro hip-hop. At the tender age of 22, the bold starlet has blazed a promising trail for herself back in Sweden, earning a string of nominations at Sweden’s most coveted award ceremonies and participating in a popular talent show. Much like the way M’Batha portrays herself through her music, she is fun, open and honest with Schön!, revealing her therapeutic stint in Thailand recording new music, how she flourished from a troubled past, and exactly what fans can look forward to next.
Who did you listen to growing up? Which artists take you back to childhood?
I loved Eminem and the Slim Shady LP growing up. I don’t think I understood the lyrics but I really liked the flow and probably enjoyed listening to him because I wasn’t supposed to, “I just don’t give a fuck.”
Jacket / Cubus
Did you come from a family of creatives?
My grandpa Azaria M’Batha is an author and painter from South Africa. Being creative is so important to me. Sweden is so grey and ‘lagom’ (not too much and not too little.) I want everybody to know that anything is possible if you do what you want and not what anybody else wants for you.
Do you think your upbringing shaped you into the artist you are now?
In every way possible. I grew up with a big family and having everything. As a teen, I lost it all. My mum being bipolar [and] getting into alcohol addiction. My stepdad – since I was three years old – taking his ‘real’ blood-related daughters leaving me and my younger sister on the streets. Then to my mum taking her life four years ago. I don’t wish my worst enemy what I’ve gone through but it made me the strong and hardworking woman I am today. For that, I’m very thankful.
Have you faced any challenges being a woman in a male-centric genre? Or have you felt largely embraced?
I’ve felt very embraced actually. Being a young, loud, black girl in the business is in fashion right now. Feminism is bigger than ever so it comes very easily. The hard part is staying interesting.
Shirt / Humana
Jacket / Cubus
What would you say the Swedish hip hop scene has that its UK and US counterparts don’t?
I actually prefer the UK grime scene. Its flows [are] much more fun. The Swedish hip hop scene stays more grounded. Maybe that’s a good thing? I like crazy and over-the-top [but] Swedes are often too scared to go there because of ‘jantelagen’. It’s a rule that says “don’t think that you’re somebody.” I know I am so that doesn’t apply to me. Production and music wise I think Sweden is on top though. Taking over the whole world and shit.
Do you have any plans to venture into the English music market?
Of course. I actually started out in English but switched it up after realising the folks here wanted to hear me in Swedish. Now they know I can slay the language, maybe it’s time to go back?
And your new EP, how has the recording for that been?
Fun but weird. Recorded a couple of the songs in paradise, Phuket in Thailand, but I was so depressed at the time. Turned out really powerful. It’s easier for me to write when I’m sad for some reason. In the beginning when I started making music I just took my diary and gave it beats.
Shirt / Humana
Jacket / Cubus
What sound can fans expect?
I’m singing a lot more. I don’t wanna corner myself into a genre. I don’t even like to be called a rapper or a hip-hop artist. Making music is my therapy and I don’t want my fans, or admirers as I call ‘em, to be disappointed that I’m not doing what they expected. I’m doing this for me and one day I wanna do this, the next day I’m singing opera, or you’ll see me in the movies. I wanna create all kinds of stuff. You don’t know what you like until you try it.
Are there any artists who are inspiring you at the moment?
Brooke Candy. Fucking love her aesthetics. Big up.
What about your dream collaborations?
Too many to count but I really hope I cross roads with these amazing people one day: Romare, RAY BLK, Goldlink, Bon Iver, James Blake and Erykah Badu. Total slayage.
Jacket / Stand Layered
Necklaces / Syster P
Hat / Stylist’s own
Top / Valí
Opposite
Dress / Humana
You’ve got a reputation as a vibrant performer. What do you love most about performing live?
Feeling free. On stage, no one can get to me. This is my time and I can do whatever I want with it – and people are listening. Crazy.
There’s no one on the music scene who looks like you. Do you have any style inspirations?
Not at all. I don’t follow trends and I don’t care too much about fashion. I love clothes and fun styles though. Secondhand [clothing] and everyday people inspire me the most. Especially the people at Walmart. People who don’t care and wear what makes them happy.
Dress / Valí
What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve taken from your career so far?
Don’t forget where you come from!
Lastly, what’s next for you?
I just featured in my first big TV show and will appear in one more this fall on national television. With them, I’m releasing two songs and after that my third EP. Life is really good right now and I’m just enjoying the wave.
Joy M’Batha’s new single ‘KRLKN’ comes out tomorrow, October 27th. Keep up-to-date with here.
Courtney LaPlante has built a reputation on contrast. As the lead vocalist of Canadian heavy metal band Spiritbox, her voice moves effortlessly between restraint and rupture, while her presence carries an authority that feels equal parts intimate and unshakeable. It’s a balance that clearly extends far beyond the stage. And as metal continues to carve out its space, Spiritbox’s nomination and appearance on the Grammy stage signal more than a performance. It’s a statement.
When the band released “Soft Spine” from their sophomore album Tsunami Sea early last year, it became a confrontational call-to-arms and delivered with the kind of clarity and conviction LaPlante has made her signature. And in the hours leading up to their performance — in which she wore a custom Ashton Michael patent harness — Schön! was invited into LaPlante’s dressing room and offered a glimpse into the process behind the power, and the woman at the centre of it.
photo. Ana Massard
Lana decided to put tape in extensions in and not just clip-ins, and it was so much more comfortable in my hair for the long day… I still have them in!
photo. Ana Massard
photo. Anna Massard
photo. Anna Massard
photo. Ana Massard
Acacia has done my nails for the Grammys three years in a row, but since I’ve been doing press-ons lately, she was able to come be a part of the big morning with me for the first time, and put them on with all of us.
photo. Ana Massard
photo. Anna Massard
photo. Anna Massard
Putting on a brave face.
photo. Anna Massard
photo. Judson Harmon
Our publicist needs to get those leash backpacks for us that they put on little kids.
photo. Judson Harmon
photo. Judson Harmon
Christina re-worked my stage makeup for the red carpet, and it’s time to go!
photo. Judson Harmon
photo. Judson Harmon
I wanted to wear this great frog glass eye ring that I borrowed since Michael has the matching necklace, and three years in a row, I have worn my favourite bracelet that my manager got me, which is very sentimental to me. The other rings are the ones I wore to my biggest ever headline show, and I always wear my wedding bands. Each piece is very meaningful to me, and I wear them every day, on stage and off.
There are two types of people in the world. Specialists and multidisciplinary individuals. That’s not to say a specialist can’t be multidisciplinary at all, or vice versa. But what’s intriguing about Bailey Bass is her positioning at the intersection of the Venn diagram, which we get a glimpse of in our conversation. She’s taken on many roles not only as an actress, but also in her personal life, connecting ideas across fields like psychology, a resurgence of hobbies, and writing.
In ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’, Bailey’s character, Tsireya, continues to serve as an emotional anchor within Pandora, embodying empathy, resilience, and quiet strength amid growing chaos. Through her, the film explores how tenderness can coexist with ferocity, and how choosing empathy in moments of destruction becomes a form of resistance in itself. All of which Bailey parallels in her personal life.
In between bouts of laughter and a charming zest for life, Bailey Bass speaks to Schön! about her metrics for success, a newly set up career wall, and of course, ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’.
Congratulations on the release of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’. You’re playing the very graceful yet strong Tsireya. When joining the ‘Avatar” world, what excited you?
I didn’t know what was going on. It was my first movie. This is my new normal, and I think I was just excited to work. I’ve been auditioning since I was five. I booked it when I was twelve – that’s a long time before you get to live out your dream. I had really low expectations, but I’m just so excited to be a part of a franchise that’s been a part of my life for so long.
That’s insane. It’s a relatively short period of time to make it big, but when you’re 12, that’s half the life that you’ve been auditioning.
Oh my God, no, it’s such a long time. They say give Hollywood seven years, and I guess it’s true. It’s a short time in your life, but the rejection is really hard. I was modelling so much that I had filler — it didn’t hit me the way it hits me now, where I’m ready for the next role. I don’t have much to complain about when I’ve played really nuanced female leading characters I can actually be proud of.
It takes a lot of women ahead of me to have paved the path where I don’t feel objectified in my first roles, which I feel like was kind of a rite of passage that a lot of women had to go through for a long time in the industry. That doesn’t seem to be something we have to do anymore, even though there’s still much more to go. I’m grateful that a lot of the roles that I’ve played with Claudia and Tsireya have been so strong and empowering.
That’s so nice to hear, I’m glad that your experience has showed change in the industry.
Well, it’s still hard, I’m still a woman, but I’m just grateful for my character. I mean, there’s still a long way to go.
dress. Loulou de Saison
earrings. Agmes
opposite
dress. Stella McCartney
earrings. Saulé @ Yaya Pubicity
Of course, one little win at a time. When playing Tsireya, did you find yourself reaching areas that, in yourself, as Bailey, you maybe hadn’t explored before?
I didn’t know how to swim. It was three girls at the end of the audition process, and I remember I was paired with the boys, and that was a blessing in disguise for the swimming part because I was like, “I’m not gonna let them beat me. I’m gonna fake it till I make it.” I honestly thank that moment of being paired with a boy who clearly has been swimming his whole life, and I barely knew how to doggy paddle. I had to prove myself very quickly.
Kirk Krack, who is an amazing freediving instructor — he’s worked with Navy SEALs and Tom Cruise on ‘Mission Impossible’. He said at the end of filming, where I had a breath hold of six minutes and 30 seconds, and I was almost leading the chart when it came to swimming… He says, “You grew so much.” Because they wrote in their notes in the audition process, “she needs work, but has a lot of potential.”
That’s so funny. I tried holding my breath and could only do about 50 seconds.
That’s still a long time. I can still do a minute. I love it when gym bros are like, “let’s do a breath hold competition,” and I always beat them. That feels so good. Fuck their push-ups.
Are there any traits from Tsireya that you had in common, or traits that you would like to adopt from her?
I had a lot of similarities to Tsireya from [‘Avatar’] two and three. James Cameron (Jim), our director, and Margery Simkin, the casting director, is a badass. I love her. She’s a legend in the game, and she knew, even though my audition was shit, that the empathy was there. I always had that compassion and empathy for other people.
Growing up really low income — I’m first generation — the family I grew up with had that immigrant mindset of ‘we will make it through, this is better than where we came from’ and I’d be like, ‘well, this is still not great’ and they’d say, ‘but we can do it.’ I already had those qualities. 2025 was really hard being an American and being in the United States. I’ve definitely been hardened by it.
I’m really interested to see, as we’ve seen the chaos in ‘Fire and Ash’ and the chaos that I’ve experienced as Bailey in the world, what that’s going to mean for Tsireya’s empathy, because I’ve seen it in myself. I don’t think Jim and Margie are mind readers and can predict the future, but I think they knew I had enough goodness in me that if you start from that place, it’s easy to shape and add the trauma in afterwards, which I have enough of as well.
full look. Burberry
Oh dear, why are you giggling?
You have to laugh. There are actually studies that show that people who’ve experienced the most trauma are the funniest.
It’s like they say, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.
Exactly. It’s 2026, we’ve persevered! That’s why — what I talked about in the beginning — those little moments, it’s still not fair. It’s still frustrating, but I realised that you have to be a part of the system to change the system, and have compassion for yourself. I didn’t decide to be born in a brown female body, but what can I do to create the change I want to see? I know you know, but that’s a tough pill to swallow, and I swallow it every day. Being a part of the system and smiling and being nice helps me make much more change, which I know sometimes I just want to pop off the internal rage. I’m a New Yorker. I’m like, ‘someone shove me on the subway, this needs to come out.’
So now that ‘Avatar’ has wrapped, what stayed with you the most? Was it the character, the people, maybe a specific moment on set?
I forget. Actually, I’m going to show you — I created a career wall in my new apartment. It’s still in the making. This is from ‘Interview With the Vampire’ — it’s not done, I still need them to send stuff from ‘Fire and Ash’. Seeing this every day has actually made me remember all that I’ve achieved because it’s really easy to think, ‘I have four more semesters of school before I can even apply to grad schools,’ or ‘I really want to produce this project, and it still has so much more to go.’ But it’s like, look how far you’ve come.
Honestly, I wish I could say what stuck with me was that you have to keep going, that bravery is really important. The issue with me is that, because I’m such a perfectionist, it doesn’t stay with me. So having those reminders, a good therapist, journaling, and having really good friends that tell you you’re doing great. What makes me great at my job is that I keep striving to be better. And yes, that’s great, but I am glad that I made this wall because it reminds me of how far I’ve come. I’ve been working since I was two.
That’s unbelievable, by the way.
Yeah, I go to Columbia University to study psychology, and going back to school has helped me feel like a kid because I had to grow up so fast. I’ve been working with adults, even on ‘Avatar,’ I was the only teen girl, and Trinity was seven, so that was isolating. There were gaps in my childhood, so I’m grateful for — as much as I’m still working, still love being in entertainment — having those moments of normalcy because I do feel like I’ve played as an actor more than I’ve played as a kid.
dress. Angelina Poppy @ REP Agency
earrings. Agmes
rings. Swarovski
opposite
dress. Loulou de Saison
earrings. Agmes
You’ve also balanced growing up, working, and evolving creatively all at once. How do you protect your sense of self outside of acting and work?
I have really good friends and a community. I’m gonna start knitting, having hobbies that have nothing to do with work, because as a child, my hobby became my job. So, as I’m entering my adulthood, finding things that I don’t want to make a career out of, something that’s genuinely just fun for me. I love reading, I read every day, that’s really important to me and having some type of routine, because [work] is freelance and every day does look different. Having routine things that I don’t get paid for is really important because it reminds me that my self-worth is in me just being me. But it’s definitely not easy.
I have jobs outside acting — I work as a research assistant and comms person for a nonprofit on campus, I grant write for half the story, but being able to use different parts of my brain and also not boxing myself in. I know I’ve talked about school so much, but that’s reminding myself I’m not linear. I’m not just an actress, even though that’s filled so much of my life; I am so much more than this one thing, and I love that we live in an era where people can have multiple jobs and be multifaceted, and that is celebrated.
With multifaceted freelancing, ‘Avatar’ being such a huge film, and working since you were two, what does success mean to you now? Has it changed at all within your life?
I check in with ‘am I happy?’ I’ve reached a point in my career where there are so many people on the email chain, and I have not seen all of them in person, but they’re all working really hard to achieve a mutual goal. But that goal in education is not going to be the same in acting. Growing up as a kid actor, you want your team to be a part of every aspect of your life. I’ve had to realise my manager’s not necessarily gonna care if I get an A on this essay, and that is okay. So, remembering that I’m leading the ship and that success stems from ‘Am I happy?’
That’s tough when so much of my success has been being an A student in school and working on set, being a really good friend, daughter and sibling, and being able to get everything done on time — that is what success meant to me. It honestly slipped me into such a deep depression when I realised as an adult, I have to check in on myself now, I’m not a kid anymore. That transition, while also being in the limelight, and wanting to be really good at my job, was not easy. Going back to those pillars of, ‘Am I happy? Did I read today? Did I go outside today? Did I do things that fill my cup?’
dress. Loulou de Saison
earrings. Agmes
I love that happiness is your priority. With ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ press tour being your first time out of the country, and now fresh off the ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ tour, which place have you loved the most, and are there any places you’ve yet to tick off the bucket list?
I went to Canada for like three hours because we crossed the border a couple of weeks before the press tour. That doesn’t really count, we went go-karting in Niagara Falls, and they didn’t even stamp my passport. Even being Belarusian and never being to Belarus — I speak Russian, I am so ingrained in the culture, so people think I’m from there when I speak about it. I’m grateful that I grew up in Gravesend, Brooklyn, immersed in so many cultures.
I went to Malta for the Malta Film Festival. It’s such a special country, and I feel like it needs to be highlighted so much more. They’ve done so much for the film industry. I went to the tanks there because they knew I worked on ‘Avatar’, so we were geeking out about the tech. Malta will always have a special place in my heart. The people are so amazing.
Italy is one of my favourite places. Going to Milan for the ‘Fire and Ash’ press tour was amazing. I really want to go to Iceland, to go hiking in Argentina for a week. I’m an adventure seeker, and I want to go somewhere that’s exciting. Alaska is on my list for this year, and Thailand for a girls’ trip. I went skydiving for my 18th birthday in Arizona. I want to do the crazy stuff that. I ate a cockroach on set when I was eight. Been there, done that.
Did it taste okay?
It tastes spicy and crispy. No, it wasn’t a cockroach, it was a cricket. It builds a great personality.
Looking ahead, are there any new projects in the pipeline? Any genres, roles, or stories that you want to get into? What’s next for Bailey?
I really hope we make more ‘Avatars’. I love that I’ve continued being in this weird character actor space. I have said for years that I want to be in the ‘Game of Thrones’ franchise, and the fans want it too. Every time she speaks Russian, they’re like, ‘why does it sound Targaryen?’ It’s because I grew up in America and my accent isn’t great.
I want to continue doing things that feel really epic. Give me character work, and I just shine. I think it’s because I feel so removed from myself, but I also see the sensitivity in the characters. I am excited to eventually go to grad school and continue doing psych research. I’m fascinated by studying how much work you have to put in to be great. It’s quite niche, but the people I’ve worked with say ‘research is me search,’ so continuing to not put myself in a box and seeing where it goes.
But honestly, my grandma asks, ‘what are your dreams for months from now?’ I kind of have them, but I could get a call and be in a different country, which I will be at the end of this month, which is what happens. It’s two weeks at a time. I’m here for the vibes, and the vibes have been great.
Boxing offered Anne ‘Gowtu’ van Lingen a way to find her voice after a childhood where she at times felt overlooked, left navigating a chaotic environment without a safety net. The new short documentary titled ‘GOWTU’ follows this transition from a girl lost in the noise to a woman who discovered her strength through the rhythmic discipline of the sport. It reveals how a physical outlet provides a primary tool for confronting the past and finding a way to speak up.
“I still remember the moment when boxing turned into something more than just a sport. I wasn’t in a good place mentally and suddenly everything from my past that I had suppressed or never processed came back,” confesses Gowtu in the film. “And I noticed that boxing really became an outlet for me to regulate my emotions.”
Gowtu is a familiar face in Amsterdam’s boxing scene and regularly gives training sessions at Simson Gym. She recently appeared in the ring at the Johnny Mosterd Memorial at Club Panama.
Maxim Etty and Jesse Plum, two self-taught directors based in Amsterdam, collaborated to bring this narrative to the screen. Etty utilises a background in illustration and commercial film to pull clarity out of visual chaos, giving the project a raw yet polished finish. Plum focuses on the authentic connection between people and their environment. Their combined efforts captured the intimate details of Gowtu’s life and her current dedication to supporting others.
Reports from Dutch NGO Injebol show that one in four young adults struggle with mental health due to rising rates of anxiety and depression. Gowtu now spends her time training youth who carry their own heavy histories, showing them that the gym is a place where they can finally belong. “Sometimes you see kids struggle and not really know how to express it. I often recognise parts of myself with the kids I work with,” she explains.
The project supports initiatives that contribute to raising awareness of mental health among young people. Documenting Gowtu’s transition into a mentor allows the filmmakers to show that the weight of a difficult past can be transformed into motivation.
Viewers can find the documentary online, where it acts as a call to action for anyone feeling isolated by their circumstances. Like many others, Gowtu’s story proves that the journey towards healing often starts with a single step into the light, reminding us that resilience is built through discipline and the support of a group that understands the struggle. For those who feel they need someone to talk to, the film points directly to the resources provided by Injebol.
