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Mickey 17, the epic new sci-fi opus from Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, is all about reinvention. Itâs a reinvention of sorts of Joon-ho, in that itâs broader and even bigger in scope than his previous cinematic outings. And itâs an adaptation of the source material, Edward Ashtonâs sci-fi novel Mickey7, as Joon-ho gets creative with his interpretation of the story.
We meet Mickey (Robert Pattinson), a down-on-his luck former business owner who signs up for a scheme overseen by political power couple Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his wife Yifa (Toni Collette). Mickey agrees to have his entire persona replicated so that he can be âreprintedâ over and over again for scientific testing. It got us thinking: which new artists have reinvented themselves boldly, fearlessly and with wild creativity in recent years? Picture David Bowie and Lady Gaga, but still on the rise.
Come with us to the human printing chamber to find outâŠ
Chappell Roan
Back in 2017, Kayleigh Amstutz released a dark, goth-tinged EP, âSchool Nightsâ, under the name Chappell Roan. When she appeared on the cover of NME in 2024, sheâd been reborn as a drag-inspired queer icon who sang about the joy of a great gay bar (âPink Pony Clubâ) and packed her tunes with instantly quotable pop culture references (âGet it hot like Papa John,â she sassed on âFemininomenonâ).
Underlining the fact that she remade herself as a super-charged musical oddball, sheâs been known to sing Lady Gagaâs âBad Romanceâ at her shows. And now? Sheâs reinvented herself as an activist, using her Best New Artist win at the 2025 Grammys to demand record labels âtreat their artists as valuable employeesâ.
Ethel Cain
The 26-year-old Floridian singer-songwriter is included in our list to prove that creative rebirth and fluidity of expression neednât always be visual. Ethel Cainâs 2022 debut album, âPreacherâs Daughterâ, was a slice of accessible goth-pop that marked her as a critical darling and a â90s-style indie auteur for the social media age. Surely her second album would follow in the same vein?
Reader, this year she returned with âPervertsâ, a supremely weird collection of lo-fi ambient tracks so seemingly uncommercial that itâs been seen as a âstudio recordingâ rather than an album. It also happens to be darkly beautiful, with moments of bright musical ecstasy rising up through the murk when you least expect them. The detractors need to look at Bowieâs Berlin years.
Lynks
Like Leigh Bowery with a disco ball and an Ableton rip, Lynks has cultivated a persona designed to shock, provoke and â if youâre with it â delight. The mysterious masked musician, who dons colourful and outlandish drag outfits, doesnât reveal their true identity or much about their background, save for the fact that they used to release music via their real name.
This music has been described as indie, dream-pop and folk (Lynks told NME that the folk label was âthe least correctâ), which suggests their reinvention has been much more than a visual one. âABOMINATIONâ, their debut album from 2024, is a Day-Glo mash-up of rave, pop and experimental dissonance. The folkies in the room might cover their ears, but Gaga would be proud.
Horsegiirl
Like Lynks, HorsegiirL (the double âiisâ and capital L are important, OK?) keeps her real identity to herself, preferring to foreground the persona sheâs stuck through the proverbial reprinting machine â she sometimes also goes by Stella Stallion. Sheâs known for her trademark horseâs head mask â replete with a love heart-shaped birthmark â and is best experienced through one of her DJ sets, during which she spins gabber, techno, happy hardcore and more.
HorsegiirL claims to be from the bucolic Sunshine Farms and her fans, known as âFarmiesâ, share her penchant for raiding the dressing-up box in a distinctly DIY manner. âFarmies come to frolic, play, gallop and have a fucking great time,â HorsegiirL told NME in her 2024 interview. Yeehaw!
Alt Blk Era
Nyrobi and Chaya Beckett-Messam are Alt Blk Era, the MOBO and Heavy Music Awards-nominated genre-mashers who slam rap, drill, nu-metal, drum ânâ bass and more in their sonic blender and tip the result over the heads over anyone square enough to object. They wear flamboyant outfits â sort of nu-rave Victoriana â and make serrated, metallic music that sounds at home both in the club and the mosh pit.
When they were younger, they told NME at the end of last year, they were drawn to reggae, soul and R&B, before discovering their equal love of harder rock sounds. âWe stumbled across this genre with no prime knowledge of what alternative music was,â Nyrobi said of their reinvention.
Two Shell
What with Lynks and HorsegiirL bringing maximum playfulness to the dancefloor, you might feel dance music is currently enjoying a golden age of creativity, silliness and self-expression. Well, youâd have a point. Take Two Shell, the anonymous dance duo about whom little is known besides the fact that they love the Sugababes, as their pulsing rework of âRound Roundâ proved (the âBabes agreed, re-recording their vocals especially for the track). Theyâve even been known to send imposters to press interviews.
With their fractured fusion of techno, hyper-pop, garage and more, their only rule appears to be that there are no rules, which makes them quintessential torchbearers for the no-fucks attitude pioneered by the likes of Bowie and Gaga. Anyone for a reprint?
âMickey 17â is released in UK cinemas March 7
The post The rising artists making reinvention their number one rule appeared first on NME.