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Thirty-six-year-old Jane Lu is the founder of Showpo, a highly successful online retail store based in Sydney, Australia. By successful, I mean that in 2019, the company raked in a total of $85 million in revenue.

And to think, if Lu had simply followed the rules, none of this would have ever happened.

At 24, Lu’s life looked very different. Her accounting job at Ernst & Young, one of the “big four” accounting firms, had left her miserable. So she quit and instead pursued her love of fashion. With one caveat—she never told her parents, who she lived with.

Instead, she pretended to still be working as an accountant and committed fully to the role. She continued to put on a suit and would venture into the city, pretending to go to work.

And in her defense … that last part wasn’t a lie.

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As Lu revealed in what she calls her “immigrant success story” on TikTok, her family moved to Australia from China 28 years ago. And, as is a long-lived tradition and even a running joke among children of immigrants, her parents wanted their daughter to have the stable, financially secure career of a “doctor, lawyer or accountant.”

@thelazyceo I went behind my parents’ back and quit my corporate job, and well, the rest is history 🫶 #startup #businessjourney #immigrantparents #girlboss #showpo #entrepreneur ♬ original sound – Jane Lu

Lu chased after her dreams in secret. After putting on her corporate suit and leaving her parents’ home, she began working on creating a pop-up store, which ultimately failed. As she shared in another TikTok, turning back was still no option—the business shut down during the 2010 global financial crisis, and no accounting firms were hiring. So she rolled up her sleeves and created her second business. She still didn’t tell her parents.

Luckily, business flourished this time around.

See on Instagram

“I started to make more in one day in sales than my old yearly salary,” she shared. Showpo, short for “Show Pony,” now sells to millions of customers around the world and is one of the largest online fashion retailers globally.

After her windfall of success, Lu finally told her parents. Sure, they were shocked, but they also got their first new car, had their mortgage paid off and were able to finally retire. So shock probably turned into glee pretty quickly.

Lu’s story touched the hearts of more than 2 million people who watched the video. And she now dedicates a good chunk of her social media to offering advice to others who dream of starting their own business. Unsurprisingly, a major theme in most of her videos is not being afraid to make mistakes.

“I like to compare it to golf,” she mentioned in an interview with BuzzFeed. “I don’t play, but I don’t have a better analogy. You first hit the ball in the direction of the hole. You know, it’s just about getting in a general direction.”

If you’d like to check out some of Showpo’s signature looks, you can find the shop’s Instagram here. No boring corporate attire to be found.

Someone unknowingly coined the phrase “going out in style” specifically for Sir Elton John. His Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour culminated in three send-off shows at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium this weekend, with Sunday (November 20) marking his last-ever US show. Of course, it was livestreamed on Disney+ and incorporated some of his famous friends.

Brandi Carlile, Dua Lipa and Kiki Dee sent Sir Elton off the right way. Carlile, who featured on his 2021 The Lockdown Sessions album, joined him to perform “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.” Dua appeared to perform their 2021 hit “Cold Heart” together, and the nostalgia hit apex when Dee came out to help Elton John deliver “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”

“In 1975, my next guest was here and sang with me, and we sang this song, so I thought it’d be great to reenact that incredible moment,” John explained when introducing Dee, referencing his two sold-out October 1975 shows at Dodger Stadium.

John added 11 dates to his final US trek in March, bringing his North American stadium show total to 31. According to Variety, the full Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour logged 183 shows in Canada and the US. It will pick back up in January across Australia and New Zealand before hitting the UK and Europe from March through July. See all of the remaining dates here.

Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium is available to stream now on Disney+. Watch the trailer above.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As Twitter users begin abandoning ship and fleeing to other platforms due to the Elon Musk of it all, there have been a handful of other social media apps popping up. Some are heading to Mastodon, while others are going back to relive their teens on Tumblr. Somehow, MySpace still hasn’t capitalized on this, though they should!

But if you don’t want to learn all about how Mastodon works (servers are confusing!) and if you have decided to leave 2011 behind and not sign up for Tumblr, you might want to check out one of the newer, less complex social media sites called Hive Social.

Hive Social is about as close to Twitter as you can get: you can follow others for updates just like Twitter, they have their own Discovery tab for trending content, and it even looks like Twitter. Of course, the app is still new, so when new users sign up they might encounter small glitches. Also–Hive’s team is a lot smaller than Twitter’s formerly massive staff, so it might take some time for some things to be ironed out.

Users can post text-based updates similar to tweets and photos, and the app has been testing live-streaming options that are expected to debut next year. Hive doesn’t have a browser or desktop option (this is the future we’re talking about) so you have to download it on your phone and use your computer for work like you’re supposed to be doing after all.

All in all, it’s a pretty basic but decent Twitter alternative. The hardest part is getting people to actually migrate over there. Where is Tom from Myspace when you need him?

(Via Distractify)

Before Dahmer, before Stranger Things, before House of Cards (three shows either about monsters or starring actual monsters), there was Lilyhammer. The Norwegian series, starring “Little” Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and The Sopranos fame, was a co-production between Norway’s NRK and Netflix, and promoted as the eventual-streaming giant’s first original series. There were rumblings that Lilyhammer would be leaving Netflix before the end of the year, but “Netflix has closed a last minute deal to continue streaming the show,” according to IndieWire. “All 24 episodes of Netflix’s first original series will continue to be available to subscribers.”

“Netflix completely shook up the world,” Van Zandt told Rolling Stone back in 2013. “They’ve been willing to invest and it’s opening a whole new golden era of TV that I predicted back with The Sopranos. Now it’s gone to another level with digital distribution. This is just the beginning. There’s going to be Google TV and Amazon TV. People are going to start their own networks and it’s going to be wonderful to have that much money coming into the creation of content. It’s going to be very, very healthy for everybody.”

Lilyhammer isn’t as good as The Sopranos, obviously, but it is historically signifiant and belongs on Netflix. If a licensing agreement hadn’t been reached, that would be like if “Poor Little Fool” by Ricky Nelson, the first song to ever top the Billboard Hot 100, was erased from the internet. That’s more of an HBO Max thing (for now).

Anyway! Lilyhammer fever! Catch it!

(Via IndieWire)

Having co-produced nearly half of Drake‘s Honestly, Nevermind album, Gordo is having a breakthrough year. The Ecuadorian-American hit-maker is now working to bring more Latin talent into the EDM scene. On Friday (November 18), Gordo released the party-fueled video for his collaboration “Hombres y Mujeres” featuring Colombian singer Feid.

Gordo’s career in EDM spans over a decade. He received a big boost this past year when Drake tapped him to work on his first dance and house music album, Honestly, Nevermind. Gordo co-produced six tracks on the Canadian superstar’s LP, including the hits “Massive,” “Sticky,” and “Currents.”

“It was the biggest I’ve ever done,” Gordo told Uproxx. “Everyone loves Drake, but the fact that he doesn’t come from this world and he acknowledged that it. That he can make timeless house records. He really understands it and he really respects it. He got the best people and created this thing. He went out there and actually reached out to the right people.”

Before working together, Gordo had been friends with Drake for many years. Drake was inspired to include Gordo on Honestly, Nevermind after they listened the producer’s upcoming album together in the car while “lit.” With his LP, Gordo wants to include more Latinos like himself in the EDM scene. For his feel-good banger “Hombres y Mujeres,” he teamed up with Feid.

“It’s about time,” Gordo said. “With house music being so big right now, everywhere you’re listening, they’re playing it. With reggaeton being so big, that gap between the two genres hadn’t been fully bridged. Spanish tech house is really big and the majority of big records are all made by a bunch of white guys. It was time that we took it back home and actually made something that’s going to be the biggest one of them all.”

Backed by Gordo’s haunting house beats, Feid sings in Spanish about living his best life in the club. Feid shouts out his hometown Medellín, Colombia in the mix. Gordo also co-produced Nicki Minaj’s 2022 FIFA World Cup anthem “Tukoh Taka” featuring Maluma and Myriam Fares. He promises there will be more Latin acts featured on his new album.

“What I want people to take away the most from the Feid song is that I did it and I’m Hispanic,” Gordo says. “Feid’s Hispanic. Now I know there’s going to be so many more Hispanic artists that have hit me up already and I want them to reach out. I want everyone to find their Gordo. There’s so many of us. There’s so much talent, so why not keep it all in the family?”

After a rough start to the season, the Philadelphia 76ers have finally pulled themselves back to .500 at 8-8, thanks in large part to Joel Embiid’s return to MVP candidate form.

Embiid has scored 32 or more points in five of the Sixers last six games, including an unbelievable 59-point performance in a win over Utah a week ago. That run of play has allowed the Sixers to weather the storm as James Harden has missed the last seven games with a foot strain, but the injuries (specifically foot injuries) are starting to pile up. Tyrese Maxey suffered a foot fracture late last week that will cost him 3-4 weeks, and now Embiid will join his co-stars on the bench with a foot injury of his own, with the Sixers announcing he’ll miss the team’s upcoming back-to-back against the Nets and Hornets with a mid-foot sprain and be evaluated after that.

Obviously this puts a serious damper on the enthusiasm for Tuesday’s matchup with the suddenly full-strength Nets, which was set to be the first matchup between Embiid and former teammate Ben Simmons. Now, the Sixers will face Brooklyn and Charlotte without their three top stars, and any hopes that they would start to climb the East playoff rankings (currently in 8th) turn to concern they could face an extended stretch without their best players.

Given Embiid’s history of foot issues, including having to sit a chunk of this past summer with plantar fasciitis, there’s always an additional bit of concern when he’s dealing with a foot injury and the Sixers figure to be cautious with their superstar big man.

The White Lotus Misery Index is a weekly accounting of who and/or what is having the worst time in paradise in season two of the HBO series. The rankings are based on a number of factors, none of which can or will be quantified in any way. We are doing art here, not science.

UNRANKED: Portia (wanted an adventure and got one in the form of a rowdy English boy who makes unrelenting eye contact); Tanya (having a blast with Quentin and the boys); Bert (stumbled upon half-naked girls in his room and didn’t seem to mind); Matteo (just a terrific mustache on this guy, no notes); Cam (I don’t know why but I feel like he’s the one who ends up in that body bag we saw in the premiere); Jack the Naughty Nephew (there are worse things in life than traveling to beautiful resorts with your fun uncle and his friends and picking up cute American girls with your special underpants); Isabella at the Front Desk (we’ll get into this one more in a second); Rocco (I love him); the people who work at the jewelry store in town (between Dom and Valentina, they probably did real well on commissions this week).

10. (tie) Daphne (Last week: 10)

Has trouble making female friends because they all talk behind her back. Had a decent time with Harper doing edibles in a luxurious villa and then Harper went back to the hotel and… talked about her behind her back. Husband woke up next to two prostitutes who he couldn’t pay in full and will have to leave an envelope for after he goes to the bank. Knew a guy who dropped dead running a 5k. Really just a lot going on behind those massive sunglasses of hers.

And yet, despite all that, despite the cheating and the subterfuge and her targeted exploitation of her husband’s crippling FOMO, they ended the episode snuggled in bed and smooching like it was all fine. They either have the most healthy relationship on the show or the least, depending what prism you look at it through. They fascinate me very much and I do not want to spend a single minute with them in person.

10. (tie) Valentina the Manager (Last week: 9)

It is probably not the best thing for the manager of a hotel to start showering her cute front desk employees with jewelry and attention and longing looks that imply a borderline infatuation. I say probably only because I do not know if the rules are different in Italy. I suspect they are not. Valentina has been having a weird go of it so far between feeding local cats and chasing away various prostitutes and male suitors at coffee shops and yelling at poor Rocco, and now she needs to find a new piano player too, at least in the short term, which, in a way, still involves chasing away a prostitute.

She’s got a lot on her plate. I’m going to cut her some slack with the inappropriate gift-giving. For now. But this will get more weird before it gets anywhere near normal. Poor Isabella.

9. Mia (Last week: Unranked)

Mia is:

• Getting kind of into the idea of prostitution
• Sneaking into people’s rooms for a shower and then giggling a lot when they barge in on her in various states of undress
• Trying to have sex with creepy piano players in empty churches in a very sad attempt to further her singing career because, like, how many connections could Giuseppe have when his career has topped out at “playing a rotating list of standards in the restaurant of a hotel in Sicily while wealthy people ignore him between bites of pasta”?
• Just shoving pills into the guy’s face with little regard for what they are or do or interact with each other
• Immediately angling for the gig as the lounge singer as the man she basically poisoned was being hauled out by paramedics

This has been quite the ride for Mia. She might start strangling cats by the end of the season. I’m a little terrified of her.

8. Dominic (Last week: 7)

One of my favorite things so far this season has been just watching the faces Dom makes as everything around him goes sideways. The man might sigh more than anyone else on television right now. He has his reasons, too, I guess, between his dad constantly peppering him with terrible advice and his son having open contempt for him and everything he stands for. And then there’s the thing where his sweet son was making out with one of the prostitutes he hired, in the middle of the bar, in front of a lot of people who know she’s a prostitute, a few of whom she has slept with, without any knowledge that she has in the past slept with people for money.

I am already cringing about the reveal here, where Albie discovers that the nice Italian girl he just met and had a fun fling with had, as recently as a few days ago, participated in a jacuzzi threesome with his father. I am almost certain Bert is going to be the one who spills the beans. It’s going to be very awkward. I might look away.

7. Falling under the spell of a person with an English accent (Last week: Unranked)

This is a real thing that happens to Americans. We hear someone with an English accent and we just start melting into puddles on the floor. Any kind of English accent. Look at Tanya talking to Quentin and just adoring this lovely gay gentleman with the fancy way of speaking. Look at Portia get all sparkly in the eyes when Jack the Naughty Nephew starts chatting her up with his streetwise turns of phrase and diabolical sexy underpants. Neither of them ever stood a chance.

But yeah, we can’t deal with that. I don’t know why. It’s a thing. An attractive English woman could walk into my kitchen today and steal my oven and be like “I’ll just be off with this then, love” and I don’t think it would dawn on me to report it to the police for two or three days.

6. Lucia (Last week: Unranked)

Lucia and Mia are kind of like two lines on a graph crossing each other to make a big X, with Mia going from shy/sweet to kind of murdering piano players and Lucia going from streetwise call girl to meeting doe-eyed American boys and hooking up with them in bars in part to make other girls a little jealous. She just wants to open a store and settle down. It’s kind of like she’s having a midlife crisis, which is not super ideal considering she’s like 22 years old. We will continue to monitor this.

5. Giuseppe the Piano Man (Last week: Unranked)

We covered most of his day in the section about Mia — tried to have sex with a prostitute in a church, couldn’t perform, took a handful of unmarked pills she gave him, ended up getting hauled out of the hotel by EMTs after collapsing on the floor — but the biggest and funniest kick in the pants in all of it was all the guests looking at him as he dumped sweat off his entire head and butchered the song “L-O-V-E” and being like “ugh, he’s even worse than usual tonight.”

4. Albie (Last week: 6)

Quick run through Albie’s day:

• Got blown off by Portia for their little hangout date and watched her get all wobbly-kneed in front of Jack and his tattoos
• Was described by Portia as “so sweeeet” with the same tone of voice one would use to describe a cute little woodland creature
• Got openly pressured by his dad to fix his parents’ message
• Hooked up with a fun Italian girl who as recently as a few nights ago slept with his father

This poor goof. Even when he has a good day, it’s only a matter of time before the guillotine hanging over him falls. I hope he snaps and starts getting a bunch of aggressive tattoos. Maybe a leather jacket. Sunglasses. Starts walking around with a snake wrapped around his arm. Anything to mix it up a little.

3. That Swedish Lady Who Got Heaved Into the Ocean By the Mafia (Last week: Unranked)

Please do not throw me onto the rocks and steal my island. I do not think I would enjoy that. Yes, sure, technically I do not own an island right now, which makes that first sentence I typed kind of a moot point. But still. Maybe I will someday. Probably safe to get this one on the record now, just to be safe.

2. Ethan (Last week: 1)

The problem Ethan has here is twofold. The first part is that Harper found that condom wrapper in the couch and is now extremely suspicious that her shy/nice husband is falling under the spell of Cam and his wandering groin and the two of them are going to start having wild nights with champagne and women and all the things she despises in the world, even though in reality, Ethan did the right thing and turned down Mia’s advances and went to bed while Cam entertained both girls. Which is not ideal.

The second part of this problem is that he’s dealing with this first thing between bouts of hangover-induced nausea. This is also not ideal. He doesn’t even realize how much trouble he’s in yet. He will, though, as soon as he goes to puke again and see the wrapper on the sink. And then he’s going to have to try to sell “No, actually I didn’t do anything with either of the prostitutes but I still lied about it because Cam said ‘bro code’ even though both of us and Daphne know he cheats a lot.”

Ethan’s vacation is going to get a lot worse very soon.

1. Harper (Last week: 2)

That is not the face of a woman who is having fun in Sicily.

At the beginning of the year, Uncut Gems actress Julia Fox had a brief whirlwind romance with Kanye West. At the time, there was no small amount of speculation that the relationship wasn’t real, given Kanye’s ongoing obsession with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, who was dating Pete Davidson at the time. Fox was also routinely accused of dating Kanye for clout. However, in a recent TikTok video, she’s since confessed that there was an ulterior motive to getting together with the rapper, but it’s not for the reason that people believe.

While revealing that she’s always been a huge fan of the Kardashians, particularly after they bought clothes from her fashion line 10 years ago, Fox admitted to her followers that the real reason she dated Kanye was so he’d stop harassing Kim. The rap star had already been texting Fox, who was ignoring him at the time because celebrities are always “boring” to date. That’s when she saw an opportunity. Via Elle:

But then I had this thought: I was like, oh my god, maybe I can get him off of Kim’s case. Maybe I can distract him, just get him to like me and I knew if anyone can do it, it’s me because when I set my mind to something, I do it. And I will say that that month that we spent together, he wasn’t on Twitter first of all. He wasn’t on any forms of social media. He didn’t even talk about his relationship. We only really talked about clothes and weird ideas and plans for the future and our hopes and dreams for childhood and education. And it was really beautiful, guys.

Once Kanye started tweeting, Fox said she was out. “Dude, I’m not going to stick around for this shit,” she claims to have told Kanye during their breakup. Fox now realizes that there was no fixing the problem. She still respects Kanye as an artist, but Fox also made it a point to distance herself from his antisemitism.

“I was delusional,” she said. “I thought I could help him. Anyway it didn’t work and now we’re here. But that being said, really, deeply respect the man as an artist. I don’t want to sh*t on that. I don’t want to reduce his whole career to his really bad moments, you know? But that being said, I stand with the Jewish community, period.”

(Via Elle)

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Brockhampton bid farewell (twice) and Roddy Ricch once again bless the end of the year. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Brockhampton — “RZA”

We have reached the end of Brockhampton and the group is going out with a bang. They dropped their supposed “final” album in The Family on Thursday, announcing at the same time that it’d be followed with another new project, TM. The latter album’s arrival was also accompanied by a gun-toting video for “RZA.”

Pharrell and Travis Scott — “Down In Atlanta”

Pharrell has a new album, Phriends, Vol. 1, on the way and it would seem that his new Travis Scott collaboration, “Down In Atlanta,” will appear on it. The tune has a slinky groove and vocals from Scott, on which he, as Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalaz puts it, “details a vivid, debauched account of an adventure in the ATL.”

Roddy Ricch — “Twin” Feat. Lil Durk

As has become tradition for Roddy Ricch, he’s blessed the final weeks of the year with a new project, with the 2022 installment being a new mixtape, Feed Tha Streets III. He prefaced the tape with “Twin,” an in-your-face tune featuring Lil Durk.

Saweetie — “Don’t Say Nothin’”

For a while now, Saweetie has been promising new music to wrap up 2022, and sure enough, she delivered some last week with a new EP, The Single Life. Before the project dropped, Saweetie shared “Don’t Say Nothin’,” which sure seems like it’s about Lil Baby.

Nicki Minaj, Maluma, and Myriam — “Tukoh Taka”

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is officially underway, and Nicki Minaj, Maluma, and Myriam’s contribution is a new song, “Tukoh Taka.” It’s the Official FIFA Fan Festival Anthem that inherently delivers a message of international unity, with lyrics in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Weyes Blood — “God Turn Me Into A Flower”

Weyes Blood’s fifth album — And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow — is out now and a clear highlight is “God Turn Me Into A Flower.” The six-minute track is a warm and meditative tune, thanks in part to keyboards from Oneohtrix Point Never.

Phoebe Bridgers — “So Much Wine”

With Halloween a distant memory and Thanksgiving just days away, it’s time for the new Christmas recordings to start rolling in. Indeed, they have, including Phoebe Bridgers’ contribution, “So Much Wine.” The recording is a cover of The Handsome Family’s original and Bridgers’ latest in her annual drop of melancholy holiday tunes.

Romy and Fred Again.. — “Strong”

Shortly after dropping Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022), Fred Again.. is already back to putting new material out there, via the Romy collaboration “Strong.” Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli notes of the tune, “Inspired by Ibiza house and trance, Romy’s vocals soar in familiar fashion, but they’re paired with beats that have that finger-on-the-pulse feeling of Fred Again..’s world-smashing electronica.”

Fousheé — “Spend The Money” Feat. Lil Uzi Vert

Uproxx cover star Fousheé has been a major up-and-comer in recent years and her debut album, Softcore, is finally here. It features the Lil Uzi Vert collaboration “Spend The Money,” of which Uproxx’s Lexi Lane notes, “The track brings a completely experimental beat, as it blends elements of electronic, rock, rap, and more.”

PinkPantheress — “Do You Miss Me?”

It’s hard to call PinkPantheress anything but obsessed on her latest single, “Do You Miss Me?” On the Kaytranada-produced tune, she sings, “I can’t let go of your hand / I can’t even breathe without you / I don’t think you understand  / I love to watch you as you speak / And you say the words ‘I love you’ / Tell me, when you fall asleep.”

With wealthy Russians all about finding those loopholes to escape Vladimir Putin’s draft and increasing reports of his inner circle plotting to find a successor, it sure sounds like the walls are closing in on the imperialistic president. This has followed an incredibly deadly war, which has encompassed most of 2022 and hasn’t turned out like Putin would have dreamed. That’s what happens when most Ukrainians, including grandmas with homemade explosives, stand up and push back while a majority of Russians seem to want nothing to do with heading to Ukraine to fight.

Such a difference in perspectives is to be expected when Putin’s forces are diminished due to death, grievous injury, and desertion, and all of that heavy artillery (including tanks) is simply left on the streets for Ukrainians to put to use. With all of that in mind, the Newsweek now passes on word from independent Russian news outlet Meduza, which reveals how Putin’s finally losing his country’s “elites,” who cringing like crazy over what looks like an undeniable loss:

Sources close to the presidential administration (AP) and the Russian Federation called recent events “very painful.”

“There is an understanding that we lost the real war,” said elites and entrepreneurs described as being part of Putin’s inner circle. “People begin to think about how to live on, what place they would like to take in the future, what bet to make, what to play. [On the one hand] there will be revanchist sentiments. On the other hand, there will be a request for normalization and stabilization.”

From there, Putin’s also facing the embarrassment for not even being able to provide medical care for deployed troops, long after word spread that soldiers grew so frustrated that they threatened to turn their general into smithereens. It’s not a great look when video emerges of Russians being told to raid tampon drawers because that’s the only way that they’ll be able to stop their own bleeding after being shot. Yep, no wonder this has turned into an undeniable disaster, but Putin keeps hanging onto the fight.

(Via Newsweek)