Miranda Sawyer, Ekow Eshun

Observer columnist Miranda Sawyer and writer and broadcaster Ekow Eshun will explore our love / hate relationship with famous faces. They’ll be discussing why we love Beyonce but can never give Gwyneth a break and why we mock Kanye but adore Pharrell. We want our stars to be fabulous and strange and live out our fantasies. But when they refuse to stick to a script and demand to be seen as flawed individuals, as artists, we call them ‘mad’.

Perhaps however there is method to their ‘madness’. Perhaps the confrontational philosophy of Kanye or Gaga is a better response to the confusion and complexity of modern life than the optimism of Pharrell or the blandness of Beyonce. Should we admire most the stars who are least easy to like?