How ‘Swarm’ Was Able to Create Beyoncé-Level Merch and Concerts at a Budget Price

variety.com:

A.D. Amorosi In Donald Glover and Janine Nabers’ “Swarm,” a highly-detailed dedication to all-things Beyoncé and her “Bey Hive” fanbase is key to the show’s menacingly satirical look at obsessive fandom turned murderous.

Credit “Swarm” production designer Sara K. White with taking its creators’ ideal of singing sensation Ni’Jah (Nirine S. Brown) to nuanced extremes, while folding “The Swarm” and its greatest devotee Dre (Dominique Fishback) into Glover’s dreamlike “Atlanta” universe. “I knew ‘Swarm’ was a sister to ‘Atlanta,’” said White of Glover’s beloved FX series. “What I wanted to evoke, then, was their shared interest in authenticity and irreverence to the point of whimsy.” To heighten these qualities within Dre’s hardcore obsessions, “Ni’Jah and food”, production designer White — with set decorator Laura Wallgren, costume designer Dominique Dawson and cinematographer Drew Daniels — had to make Ni’Jah’s world palpable. “I was given the first episode in December 2021, developed a look-book, was drawn to Dre and seeing the world through her lens,” White said. “With Beyoncé, there was still hope, at that point, we would get clearance to actually involve items that had been developed for her in ‘Swarm.’ Ultimately that didn’t happen, so we worked closely and quickly with graphics, props and legal clearances to make sure we were respectfully evoking the visual language developed throughout Beyoncé’s career and each era in her artistic development.” Crucial to Dre’s obsession was building a visual history between her and Ni’Jah, from the singer’s earliest days in a Destiny’s Child-like girl group to the present. “We were always interested in the fullness of Beyoncé’s stylistic journey, and envisioned what Ni’Jah would