Marissa is a relatively more grounded Ni’Jah (Beyoncé in the world of Swarm) stan than her sister.
Marissa’s deeply caring yet at times dysfunctional relationship with Dre, her “sister,” eventually catalyzes the twisted, visceral progression of Swarm’s storyline. While Dre’s story guides the series, the larger arc of Swarm, and its exploration of how parasocial relationships spill into real-life decisions and actions, finds its anchor in Marissa. Her career choices, and her nuanced portrayal of Marissa in particular, reveal a throughline of horror-streaked explorations of love that has characterized much of her artistic output as she continues her ascent from Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing to one of the premier voices of pop and R&B. And she seems particularly concerned with how the extreme edges of love bleed into the aesthetics of horror. Between the lyrical and visual aesthetics of her solo music (in addition to her releases as a part of Chloe x Halle) - and her pivotal turn as Marissa in Swarm, Chloe Bailey is clearly drawn to the intersection of love and horror. Swarm is Bailey’s first acting project of 2023 - she is also set to star in The Georgetown Project, a horror thriller, and Praise This, a Black church musical comedy. Bailey, one of Beyoncé’s proteges alongside her sister Halle Bailey, adds a layer of realism to Ni’Jah, the fictional pop star that anchors so much of the series. Nonetheless, it’s Chloe Bailey’s casting that adds a layer of nuance to Glover’s flashy new series. Drawing much of its inspiration from Beyoncé and her Beyhive, the series tracks how Dre’s (Dominique Fishback) participation in and devotion to fandom unravels her life and drags her into incredibly dark places. The new Amazon Prime series from Janine Nabers and Donald Glover is an unflinching look at the terrifying underbelly of stan culture. In its opening episode, Swarm goes hard for the horror - though not quite in the way you’d expect.
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