Behold! Nina Simone’s chewing gum! Inside the show celebrating extreme pop fandom

What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, Behold! Nina Simone’s chewing gum! Inside the show celebrating extreme pop fandom, Leaves from Dolly Parton’s front garden, a Yellow Submarine cookie jar full of ashes, a branch from the tree Marc Bolan’s car hit … our writer explores Holy Pop, the exhibition where superfans are sacred Alice Hawkins has a unique way of dealing with the unwanted attentions of Jehovah’s Witnesses seeking out converts door to door. “They come around here every Thursday,” says the photographer. “So I get my Dolly Parton book out and explain to them that Dolly is where I find my belonging, Dolly is where I find my belief.” One presumes that does the trick, but it’s worth noting that Hawkins isn’t joking. Parton was always her favourite singer, but her obsession flowered in the wake of a friend’s suicide, which left Hawkins “a mess”. In an attempt to cheer her up, her husband suggested visiting Dollywood, the singer’s 150-acre theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. “I just felt like I’d foun

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-05-20T04:00:22+00:00.

What to watch

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Source

Primary source: Behold! Nina Simone’s chewing gum! Inside the show celebrating extreme pop fandom via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.