Announcing GQ’s Men of the Year 2021 Cover Stars

Welcome to our 26th annual Men of the Year issue. For over a quarter century now, GQ has ended the year by celebrating the people (note: no longer just men) who have had a profound impact on our culture.

This year, however, we wanted to get a little more specific. You see, as we started to identify the influential folks who made the biggest and most heroic impact on 2021, we found that they all share a certain trait: Bravery.

In fact, we feel that bravery is the most important and timely asset of this moment, and are calling 2021 The Year of the Brave. So we looked across the culture for people who embody the spirit of bravery, starting with the three cover stars that we’re announcing here.

First, there’s Lil Nas X, who is able to craft mega musical hits and pair them with big pop visual provocations more fearlessly than anyone since Madonna. But he also updates the pop-provocateur algorithm with his savant-like knack for commanding attention—and scorching naysayers—via social media.

Next, there’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who does not want to be the new face of the NBA but probably can’t stop it from happening anyway—because of his inspiring life story, unrivaled determination in competition, preternatural charisma, and that awe-inspiring performance in this year’s NBA playoffs.

(Part of not wanting to be the face of the NBA means Giannis doesn’t usually do stuff like magazine covers, fashion shoots, or intimate interviews with journalists, so we are thrilled to be the exception.)

Lastly, there’s Tom Holland, who has honored the role of Spider-Man so completely that he might actually have become bigger than Spider-Man. And thus he has to decide how much of himself he will continue to give to being a superhero, and what it means to just be an actor—without the Lycra.

Inside the issue, the exploration of bravery continues, as we spotlight the fearlessness of Jimmy Chin, Layshia Clarendon, Mark Hoppus, Jason Isbell, Demna Gvasalia and many more.

I am also proud to say that, as you read through this issue, you will find a second theme that continues to be central to this era of GQ. We call it The New Masculinity. It’s our ongoing exploration of how traditional norms of manhood are being deconstructed in exciting new ways.

As the stories from this issue roll out in the coming days, you’ll see that this idea is central to our cover stories, as well as features on Andrew Garfield, Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, Dennis Rodman, and many more.

In his cover story, Lil Nas X helpfully refers to the current era as a time when young men must “reshape their thoughts.”

I love the idea that the new man-brain isn’t rigid and closed—it’s pliable. It’s open. It’s soft.

It’s ready for change.

The New Masculinity, I guess, requires a new form of bravery. This issue is a celebration of both.

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A version of this story originally appeared in the December/January 2022 issue with the title “The Year of the Brave.”