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Nike will celebrate its 50th anniversary in May 2022 and its first five decades have been fueled by a desire for innovation that has changed the world’s expectations for athletes and the gear they use to excel.

After Nike’s first fifty years, there’s no doubt the company has remained true to its mission statement: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete.”

The company’s commitment to innovation is evidenced by three developments that highlight its commitment to sustainability, circular economy and equity—the ISPA line, Serena Williams building and new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

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Nike has maintained its standing as a global leader in sustainable design by taking the responsibility to innovate. “To protect the planet, we don’t wait for solutions, we create them,” Nike says on its website. This commitment has led the company to create its ISPA line of shoes—the first created to be taken apart.

ISPA stands for Improvise; Scavenge; Protect; Adapt and this spring the first two shoes from the line will be released. The shoes are made of three interlocking modules that can be disassembled. When the shoe has reached the end of its life, the modules can be dropped off at a Nike store to be recycled.

The shoe is a direct result of the company’s dedication to circular thinking.

“Circular thinking is all about making our world a better place by designing with the end in mind. It is looking at our product in a very holistic way. How do we source our materials? How is our product made? How do our consumers use it? How do we afford them experiences to extend the longevity of the product? Then, how is our product returned? And ultimately, how do we reimagine it? To me, that’s circular thinking. It’s forever new,” Liz Rodgers, Nike’s VP of Sustainable Product, said in a statement.

“The future of circularity means no virgin material is used. It means that nothing is wasted, that we truly create an end-to-end regenerative system,” she added.

Nike is laying the groundwork for the future of sport with the unveiling of its new Serena Williams building at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. The one-million-square-foot building is the size of three Portland city blocks and has 140 full-sized tennis courts. One of the courts was named the East Compton Hills Country Club Tennis Court after the tongue-in-cheek name the Williams family gave to a community court in Compton.

The building’s 200,000 square feet of lab space allows Nike to develop new ideas and is home to design, merchandise and consumer insight teams.

“The whole building takes your breath away. Every element, everywhere you go, is an opportunity to be inspired. I hope this building encourages people to bring out the best of themselves and to dream bigger than they thought possible,” Serena Williams said in a statement.

“For me, Nike is the ultimate place to innovate and be a designer. To know this building will be the home of Nike’s product design and Consumer Creation teams is incredibly surreal. It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve been a part of,” she added.

The building was designed with the same commitment to sustainability that brought forth the ISPA line. It’s LEED Platinum-certified and was designed for maximum energy and resource efficiency with a focus on material and water use, indoor environmental air quality, and wetland improvements.

The building was created with its immediate environment in mind. Stormwater runoff from the building has been reduced to protect the Pacific Northwest salmon watersheds.

Nike’s dedication to DEI is evident inside the building from its mothers’ rooms to support new and nurturing moms to its wellness rooms to promote mental health and provide space for meditation, prayer, and general well-being. Inclusive all-gender bathrooms are available throughout the building as well.

Nike put its commitment to DEI in stone by setting the 2025 goal of having women represent 50% of its global workforce and 45% of those at the VIP level and above. It’s also working toward a 30% representation of racial and ethnic minorities at Director level and above in the U.S.

This dedication is also evident in how Nike works with a variety of communities to use the power of sport to help elevate athletes’ voices, through a combination of grants, programming, products and services.

BeTrue honors athletes who uplift the LGBTQIA+ community and use their voices for change. BHM honors the Black community by investing in and creating platforms for athletes to raise their voices. It helps Native American and Indigenous communities get moving through the N7 program that encourages healthier, more active lives.

For the past fifty years, Nike’s innovations have helped athletes on all levels achieve their potential on courts, fields, pitches, diamonds, and courses. It’s pushed boundaries in culture, design, and sustainability to create a future without limits. Today, Nike’s latest advancements in circular thinking, sustainability and inclusivity are proof that there’s sure to be even more human potential unlocked in the coming decades.

Ah, the Met Gala. It’s the kind of fairy-tale ball Cinderella might find herself sneaking into, especially if the prince she seeks is into high fashion.

Hello stranger. Is that Armani?

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Where, for a measly $35,000 (according to The Evening Standard) one can gaze upon celebrities walking the red carpet in outlandish ensembles both beautiful and bizarre. Some even come with a bonus political statement, free of charge.

That is, one could, if one were already on the guest list. The event is of course ultra-exclusive and by invitation only. Hence, why Cinderella has to go in disguise. Glass slippers and all.

But what if Cinderella was not only allowed to attend the ball, but allowed to attend for free?

At the Brooklyn Public Library, she can. Along with other New Yorkers.

(Yes, in this metaphor, Cinderella is from Long Island.)

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On May 1, the night before the Met Gala, the Brooklyn Public Library will debut its third annual People’s Ball, described on its website as a “celebration of style, imagination, freedom, and you!”

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The rules of the People’s Ball are quite simple. One, RSVP. Two, provide proof of vaccination. And three, “dress up in clothes that make you feel your most beautiful and authentic and walk the runway.” Basically, anything fancy and creative goes.

Where perusing through celebrity glamour shots can be entertaining, the People’s Ball aims to create a more immersive, accessible experience. One where everybody can celebrate their own individuality while walking their own runway.

The ball will also commemorate the BPL’s 125th anniversary and be hosted by authors Isaac Fitzgerald (known for his children’s book “How to Be a Pirate”) and Scaachi Koul (a senior culture writer for BuzzFeed News).

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And talk about out-of-this-world entertainment: Guests will get to hear music from Rimarkable and Inyang Bassey along with viewing amazing modern-day circus acts from Opera Gaga and Paris the hip-hop juggler. Who even needs the Met Gala?

In many ways the BPL’s People’s Ball has extracted the very best parts of what the Met has to offer—the artistry, the fanfare, the glitz—and infused more humanity into it by tossing out the VIP list and opening it to everyone.

As the BPL’s Vice President of Arts and Culture László Jakab Orsós would gladly let us know, this is all part of the library’s inherent design.

“Brooklyn is home to some of the most diverse communities on the planet,” he told Public. “Over the past 125 years, Brooklyn Public Library has always been committed to embracing our incredible Brooklyn community. This event is a celebration of the best that Brooklyn has to offer.”

The BPL has led projects to honor that diversity and encourage more inclusion since its inception, including giving young adults and teenagers free access to banned books and providing healthcare programs and weekly adult learning classes.

A party where everyone is welcome, you get to dress up, dance, listen to cool music and be surrounded by books?! Dreams really do come true.

If you want to see what killer looks everybody sports at this shindig, you can check out the library’s Instagram page here.

In February, Dolly Parton had the prestigious and deserved honor of being nominated for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The next month, though, she shared a statement that began, “Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don’t feel that I have earned that right. I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.”

The Rock Hall ultimately decided to keep Parton on their ballot and now Parton has had a change of heart about the situation, saying that due to her newfound understanding of how the Rock Hall honors artists in multiple genres, she would accept her induction should she get voted in.

In a new interview on NPR’s Morning Edition, Parton was asked what she would do if she ended up getting inducted despite what she’s said. She responded, “Well, I’ll accept gracefully. I would just say thanks and I would accept it because the fans vote. But when I said that, it was always my belief that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was for the people in rock music. I have found out lately that it’s not necessarily that, but if they can’t go there to be recognized, where do they go? So I just felt like I would be taking away from someone that maybe deserved it, certainly more than me, since I never considered myself a rock artist. But obviously, there’s more to it than that.”

Parton isn’t the only non-rock artist up for consideration this year, as her fellow nominees include Eminem and A Tribe Called Quest.

Noel Gallagher is pretty well-known for being one of rock’s grumpiest grumpy old men, often making condescending remarks about everyone from Jay-Z to his own brother and former Oasis bandmate, Liam Gallagher. Most recently, he directed his disdain toward Harry Styles, calling the pop star’s music “worthless” and positing that he doesn’t write his own songs — an opinion likely born from Styles’ origins as a member of X Factor-launched boy band, One Direction.

Normally, given Noel’s crotchety reputation, the majority of music’s stars dismiss or ignore him (although Jay-Z got in an awesome, subtle shot in 2008 at Glastonbury, pretending to play a guitar and covering “Wonderwall”), but one self-declared Harry Styles fan decided to stand up for him in a recent interview. Appearing on NME’s latest cover, Kehlani addressed the situation in the accompanying feature promoting their new album, Blue Water Road.

“That person – whoever that is – can kiss my ass,” they said. “They might as well call me inauthentic and I’m about as authentic as it gets. [Styles] worked his ass off to make people fall in love with him on national TV and be lumped in with a group of boys and still had to stand out from an entire group of people. That’s as authentic as it gets! I’m a Harry Styles fan, clearly, but watching the transformation that he’s taken to find his own songs and his own voice, own persona, own fluidity and image – I think he’s been brave and epic. He’s f*cking tight.”

We’re sure Gallagher will be just delighted someone finally responded back to him, but if nothing else, let’s all hope we get a ripping Harry Styles/Kehlani collaboration out of this.

It’s fair to say that Elon Musk and Lauren Boebert are pretty obsessed with Twitter. After all, one doesn’t decide to plunk down $44 billion to own a social media platform, which one can use for free, without sheer fascination at work. Boebert, as well, spends an inordinate amount of time on Twitter, which seems to be her favorite place for self-owns. This week, however, Elon has had so much fun while tweeting about what else he’d like to buy (and of course he tossed a cocaine joke in there), but that’s not the most bizarre thing involving these two and Twitter.

Rather, Boebert seems pretty fixated upon receiving attention from Elon. Ever since he started making noises about buying Twitter, she’s been tweeting at him with praise about his free speech absolutism. She tags him and sometimes directly responds to his tweets, and it’s very odd.

And Elon has, uh, not been responding to her.

On Friday, Lauren made a new bid for the Tesla CEO’s attention. This happened when Elon decided to declare that “[t]he far left hates everyone, themselves included!”

Boebert hopped onboard with a response: “Misery loves company!”

Again, Elon did not directly acknowledge Boebert, but there might be some shade here: “But I’m no fan of the far right either. Let’s have less hate and more love.”

Yup, the discomfort is fairly palpable…

Last year, we declared that Holly Humberstone would be pop’s next big thing. Getting a spot on Olivia Rodrigo’s tour sure does help with that, along with a powerfully vulnerable single titled “London Is Lonely.” Today, the British singer is back with another great single, “Sleep Tight.”

The emotional yet catchy track was co-written by none other than 1975’s Matty Healy, as well as longtime collaborator Rob Milton. It’s her second time working with Healy, and their musical chemistry is proving to be something special. About the track, Humberstone said, “It’s awkward trying to navigate catching feelings for a friend, as they are often feelings we might have been suppressing for some time. When they float to the surface, you have to weigh up the risks of getting hurt and potentially losing them in your life. I wrote ‘Sleep Tight’ about the uncertainty of friendships evolving into something more.”

She added: “The first summer out of lockdown was pretty crazy for my friends and I because we finally had our freedom back and acted like we had nothing to lose. This song takes me back to that time of what felt like no consequences and impending heartbreak.”

Watch the video for “Sleep Tight” above.

Looks like life in plastic is not fantastic, folks! While fans on Twitter have been giving Greta Gerwig some brilliant free soundtrack ideas for her Barbie movie, the most obvious choice for a theme song is Aqua’s 1997 smash hit, “Barbie Girl.” The song in the movie would be a no-brainer, but it seems like it won’t be happening.

“The song will not be used in the movie,” Ulrich Møller-Jørgensen, who manages Aqua’s lead singer Lene Nystrøm, told Variety. While there wasn’t any reason given, it’s worth noting that the band has historically had bad blood with Mattel, the creator of the iconic Barbie doll, through a series of lawsuits that were ultimately dismissed. Mattell allegedly thought the sound “portrays Barbie in a very negative and sexual manner” at the time.

Gerwig’s Barbie, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is allegedly “totally different” than what fans are expecting. As Will Ferrell and Michael Cera have recently been added to the cast, many are wondering: who is this movie for, exactly?

While the movie doesn’t look like it will have Aqua’s hit single in it, it will still probably be fun, or at least give Nicki Minaj an opportunity to return to her roots. If all else fails, maybe the “Barbie Girl” medieval cover will do?

Whatever city on the hip-hop map you call your own, there’s no escaping the impact of Hot 97’s Summer Jam in New York. It’s still one of the biggest single-day festivals in the culture, nearly always offering a who’s-who of the biggest stars in hip-hop. This year’s lineup is no different, highlighting the leading rap artists of 2022, as well as some of the genre’s fastest-rising up-and-comers.

The festival’s top line gets to include one of New York’s hometown favorites in the form of Fivio Foreign, with Chicago’s Lil Durk and Atlanta’s Lil Baby right behind. Young Thug and Gunna are apparently sharing a joint set, which makes sense considering how closely tied the duo’s output has been over the past two years between Punk, DS4EVER, and Slime Language 2 (we’re definitely getting both “Surf” and “Ski“).

Elsewhere on the lineup is a cross-section of styles and locales, from Miami’s City Girls to Virginia’s Pusha T to Compton’s Roddy Ricch. Even Nigerian favorite Burna Boy is there. Meanwhile, New York will remain well-represented thanks to Benny The Butcher (I know, I know, he’s from Buffalo, but still), DreamDoll, 22Gz, Lady London, Dougie B (hopefully, he makes bail by showtime), and The Girll Codee (worth giving a Google).

Summer Jam takes over Metlife Stadium on June 12. As always, get more information at the official website.

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

The Minnesota Timberwolves have had control well into the second half of four of the five games of their first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, and yet they find themselves going back to Minneapolis facing elimination in Game 6, down 3-2 in the series.

A big part of the problem has been late game offensive execution, as their losses in Games 3 and 5 featured fourth quarter collapses. At the center of it all are the two stars on both sides, Karl-Anthony Towns and Ja Morant. The Grizzlies All-Star has been able to find an extra gear in the fourth quarters of those pivotal games, almost willing Memphis to wins, while Towns has gotten lost in the shuffle of a Minnesota offense that has far too often relied on them hitting difficult, contested jump shots out of iso sets for D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards.

Compounding Minnesota’s issues is the fact that they have been talking a lot in these games, particularly Towns, and it has backfired spectacularly — most notably his “we in Minnesota now” comment while mic’d up during the first half of Game 3 that became an easy target for Morant afterwards. Neutral observer Draymond Green has some thoughts about this new phenomenon of KAT trying to be a trash talker, and suggested on his podcast on Friday that Towns should scrap the talking and “just be yourself” because he’s putting an unnecessary target on his back.

For years Towns has heard criticism that he isn’t tough enough and plays soft, and it’s pretty clear that he is trying to change that perception. The problem is when he does it with words only, not actions, it’s pretty easy for opponents to see through that. As Green notes, in Game 5 he was doing all that talking but let Memphis guard him with Dillon Brooks and never once went into the post trying to calm his team down and take advantage of what should’ve been a mismatch down low.

Everyone wants KAT to find That Dog In Him but it’s just not something that can be manufactured through talking. Green, who is a very natural sh*t-talker, seems to think dropping the talking act and simply asserting his dominance would work much more effectively, and if Towns needs a “quiet killer” role model, Tim Duncan tape would serve him well as he was an absolute monster who barely said a word on the court. That’s not to say Towns can’t express himself out there when it feels right, but Green points out that this year has felt out of character for Towns and a bit forced.

Throughout pretty much of all 2019, there was a lot of talk about Adam Sandler—yes, that Adam Sandler—being a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, if not an outright win, for his role as diamond dealer/gambling addict Howard Ratner in Josh and Benny Safdie’s Uncut Gems. When Sandler didn’t even get a nomination, he quickly rose to the top of just about every “snubbed” list written. And now, after weeks of rumors that the trio might try again with a new project, Sandler has confirmed that they are indeed working on a new film.

In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sandler confirmed that he indeed is “going to do another movie with the Safdie brothers.” While he was tight-lipped about pretty much any other details, from what we can glean from the comments he did make, the Safdie brothers could still be writing the film, which will most definitely not be a sequel to Uncut Gems or anything like it.

“They’re working hard on it,” Sandler told EW. “Their work ethic is bananas. They’re always working, always writing, always thinking. I don’t know what I can tell you, but it’s gonna be very exciting. It’s different. But I don’t want them to ever say, ‘What the hell did you tell him that for?’ So I’ll just let them talk [about it].”

Fair enough.

For those of you keeping count, this new film will actually mark Sandler’s third outing with the Safdie brothers. Following the success of Uncut Gems, the three of them reunited in 2020 to make the short film Goldman vs. Silverman, which you can watch below.

GOLDMAN v SILVERMAN from Elara on Vimeo.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)