Category: News

Even in the modern age of constant social media posting, we rarely get to witness the making of great art before it becomes famous. So when there’s any sort of behind-the-scenes glimpse showing how an iconic cultural staple was created, particularly one from a bygone era, it just feels like magic.

In a now-viral clip posted to Twitter by author and screenwriter James Leighton (@JamesL1927), we get just that, as a young Elton John plays a ditty that would later become one of his greatest hits.

A ’70s-era Elton is seen at the piano, sifting through a short stack of papers with lyrics on them written by his longtime creative partner Bernie Taupin. Elton lands on a page he had worked on putting music to a few days prior, which he “fancied writing” because it was about Bernie’s girlfriend, and he figured he’d probably appreciate it.

He called it “Tiny Dancer.”

The camera cuts to a young Bernie, head full of hair, making the comment that, “Reg [Elton] has to write very fast because he hasn’t got the patience to sort of spend hours or days on something.”

Not objecting to the comment, Elton then talks through his process, explaining how the music should have an upbeat tempo until the word “ballerina,” which “you know it’s not gonna be fast, it’s gonna be gentle.” It’s pretty wild seeing musical genius caught on tape.

He then puts the words to music, and history is made.

🎤ELTON JOHN

🎵 TINY DANCER (1970)

Just days after writing it, Elton pulls out a crumpled piece of paper, and plays his new song for the very first time. pic.twitter.com/H8zP3BzG2I

— James Leighton (@JamesL1927) October 18, 2022

As Elton plays, we also get to see Maxine Feibelman, Bernie’s then girlfriend and THE Tiny Dancer herself, hear the song for the first time, clearly digging the tribute.

It’s kind of hard to imagine that “Tiny Dancer” wouldn’t find instant popularity. According to American Songwriter, a lot of the song’s signature layers were edited out to make it shorter, and therefore playable on the radio, which didn’t help it top the charts. Luckily the song would eventually be heard in its full glory and quickly became a classic rock staple.

Elton and Bernie would, of course, go on to write together for decades, producing all-time hits “Bennie and the Jets,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “I’m Still Standing.”

The ability to let people experience ultra-rare, pivotal moments in culture is undoubtedly one of the greatest things the internet has to offer.

Many kids dream they will one day grow up and share their lives with their best friends. But for most of them, this dream fades away as they become involved in romantic relationships and start families.

However, for two friends in New Zealand, the dream has become a reality and they love their new arrangement.

The New York Post reports that Samantha Best, 24, a social media influencer, split up with her partner in April 2021 so she and her son, Kaelin, 4, moved in with her friend Lauren Robinson, 26, and her daughter Haidyn, 5.

The two moved in together and now share child-rearing and financial responsibilities like a married couple. They have a shared home bank account they use for bills and groceries.

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“Lauren and I are inseparable. We moved into a house together in May this year after I decided to move back to Auckland for better work opportunities,” Best told the New York Post.

“It’s so much easier living with Lauren,” she continued. “We’ve been able to split our finances and we are able to help each other with childcare if one of us is busy, the other can pick them both up from school, or if either of us need to go out the other can watch the two children.”

Having two adults in the home and sharing the bills has made it so much easier for Best.

“I struggled before I moved in with Lauren. It was hard for myself and Kaelin to live on our own and live comfortably,” she added. “Auckland is very expensive and I was quite lonely and scared.”

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The new arrangement has also given their children something they never had before, a sibling. Plus, the two adults get to hang out together every day like best friends, watching “Love Island” and having wine nights. “I live with my best friend and we have so much fun together,” Best said.

The trend of single moms moving in together has been getting a lot of attention over the past few years as rents rise and people are expanding their notions of family. These new arrangements have been called “mommunes” and “co-housing.” Friends who have decided to spend long stretches of time in a family unit are known as “platonic life partners.”

“We’ve got some unpleasant comments but the majority are supportive saying how much of a great idea this is,” Best told Daily Mail.

The unique relationship also invites many questions about Robinson’s and Best’s relationship. “People always think we’re together in a relationship, it’s always questioned but we definitely aren’t,” Best said.

The friends often joke that if one of them meets a new partner, they will have to move in with the two of them, but they’re not actively looking for love right now. “Everything is new when you’re fresh out of a breakup so we’re taking time to work on ourselves and then we’ll eventually get back on the dating scene,” Best told Daily Mail. “You know how they say when you’re not looking, someone will come along.”

If you’ve ever battled anxiety or depression or have lived with someone who does, you know how debilitating it can be. No matter how much you want the brain to cooperate, sometimes it simply won’t, and it’s not possible to reliably predict when that’s going to happen.

I’ve spent years helping my college-aged daughter figure out how to best manage a severe anxiety disorder. She’s a bright young woman who really wants to do her best, but the anxiety monster in her brain makes that difficult. I’ve watched her knock out an impressive paper for a class in a short amount of time and I’ve watched her sit at the computer with a stack of sources struggling for hours to get her brain to put two coherent sentences together. Same person, same capabilities. It’s not that she doesn’t want to do the work or that she isn’t trying, it’s just that she’s in a constant battle with her anxiety monster, and sometimes the monster wins.

I liken it to a person who has a bum knee that gives out at random times. They may have exercises and therapies to try to keep it from going out, and some days they can walk around just fine. But they may have chronic pain people don’t see and sometimes things happen that can’t be predicted—a wonky staircase, a longer-than-anticipated trek, an icy sidewalk—that can throw things off and suddenly make them incapacitated.

No one with any sense of empathy would expect a person with an injured knee to keep walking. They’d understand that the person might need a wheelchair or walker or cane sometimes. They’d understand that it might take that person a little longer to get from point A to point B. They’d be sympathetic if the person needed to rest their leg a bit before being ready to walk again and wouldn’t bat an eye at the accommodations needed to help that person be mobile.

But unlike a visible physical injury or disability, mental health disorders aren’t always obvious. A person can seem “fine” from the outside but can be struggling in ways that make it nearly impossible to function the way they want to on the inside.

That’s why a Twitter thread from a college professor about accommodating a student struggling with depression is resonating with so many people. Cameron Mozafari, a senior lecturer at Cornell University’s College of Engineering, shared his thoughts on allowing students to turn in late work when they’re experiencing mental health struggles.

Mozafari described a student with major depression who asked if they could make up the work they’d missed after they’d disappeared for a few weeks. When he said, “Of course,” they were confused and asked him if they’d get points marked off. Mozafari said colleagues had chastised him for the leniency he shows students struggling with mental health, saying he was setting a double standard: “Everyone else has to get the work in on time, so why don’t folks in crisis?”

u201cI’ve had colleagues who have chastised my leniency with folks experiencing mental health problems. They say I am setting a double standard. Everyone else has to get the work in on time, so why don’t folks in crisis? 2/5u201d

— Cameron Mozafari (@Cameron Mozafari)
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Mozafari understands something those colleagues don’t, and he explained it perfectly:

“If my depressed student could do the work, I imagine they would. They, however, couldn’t. Because their brain blocked them from being able to do much of anything. Will they always be like this? Maybe. I don’t know. Will I still accommodate? Yes, why not?”

Bingo. If they could, they would. Trusting that students with mental health challenges really do want to do their best is such a simple but vital practice.

Mozafari also tackled the “real world” arguments that people often try to make against accommodations. College is supposed to prepare them for the “real world,” and the “real world” is a supposedly cold, unsympathetic place where expectations are always high, rules are always rigid and no one is ever given any grace.

u201cThere’s this commonplace argument that college is supposed to prepare students for the “real world,” and teaching technical and professional communication really hammers that point. But here’s the thing: this is also the real world. Student is really depressed. For real. 4/5u201d

— Cameron Mozafari (@Cameron Mozafari)
1666103331

But as Mozafari points out, this student’s life is real. Their depression is real. Their experience is real. The “real world” is full of all kinds of people with all kinds of challenges that sometimes require accommodations.

“The message we communicate to students when we don’t accommodate mental health issues is that the ‘real world’ won’t accept their mental illness,” he wrote. “Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. But if it is true, that’s not the real world I want to usher any student into.”

The truth is that everyone’s “real world” experience is different, but no matter what defines the world we live in, empathy and kindness and understanding are always helpful, always appreciated and always on the table. Every single one of us has a role in creating the “real world”—so why did we decide that those who cling to harsh, cruel perspectives on humanity are the ones who get to make the rules?

u201cAddendum: To the folks posting “but what if they’re lying?” afraid of getting fooled, take a minute to read people’s responses here. Thousands of people who have struggled have responded with identification. If my goal is to help students in need, I think I’m doing that.u201d

— Cameron Mozafari (@Cameron Mozafari)
1666103331

The real world isn’t as awful as many people make out. My daughter has often lamented asking a professor for an extension on an assignment, but the vast majority of the time, they have been not only accommodating, but genuinely understanding. She has had professors who have opened up about their own struggles and who have sent her words of encouragement that helped counter the negative thoughts her brain throws at her.

One commenter pointed out that being given grace by a professor actually made them want to work harder—”I felt like someone believed that I was smart and capable and worth fighting for when I didn’t believe those things about myself”—and I’ve seen that reflected in my daughter as well.

u201c@amelieparent13 @world_on_a_wire Same. I turned in a paper late once. The standard was 10 points taken off per days late. I turned it in & my professor decided to waive the late points & give me a 100 because the paper was really good. She gave me time to do my best, it paid off for both of us. I was grateful.u201d

— Cameron Mozafari (@Cameron Mozafari)
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Another commenter pointed out that when people are having a mental health crisis, their work is usually one of the last things to go. So if someone is asking for accommodations, they’re in a state where they really are having a hard time functioning.

u201c@world_on_a_wire I feel like people must think that in a mental health crisis you are only ignoring your work. I can promise you that at my worst, I have let feeding myself, cleaning myself, moving my body all go before I finally let myself drop my work. “Not doing work” is never the only thing.u201d

— Cameron Mozafari (@Cameron Mozafari)
1666103331

Considering the fact that the median onset age for mental health disorders is late teens through early 20s, high school and college students need flexibility as they learn to manage their brain function. It can take time to find the right therapist and/or the right medications, and students ought to be given room for that while they’re also trying to get their education.

Extending grace and offering encouragement won’t bring the world to a screeching halt and it won’t create bad habits in people battling their own brains. Accommodating mental health struggles lets students know that they are seen and understood and that their teachers and mentors want them to succeed, which is a far more powerful and transformative message than old, tired lectures about the “real world.”

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. It’s one hell of a week for Jordan fans as our top seven this week is absolutely loaded with Air Jordans. Five of the seven spots to be exact! Being able to cop any of these Jordans would make your week, but if you’re looking for the best of the best, any of the Jordan 2s will serve you well. Despite the lack of variety and the small list of notable sneakers, this week is pretty damn strong, largely dominated by Nike with New Balance making a solid entry to close out the list.

If for some reason you get through this ranking and have a hunger for even more Jordans, be sure to catch Uproxx’s new sneaker customization show Fresh Pair, particularly the Jadakiss or TI episodes, which feature fire custom Jordans.

Without further ado, here are this week’s seven best sneaker drops!

Air Jordan 9 Boot NRG Black and Light Gum

Presenting the most militaristic Jordan 9 ever! The AJ-9 Boot NRG features tough leather and suede upper covered in a water-resistant coating with a gusseted tongue, thick heavy tread, and metal Special Field Boot influenced eyelets. It looks less like something fit for the court and more like something fit for the battlefield, which I guess for people like Jordan, was the court!

It’s aggressive, but we’re digging it.

Air Jordan 9 Boot NRG Black and Light Gum is set to drop on October 19th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $225. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Air More Uptempo ’96 Thank You, Wilson

Dedicated to the designer who made the Uptempo possible, this iteration of the silhouette is dedicated to and inspired by the shoe’s creator, Wilson Smith III. In keeping with his futuristic design ethos, the Thank You Wilson Air More Uptempo features a space-age-inspired gradient upper with shimmering reflective graphics and a tongue that pays tribute to Smith’s first day at Nike, written in a NASA-esque font.

It might just be the best Air More Uptempo colorway we’ve ever seen.

The Air More Uptempo ’96 Thank You, Wilson is set to drop on October 21st at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $175. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Air Jordan 2 Low Shelflife

This year the Air Jordan 2 finally began to get the love the silhouette has always deserved. Designed by Peter Moore, the same person who gave us the legendary Jordan 1, the Jordan 2 brought sneakerheads luxury footwear before that was a thing they knew they wanted.

This week’s Shelflife colorway was made in partnership with South Africa’s biggest streetwear store of the same name and features a canvas upper in white and light bone with orange accents and an insole featuring signatures from the Shelflife community. This is Jordan Brand’s first collaboration with an Africa-based partner, here is to hoping the Air Jordan 2 continues going global!

The Air Jordan 2 Low Shelflife is set to drop on October 21st at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT.

Air Jordan 2 Low Two 18

See what we mean? 2022 is the year of Jordan 2s. Dropping alongside the Shelflife collaboration, the Air Jordan 2 Two 18 is another collaborative Jordan drop, this time with Detroit-based sneaker boutique Two 18. Featuring a textured suede upper with leather accents, the Two 18 sports tortoiseshell eyelets, a gradient outsole that gets icy at the tip, and an insole map of Detroit’s metro area.

The Air Jordan 2 Low Two 18 is set to drop on October 21st at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Women’s Air Jordan 2 Low Titan

No, your eyes don’t deceive you, this is yet another Jordan 2. But we saved the best for last. Made in collaboration with Filipino basketball retailer, TITAN, this women’s sized AJ-2 sports a dope white, green, and orange colorway over a premium suede upper with corduroy accents, and a speckled midsole. We only wish this one dropped in a full-size run!

The Women’s Air Jordan 2 Low Titan is set to drop on October 21st at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Air Jordan 7 Vachetta Tan

At this point, we might as well rename this article series “Jordan Watch,” because here we are with yet another Jordan. The Vachetta Tan isn’t just any random colorway of the week, this mix of taxi and dark concord over a tan leather upper is actually a re-release of a coveted colorway from ’92. This fan favorite features a leather upper with embossed details and embroidered accents on the tongue.

It might be an old design but it looks fresh as ever 30 years later. That’s the power of Jordan Brand.

The Nike Air Jordan 7 Vachetta Tan is set to drop on October 22nd at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $210. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Joe Freshgoods x New Balance MADE in USA 993 Blue With Vintage Rose

Dropping in a cool blue colorway, Joe Freshgoods latest New Balance collaboration is a must-cop. Featuring a design that combines the best of the 991 and 992 silhouette, the 993 features a mixed premium suede and mesh upper with JFG branded foxing, reflective details on the N logo, and an ABZORB midsole. As is always the case with New Balance’s big collaborations, this 993 comes out of NB’s MADE in USA imprint, meaning the quality and comfort is on point.

These are simply some of the most comfortable sneakers you can ever hope to wear.

The Joe Freshgoods x New Balance MADE in USA 993 Blue with Vintage Rose is set to drop on October 21st at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $219.99. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.

The opening line of Blondshell‘s new song “Cartoon Earthquake” is immediately painful: “You want to put me in your pocket / And take me around / But I’ll get heavy / You’ll have to put me down,” she sings dejectedly. It was released today as a Spotify Single, and it continues Sabrina Teitelbaum’s streak of powerful earworms.

“‘Cartoon Earthquake’ is about the uncertainty that comes with falling in love,” Teitelbaum said about the track. “I wanted the earthquake metaphor to be as dramatic as possible, because in real life I was trying to play it cool. The song is my version of the famously annoying internet question ‘would you still love me if I was a worm?’ but instead it’s ‘would you risk your life and jump over a crack in the ground to be with me?’”

“Cartoon Earthquake” is the LA-based, New York City-raised musician’s fourth song in total — following “Olympus,” “Kiss City,” and “Sepsis.” They were magnetic and resonant enough for her to gain traction and be named one of our must-hear emerging artists of July. Along with the release of this track, she announced her debut New York City performance, taking place at Mercury Lounge on Dec. 7.

Listen to “Cartoon Earthquake” below.

The nominees for the 2022 American Music Awards (AMAs) were announced last week on October 13th. The Artist Of The Year field features the biggest stars in the world in Adele, Drake, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé. But it’s Bad Bunny who made history with his eight overall nominations, the most ever for a Latin artist and the most of any artist at the 2022 AMAs. So when and where will we find out who the big winners are?

When Are The 2022 American Music Awards?

The 2022 American Music Awards will take place on November 20th at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on No. Part of the L.A. Live entertainment complex, the Microsoft Theater will be the center of the music world at 8pm eastern. And while Cardi B hosted the 2021 AMAs, a host has yet to be announced for the 2022 American Music Awards.

Along with Bad Bunny’s eight nominations, Drake, Taylor Swift, and Drake are each up for six awards. Keep an eye on the New Artist Of The Year category, which features five surging nominees in Latto, Steve Lacy, Gayle, Maneskin, and Dove Cameron.

Fans can vote for their favorite acts via Twitter or on VoteAMAs.com. The 2022 American Music Awards show will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, November 20 at 8 p.m. EST and on a tape delay at 9pm PST.

Some of the artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The 65th Grammy Awards ceremony is coming to Los Angeles’ Crpto.com arena on February 5th, 2023. The Recording Academy is currently going through the first step in the voting process to narrow down the nominees for major awards like Album Of The Year and Best New Artist, as well as new awards like Songwriter Of The Year and Best Video Game Soundtrack. But the Recording Academy won’t announce the nominations for the 65th Grammy Awards right away.

When Will The 2023 Grammy Nominations Be Announced?

The first round of voting for the 65th Grammys Awards began on October 13th and will continue until October 25th. The first round will determine who the shortlist of nominees for each award are. Once that first round of voting is tabulated, the official nominations for the 2023 Grammys will be announced on November 15th.

In order to be eligible for a 2023 Grammy nomination, music has to have been released between October 1st, 2021 and September 30, 2022. Last year’s big winner, Silk Sonic, actually withdrew their album, An Evening With Silk Sonic, from consideration this year. So the major awards field is even more wide open for artists we think can take home some major Grammys hardware like Harry Styles, Adele, Post Malone, and Florence And The Machines.

The 65th annual Grammy Awards will air live on CBS and be available for streaming on Paramount+.

Post Malone’s off on his Twelve Carat Toothache Tour with Roddy Ricch, and things are already off to an eventful start. After falling into a hole on stage and injuring his ribs during the St. Louis stop on the tour in September (he’s since been beefing with the hole), he twisted his ankle this week during his show in Atlanta. But, as they say, the show must go on.

So, provided Posty doesn’t completely mangle his whole body before he gets to the final show in Los Angeles in November, what are the songs he’ll be performing? According to Setlist.fm, show is suitably massive for an arena show, full of hits like “Better Now,” “Circles,” “Congratulations,” “Rockstar,” “Sunflower,” and, of course, the song that started it all, “White Iverson.” By all accounts — or at least, by that of Uproxx’s own Adrian Spinelli — the show is “endearing and pure,” and a helluva good time.

Check out the setlist for Post Malone’s Twelve Carat Toothache Tour above.

1. “Reputation”
2. “Wow.”
3. “I Like You (A Happier Song)”
4. “Wrapped Around Your Finger”
5. “Better Now”
6. “Psycho”
7. “Candy Paint”
8. “I Fall Apart”
9. “Euthanasia”
10. “Stay”
11. “Go Flex”
12. “Circles”
13. “Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol”
14. “Take What You Want”
15. “When I’m Alone”
16. “Over Now”
17. “Rockstar”
18.”Insane”
19. “Cooped Up”
20. “Sunflower”
21. “One Right Now”
22. “Congratulations”
23. “White Iverson”

Over its four seasons and counting, The Crown has proven to be one of Netflix’s most watched and most talked about series. But not everyone is a fan. Among its detractors is the Royal Family itself, who have been the opposite of chuffed, especially as the show has gotten to the Diana years. (Her tragic death won’t be covered until the sixth season.) But it also has a non-Royal hater in Dame Judi Dench.

The Oscar-winning actress and stage and screen legend penned a blistering op-ed in The Times UK, arguing that its version of the truth is so far from the real thing that Netflix should have a disclaimer.

“The closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism,” Dench wrote.

“Given some of the wounding suggestions apparently contained in the new series — that King Charles plotted for his mother to abdicate, for example, or once suggested his mother’s parenting was so deficient that she might have deserved a jail sentence — this is both cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent,” Dench continued. “No one is a greater believer in artistic freedom than I, but this cannot go unchallenged.”

Dench noted that the show has always been advertised as a “fictionalized drama,” but also pointed out that Netflix has resisted airing a disclaimer message. “The time has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve their own reputation in the eyes of their British subscribers,” she wrote.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, The Crown put filming of Season 6 on pause, partly out of respect for the people who by and large don’t like the show’s lackadaisical approach to history. Indeed, Prince William reportedly raised a big stink over a Season 5 scene that depicted the BBC interview with Diana that led to then-Prince Charles’ affair with Camilla. Former PM John Majors also lashed out over its suggestion that Charles was nonplussed that his mom was still hanging onto the throne in the 1990s.

(Via The Times UK)

The Phillies and Padres met in Game 2 of the NLCS on Wednesday afternoon in San Diego on a gorgeous day that was a bit too perfect for those in the field.

The cloudless sky provided no help against the sun and every fly ball turned into an adventure, with the Phillies becoming the beneficiaries in the second inning as they piled up three runs on nothing but singles, continuing their run of incredible luck this postseason (or, for the other team, infuriating luck). After getting runners on second and third thanks to a throwing error on the first RBI single of the inning, Matt Vierling hit a fly ball to right field that Juan Soto tracked to the warning track until, suddenly, he lost it in the sun and could only duck and turn away as it almost hit him.

Somewhat luckily for the Padres this was only a one-run error in the immediate because it was a tagging situation, so the runner on second didn’t also score, but both he and Vierling would eventually score on a bloop single and an error by the first baseman, making it a 4-0 ball game.

As John Smoltz explained on the broadcast, there was nothing for Soto really to do because the angle on the ball was impossible to get around and avoid the sun, but it is just horrific luck for the Padres who could’ve been one out away from getting out of the inning and, at the very least, should’ve escaped at a 3-0 deficit.