Rolling Stone July 2018

“So are you here to hear the truth?” asks Johnny Depp. “It’s full of betrayal.”—JOHNNY DEPP Welcome to the new ROLLING STONE. As you can see, we’ve significantly evolved the magazine into a larger format that will publish monthly rather than biweekly. What isn’t changing is our commitment to the integrity, honesty and quality of our journalism and to our tradition of bold, clean design and original photography. It is our intention to continue that tradition for as long as we exist. The modernization of the magazine, with its increased pages and improved paper quality, coincides with Penske Media Corp. – a dynamic publishing company with a thriving online presence – taking ownership of ROLLING STONE. PMC shares our vision for the future, which includes dramatically increasing the size and scope of…

“So proud of this Latina girl who came to the U.S. with just a dream, now living it out. It’s glorious. And in an industry where men dominate, it’s great to see a woman like Camila Cabello killing the game.”—Vanesa Lara, via the Internet For our June cover story, Camila Cabello [“Camila Cabello’s American Dream,” RS 1315/1316] discussed everything from her new album to a dog biting her nipple. The Latin pop star shared an image of the cover with her 20 million followers on Instagram, above the caption “THIS IS WHAT DREEEEEEAAAAAMS ARE MADE OOOF. (!!!!!).” The post garnered nearly 1 million likes and countless online reactions from fans and friends. “So proud!” said fellow pop star Demi Lovato. On Twitter, Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin thanked Cabello for “inspiring…

A MILLION THINGS can go wrong when you’re on your first-ever solo tour. In Brisbane, Australia, a zipper on one of Harry Styles’ designer suits broke shortly before showtime. But Styles didn’t let that get in the way of his nightly ping-pong battle. As his stylist made a quick fix, he got into a serious match with one of his videographers, scoring the winning shot just as this image was taken. ¶ When Styles isn’t competing backstage, he reads a lot – lately, he’s been into Joan Didion and Haruki Murakami. Onstage, he’s just as relaxed. His new arena run has him breaking out Bowie moves, covering Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” and bantering with screaming crowds. In March, he stopped a show after a minor mishap: “Can we get the…

JULIA MICHAELS has co-written some of this decade’s most indelible hits, exploring every angle of intimacy, from first flush of lust (Selena Gomez’s “Hands to Myself”) to deep regret (Justin Bieber’s “Sorry”). Now the 24-year-old songwriter, whose debut LP is due this fall, wants to bring something new to the Top 40: radical honesty. Last year, when Michaels stepped out as a solo artist, her hit “Issues” hinted at the anxiety that had shadowed her since age 18. Thoughts echoed ceaselessly in her brain; sometimes her breath wouldn’t come. And the spotlight left no place to hide. During a live TV performance of “Issues” at the Billboard Music Awards, she had a panic attack, collapsing in a ball backstage afterward. So Michaels is fighting back by singing about it. “I try my…

“IT’S HILARIOUS people call this a job,” says Sam Kiszka, the 19-year-old bassist-keyboardist of Seventies-rock revivalists Greta Van Fleet. After stunning classic-rock fans with their uncanny ability to channel Led Zeppelin on their debut EP, Greta have proved themselves a genuinely great live band, even gaining the endorsements of Robert Plant and Sir Elton John (“He told us to be more flamboyant,” says Kiszka). At a recent stop in Nashville, the band – Sam and his brothers Jake and Josh Kiszka, plus drummer Danny Wagner – barbecued, lit a cardboard cutout of a country legend on fire, and played for a few thousand fans at Marathon Music Works. It was one of the dozens of places Greta sold out this summer, and they haven’t even released their first album yet.…

DOCUMENTARY BEHIND WHITNEY’S SADNESS Whitney Houston’s longtime agent Nicole David had one goal while producing a documentary about the singer: “I wanted to show she wasn’t just this beautiful girl with the best voice who pissed it all away.” The result is Whitney, directed by Kevin MacDonald (2012’s Marley), which traces the sources of Houston’s profound sadness, revealing how she was allegedly molested by her cousin, singer Dee Dee Warwick, and detailing how her father-manager sued her for $100 million in 2002, damaging their relationship forever. Says David, “I learned I never even had the chance to help her.” ANDY GREENE WHITNEY IN THEATERS July 6th RISING STAR An ‘It’ Girl Breaks Out SOPHIA LILLIS is only 16, but the Brooklyn actress already has a résumé full of what she calls “dark stuff.” She played a survivor of…