Category: Worldwide

Arlo Parks finally made a longtime dream of hers come true. Today (November 1), Parks performed a Tiny Desk Concert as part of NPR’s live performance series.

She opened the session with a performance of “Blades” from her sophomore album, My Soft Machine. She then proceeded to detail her poetry book, The Magic Border, which she released earlier this year. She also reeled over the fact that she was finally playing a Tiny Desk Concert in person.

“This session is generally one of the reasons that I decided to make music and I grew up with this session, so it’s really special to be here,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Parks has performed a Tiny Desk Concert. Back in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parks recorded an at-home session, simply by herself performing with her guitar.

For her in-person performance, Parks was accompanied by a full band, whose members were dressed in colorful clothing and vibrant makeup.

Also during the set, Parks performed the My Soft Machine fan-favorite “Eugene,” as well as the queer love song, “Pegasus.” She closed her set with “Impurities,” the lead single from My Soft Machine.

You can watch the full Tiny Desk set above.

Last night (October 31), Doja Cat kicked off her Scarlet Tour at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Many of the songs throughout the night were live debut performances from her recent album, Scarlet. With Doechii and Ice Spice as the tour’s opening acts, fans who are attending one of the upcoming dates might be wondering exactly how long the concert is — so they can prepare, schedule-wise.

Here’s what to know.

Fans can start entering the venue when doors typically open at 6:30 pm. From there, Doechii or Ice Spice starts on stage at 7:30, followed by Doja Cat’s headlining set starting at 8:30 pm. According to users on Reddit, Doja’s set then ends sometime around 10 p.m. — giving lots of time for fans to hear their favorite tracks.

Doja’s next show is in Los Angeles on November 2, and she will be continuing to perform across North America through December. A complete list of dates, along with more information, can be found here.

Continue scrolling for Doja Cat’s setlist from the Scarlet Tour‘s opening night, via Setlist.fm.

1. “WYM Freestyle”
2. “Demons”
3. “Tia Tamera”
3. “Shutcho”
5. “Agora Hills”
6. “Attention”
7. “Often
8. “Red Room” (Hiatus Kaiyote cover)
9. “Balut”
10. “Gun”
11. “Ain’t Sh*t”
12. “Woman”
13. “Say So”
14. “Get Into It (Yuh)”
15. “Need To Know”
16. “Kiss Me More”
17. “Paint The Town Red”
18. “Streets”
19. “FTG”
20. “97”
21. “Can’t Wait”
22. “Go Off”
23. “Ouchies”
24. “Wet Vagina”

The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t the pop culture force it once was. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperformed at the box office, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 failed to make a billion dollars (a lofty milestone, but it was once a given for an MCU movie), and Loki isn’t attracting the same level of buzz as it did during its first season. There’s also the Jonathan Majors… mess.

To get out of its post-Avengers: Endgame rut, Marvel is reportedly having “talks” about getting the OG Avengers back together.

According to Variety, “this would include reviving Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, both of whom were killed off in Endgame.” (Superheroes coming back from the dead is nothing new for comic books — or Fast and Furious movies.) This plan would also presumably involve Chris Evans’ Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye. Marvel Studios “hasn’t yet committed to the idea,” however, possibly because of the salary requirements. “If it were able to bring those actors back, it wouldn’t come cheap. Sources say Downey Jr.’s upfront salary for Iron Man 3 was around $25 million,” Variety reports.

Another option is to recast a familiar Marvel character with a different A-list actor, like when The Hulk went from Edward Norton to Ruffalo. It’s hard to imagine Iron Man being played by anyone but Robert Downey Jr. — until Jack Black steps into the red and gold suit. Problem solved!

(Via Variety)

Last night at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Doja Cat kicked off The Scarlet Tour with Doechii, giving fans the first glimpse of the setlist she’s going to play for the next month and a half — as well as the merch she’ll be slinging along the way.

We also know what time Doja — and her openers — will be hitting the stage, thanks to social media users confirming that they’ll be sticking to the run-of-show “to the minute.” Doechii hits the stage at 7:30, while Doja herself goes from 8:30 to 10:15.

The Scarlet Tour Dates

Here are the remaining dates for The Scarlet Tour:

11/02 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena *
11/03 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena *
11/05 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena *
11/06 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center *
11/08 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center *
11/10 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena *
11/13 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center *
11/15 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center *
11/16 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center *
11/19 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena *
11/21 — Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center #
11/24 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena *
11/26 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center #
11/27 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena #
11/29 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #
11/30 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center #
12/02 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden #
12/04 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena #
12/07 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center #
12/08 — Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center #
12/10 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena #
12/11 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena #
12/13 — Chicago, IL @ United Center #

* with Doechii
# with Ice Spice

If Elon Musk bought Twitter to stop people from brutally roasting him day in and day out, that plan spectacularly failed. The new Twitter CEO has only been dunked on more since the acquisition, which is what happens when you force your tweets into everyone’s feed while simultaneously tanking the whole platform.

Such was the case on Tuesday evening when Musk replied to a fan club account fawning over Tesla’s Cybertruck. In response to a tweet calling the vehicle “the most bad ass truck ever made,” Musk wrote, “It’s an armored personnel carrier from the future – what Bladerunner would have driven.”

As anyone who’s watched Blade Runner knows, Harrison Ford’s character in the iconic Ridley Scott film is named Rick Deckard. He is not “Bladerunner.” He also doesn’t drive around in an “armored personnel carrier,” but instead, a futuristic flying car that, unlike the Cybertruck, can make it over a curb.

More notably, Blade Runner isn’t an action movie about a guy plowing into robots with his massive vehicle. It’s a film noir detective story based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that interrogates humanity’s reliance on machinery that one day might not want to do our bidding. We’ve read the book, and no one shoots a Tommy gun into a future truck, so Elon Musk is off his gourd.

Naturally, Twitter went to work on Musk’s tweet as “Bladerunner” continued to trend on his own platform well into the next day.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Elon Musk on Twitter)

Doja Cat’s The Scarlet Tour is officially underway and Uproxx is answering all of fans’ questions about the highly anticipated show. From info about the openers to where to park, we’ve got you covered with explainers, including Doja’s setlist and merch.

If you were wondering what time Doja and her opening act, Doechii, went on stage at last night’s tour-launching show in San Francisco, don’t worry; we wouldn’t leave you hanging. According to the run-of-show from a publicist, doors open at 6:30 pm, the opener goes on at 7:30 pm, and Doja hits the stage at 8:30. A post on the Doja Cat subreddit confirms those times, with one commenter adding that the schedule is followed “to the minute.” So, if any of you cool kids in Los Angeles were planning on doing that LA thing — you know, “everything starts late in LA” — just know you’re gambling with missing a bunch.

The Scarlet Tour Dates

Here are the remaining dates for The Scarlet Tour:

11/02 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena *
11/03 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena *
11/05 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena *
11/06 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center *
11/08 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center *
11/10 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena *
11/13 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center *
11/15 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center *
11/16 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center *
11/19 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena *
11/21 — Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center #
11/24 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena *
11/26 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center #
11/27 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena #
11/29 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #
11/30 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center #
12/02 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden #
12/04 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena #
12/07 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center #
12/08 — Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center #
12/10 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena #
12/11 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena #
12/13 — Chicago, IL @ United Center #

* with Doechii
# with Ice Spice

Every adult generation has its version of a “kids these days” lament, labeling the up-and-coming generation as less resilient or hardworking compared to their own youth. But Gen Z—currently middle school age through young adulthood—is challenging that notion with their career readiness.

Take Abigail Sanders, an 18-year-old college graduate. Thanks to a dual enrollment program with her online school, she actually earned her bachelor’s degree before her high school diploma. Now she’s in medical school at Bastyr University in Washington state, on track to become a doctor by age 22.

All four of the Sanders kids have utilized Connections Academy to prepare for their futures.

Abigail’s twin sister, Chloe, also did dual enrollment in high school to earn her associate’s in business and is on an early college graduation path to become a vet tech.

Maeson Frymire dreams of becoming a paramedic. He got his EMT certification in high school and fought fires in New Mexico after graduation. Now he’s working towards becoming an advanced certified EMT and has carved his career path towards flight paramedicine.

Sidny Szybnski spends her summers helping run her family’s log cabin resort on Priest Lake in Idaho. She’s taken business and finance courses in high school and hopes to be the third generation to run the resort after attending college.

After college, Sidny Szybnski hopes to run her family’s resort in Priest Lake, Idaho.

Each of these learners has attended Connections Academy, tuition-free online public schools available in 29 states across the U.S., to not only get ready for college but to dive straight into college coursework and get a head start on career training as well. These students are prime examples of how Gen Zers are navigating the career prep landscape, finding their passions, figuring out their paths and making sure they’re prepared for an ever-changing job market.

Lorna Bryant, the Head of Career Education for Connections Academy’s online school program, says that Gen Z has access to a vast array of career-prep tools that previous generations didn’t have, largely thanks to the internet.

“Twenty to 30 years ago, young people largely relied on what adults told them about careers and how to get there,” Bryant tells Upworthy. “Today, teens have a lot more agency. With technology and social media, they have access to so much information about jobs, employers and training. With a tap on their phones, they can hear directly from people who are in the jobs they may be interested in. Corporate websites and social media accounts outline an organization’s mission, vision and values—which are especially important for Gen Z.”

Research shows over 75% of high schoolers want to focus on skills that will prepare them for in-demand jobs. However, not all teens know what the options are or where to find them. Having your future wide open can be overwhelming, and young people might be afraid of making a wrong choice that will impact their whole lives.

Bryant emphasizes that optimism and enthusiasm from parents can help a lot, in addition to communicating that nothing’s carved in stone—kids can change paths if they find themselves on one that isn’t a good fit.

Dr. Bryant meeting with a student

“I think the most important thing to communicate to teens is that they have more options than ever to pursue a career,” she says. “A two- or four-year college continues to be an incredibly valuable and popular route, but the pathways to a rewarding career have changed so much in the past decade. Today, career planning conversations include options like taking college credit while still in high school or earning a career credential or certificate before high school graduation. There are other options like the ‘ships’—internships, mentorships, apprenticeships—that can connect teens to college, careers, and employers who may offer on-the-job training or even pay for employees to go to college.”

Parents can also help kids develop “durable skills”—sometimes called “soft” or “human” skills—such as communication, leadership, collaboration, empathy and grit. Bryant says durable skills are incredibly valuable because they are attractive to employers and colleges and transfer across industries and jobs. A worldwide Pearson survey found that those skills are some of the most sought after by employers.

“The good news is that teens are likely to be already developing these skills,” says Bryant. Volunteering, having a part-time job, joining or captaining a team sport can build durable skills in a way that can also be highlighted on college and job applications.

Young people are navigating a fast-changing world, and the qualities, skills and tools they need to succeed may not always be familiar to their parents and grandparents. But Gen Z is showing that when they have a good grasp of the options and opportunities, they’re ready to embark on their career paths, wherever they may lead.

Learn more about Connections Academy here and Connections’ new college and career prep initiative here.

Lil Nas X is easily one of the funniest people in music. So, when an occasion like Halloween comes around, an opportunity to come through with something comedic to show the world, all eyes are on him. Boy, did he deliver this year.

The rapper unveiled his costume in a video shared last night, and it starts out with a shot of a string hanging out of an opening that looks suspiciously like some female anatomy. Those suspicions are confirmed when the camera pans over to Nas, who drags the string as he walks away wearing a costume that can’t really be interpreted as anything other than a used tampon.

Meanwhile, Lil Nas X has been relatively quiet in 2023. In February, though, he offered some updates about his next album. As far as its release date, he said it would be “most likely summer,” but this summer came and went without a new Lil Nas X album. He also noted when asked how many songs he’s expecting to include on the project, “idk i love so many songs plus i’m still in the studio making music so it’s gone be hard to pick.” He elaborated, “it’s mostly planning now. i could easily just release music but i have to build moments around this sh*t. i have to go bigger than before!”

The easy cliché here would be to point out that Russ Bengtson has forgotten more about sneakers than most of us will ever know. The problem with this particular cliché is that when it comes to basketball sneakers specifically, I’m not sure he’s actually forgotten a thing.

From his time as editor in chief at SLAM to stints with Complex and Mass Appeal, Bengtson has spent close to three decades professionally immersed in sneaker culture. That immersion goes back to childhood, and it’s inseparable from his love of basketball. His unparalleled insight on these parallel themes is on full display in his new book, A History of Basketball in Fifteen Sneakers (Hachette), which goes Marianas Trench-deep on how the game and its footwear have evolved from the no-tech days of Chucks and set shots to the colorful, high-tech products we wear and watch today. Extensively researched and loaded with interviews with players, designers, and industry insiders, it’s a goldmine for anyone who cares about hoops, kicks, and the colorful cultural spot where they intersect.

I caught up recently with Bengtson to talk about the book and his own history with basketball and sneakers. (Fullest possible disclosure: Russ is a friend, and the guy who hired me at SLAM back when he was EIC, so I can attest to his staggering knowledge of the subjects.)

I’m probably not the only one who said to you at some point that this is the book you were born to write, but in a way it really is. I think it’s fair to say that no one else has covered basketball and sneakers as long and as prominently as you have. Did you feel like you sort of had to do this?

To a degree. I would always go to Powell’s bookstore when I was in Portland, or go to the Strand (in New York City), and relentlessly go through their basketball books, looking for out-of-print stuff. I’ve really read all the basketball books I can find, and all the sneaker books I can find — some of which I contributed to — and there just was never enough crossover. There’d be a mention of some sneaker stuff in various basketball books, but it never really got that deep into it. And a lot of the sneaker ones would cover a ton of sneakers, but not really get as deep into basketball. And I go back to, when I first tried to get a job at SLAM, part of the reason was, I wanted those first series of Jordan re-issues that came out in like ’94 and ’95, and SLAM was pretty much the only publication that covered sneakers and basketball.

From the beginning, you were responding to the sneaker coverage as well as the basketball.

Yeah, but it goes back even further, and I talk about it in the introduction — I don’t really remember whether Jordan became my favorite player because of the shoes, or if the shoes came to my attention because of Jordan. The whole sneakers-basketball thing has been inseparable for me basically since I knew about either one. To me, it’s the separation that’s artificial. I think the real story to be told is them combined.

You and I are close to the same age, and looking back to that time, as a kid, I was a hoop fan much more than a sneakerhead — my sneaker ideal was like, the New Balance Worthys, because I was a huge Laker fan. So to me, you were an outlier back then, most kids didn’t really embrace the game and the sneakers that equally. Did you have that sense?

Maybe a little bit. I think a lot of people who were into sneakers back then were into the shoes just for the shoes. I was a big Jordan fan early on — I definitely had people write in my high school yearbook about Jordan.

So back to the book. What did you learn in the process of writing this that even you were like, Damn, I didn’t know that?

A bunch of things. One of the funniest was talking to Marques Johnson, who had one of the coolest jerseys ever when he
played for the Bucks — it had his full name across the back — and he played Raymond in White Men Can’t Jump, one of the greatest roles in a basketball movie ever. Marques was one of the ten players to wear the adidas Top 10. And he hated the Top 10, which is hilarious. He started talking about it, and you could feel him kind of going back and realizing how much visceral hatred he had for this shoe. That’s something I did not see coming.

Some of it was stuff I knew, but just a matter of perspective. To go back through some of the Air Jordan stuff, to talk to David Falk and Sonny Vaccaro, and it’s funny, I feel like both of them feel like the other gets too much credit (for Michael Jordan signing with Nike). And in talking to them, I think they’re both right. I think they misinterpret the others’ role, if that makes sense. Falk, I think, feels Sonny is trying to take the credit for getting Jordan to sign with Nike. I think what Sonny was able to do was convince Nike to go with Jordan. And even Falk knows Jordan’s success wasn’t super guaranteed. That’s still one of my favorite things: Nike signed him to a five-year deal and had an out that if he didn’t sell like a million dollars’ worth of Jordan stuff in three seasons, they could dump him for the last two years of the deal. And he sold $126 million in the first year. No one thought he would be a failure, but no one thought he would be that much of a success.

Other things… when I had initially proposed the book, I proposed the adidas Pro Model and the Superstar for the same chapter. I was like, “Well, the Superstar is just the low-top Pro Model. I can’t talk about one without the other.” What Chris Severn put me onto, as the guy who developed those shoes, was that it was the other way around — the Pro Model was the high-top Superstar. The first adidas basketball shoe was meant to be a low top. And I didn’t realize that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, despite having a signature model through adidas, that was kind of just a commercial thing — something to sell with his name and face on it. He apparently wore the Superstar until ’87. He wore the Superstar after Run DMC kind of brought it back.

You talked to a ton of guys for this. Who were some of the more memorable conversations?

Kobe was amazing. We talked in late December, 2019. I’d known him since high school, met him at the McDonald’s All-American Game. His memory of all the shoe stuff was still super, super specific — he was a guy, obviously, it wasn’t just his name on it. Kobe, because we had so many conversations over the years, I kind of knew that he’d be great.

One thing I included in the proposal was the Boston Celtics wearing black shoes because Red Auerbach insisted on getting them because they would stay clean, they wouldn’t show dirt. Jeff Twiss, a long-time Celtics PR guy, got me on the phone with Tommy Heinsohn. Again, Tommy has since passed, but talking to him on the phone was just an amazing thing, you realize the entire NBA was within living memory. And he confirmed, the Celtics would issue you two pairs of Chucks at the start of the season, and if you wanted more than that, you would buy your own. And he would make two pairs of Chuck Taylors last the entire season.

Rick Barry, who was in the ads for the adidas Top 10 as the “inventor” of the shoe — I remember that ad from like Boys Life magazine when I was in Boy Scouts. He comes off as kind of a prickly dude, he definitely feels his own era should be appreciated more, and he has a lot to say about the modern game. Called him up one day, nicest guy in the world.

Jalen Rose was great, too. I never really thought about it, but a lot of those guys were from the Detroit area, so they weren’t exactly Jordan fans, because they grew up when Isiah Thomas was the king of Detroit. They weren’t even super Nike heads like that. Off the court, Jalen was talking about wearing Pumas, because that was the more Detroit thing.

Huge question I know, but how do you assess where basketball sneaker culture is now?

In a way I feel a little Cassandra-ish about this. There was a period where I wrote a sneaker column for Mass Appeal, and I remember writing about how I thought the bubble was going to pop. And this was probably 15 years ago. And the thing is, I think I was right, but what I didn’t anticipate was what was still then pretty much a subculture becoming this mass-market thing. And I think there was a long time where most people were content to just wear whatever — to go to Dick’s Sporting Goods or Kohl’s and buy whatever, and this whole other aspect that people who were into “sneaker culture” knew about didn’t affect them. Now, everyone knows about everything.

There’s a lot of “be careful what you wish for” in this. If you told me back in 1998 that I would be able to buy literally any Air Jordan from literally any era pretty much whenever I wanted, it would be like, “Wow, really? Sign me up.” But now, you look at the glory year Jordans, I to XIV, all of those became these iconic things. And people didn’t love all of them from the start, you know? Tinker (Hatfield, Jordan Brand designer) would talk about it — if people love it right from the start, you did something wrong. You need them to sort of grow to love it. And I think what retro did is make people impatient. If they don’t love something right away, they’ll just go buy the old thing, and a new release doesn’t really mean as much anymore. Before, you would buy the new Air Jordan because it was the new Air Jordan. You might have liked one prior to it more, but that one’s gone. And I think that’s true of pretty much anyone’s line now.

And from the basketball side — it’s funny, and I’m sure you notice this too: Back when we were going into locker rooms, we would pick what to wear to go to a game. If you could blow an NBA player’s mind with a pair of shoes, the streets didn’t have a chance. I distinctly remember, we would pass out issues of the magazine, and I would give one to, like, Tim Hardaway, and he would flip straight back to the sneakers before he looked at anything else. Tim Hardaway was on Nike! He had his own shoe! But he still wanted to see what was coming. So players back then were into it, but I think with the uniform rules and there not being as much of a viable selection of what to play in…

Right, it was pretty limited what color options the NBA would allow.

And now, everything’s wide open. And again, it’s kind of, be careful what you wish for. Formerly, the All-Star Game, people would wear crazy stuff. Finals, maybe, things would get a little more open. Now, it’s just like every game is an All-Star Game. There’s no rules anymore. I look at that Kobe Grinch shoe, which people were psyched on because Kobe wore it once on Christmas Day, and then I think last Christmas or two Christmases ago, it got retroed, and a bunch of guys wore it on Christmas. And I swear, at least one player has worn it in an NBA game pretty much every day since. I feel like that makes it less special. There’s something to the idea of a one-and-done, or a shoe being available for a season and going away and being replaced by something new.

I look at LaMelo, Jayson Tatum, even Steph to an extent. Luka, Giannis, Scoot. I feel like that stuff is kind of a light at the end of the retro tunnel. Retro’s only been a thing for like 25 years. If you look at kids, I think a lot of kids are wearing signature stuff from players they like. I look at some of those shoes, and I forget — and I’m sure other people our age forget — this stuff isn’t really for us. It should be what kids in high school like now. I don’t think people our age should be dictating what’s cool to kids who are 15. They don’t remember Michael Jordan as a player.

There are kids now who don’t realize Michael Jordan was a basketball player. It’s not even that they don’t remember him, they just think of him as a brand in the same way that Chuck Taylor is a brand. Which is insane to us, but…

Right. Part of the reason I wanted Bobbito (Garcia) to write the forward to this, I look at his book (Where’d You Get Those? New York City’s Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987) as being kind of a companion, almost. Obviously, his is through the filter of New York, and mine is through the filter of basketball as a whole. He looked at the Air Jordan I as being kind of the end. And for me that was the beginning, especially being in the suburbs. But over the years, I’ve come to see his perspective, where it’s like, if you’re someone who has to determine on their own what cool is, and all of a sudden you see a brand pushing something to be cool and people just accepting it, it’s like, wait a minute, that’s supposed to be our job. It’s kind of the same way I see it now, people need to take that power back from brands, instead of just chasing whatever the latest hyped retro is.

We went to a bunch of basketball courts in New York on the day the book was published to hand copies out, and me being me, I was like, “What do I wear?” I thought about it for a while beforehand, and I was like, actually, I need to put my money where my mouth is and wear a pair of current basketball shoes. I’ve been meaning to buy a pair of Tatums for a while now, or a pair of Ja Morants, and I ended up going to Dick’s Sporting Goods — that’s another thing with me, I don’t want to buy a new model that I’ve never tried on before. I ended up getting the black and gray Tatums, wore them all day.

So we hit all these courts, and on the way home, back on Long Island, I wanted to stop at Barnes & Noble and see if the book’s there, because I hadn’t seen it on a shelf yet. So I go in, and find it. Then I go over to the music side, and there’s this dude on the same aisle, he looks down and he goes, “Yo, those shoes are hard. What are those?” He thought they were Kyries, and I’m like, “Nah, they’re Tatums.” And that’s the thing, if you buy a new performance shoe or new signature shoe, you win twice. A, they’re readily available for the most part, and B, if you wear them, people probably aren’t going to know what they are. If you get the newest, craziest retro, spend like five grand on it, people are going to be like, “Oh my god you have those,” but they know what they are. Personally, I think it’s much cooler to buy some new stuff that you like and wear that instead.

Now that Halloween is officially over, Mariah Carey is already prepared to bring fans into the holiday season through her hit song, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Complete with a new social media post today, the video finds Carey hilariously defrosting in a block of ice, before she starts celebrating to the track.

Considering how much of a staple it is to the winter months, many might be wondering exactly how much Carey makes every Christmas from it.

Back in 2015, the Daily Mail reported that since the hit song’s original release in 1994, Carey has earned about half a million dollars each year from it. However, other publications have thrown out differing figures when it comes to the amount.

The year prior, the New York Post had claimed that between 1994 and 2013, the song generated $50 million in royalties. With the math, it divided down to about $3.8 million a year for the pop legend.

Then, in 2017, The Economist suspected that from 1994 to 2016, that number was $60 million in total US royalties — averaging to $2.6 million annually. With these numbers getting in a similar ballpark, Carey likely gets at least a million each year off the song. This figure also doesn’t account for international sales, streaming, brand deals, and even her 2020 Christmas special on Apple TV+.

Oh, and she’s even going on a tour themed to the holiday season that starts this month.

Check out Carey getting ready to make even more this Christmas season below.