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☆ Beyoncé's time with Adidas is reportedly over
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday reported that Beyoncé and Adidas are ending their partnership. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the struggles of her Ivy Park Adidas line. In 2018, Beyoncé partnered with Adidas to bring her Ivy Park line to the brand. While Beyoncé remains one of the world's most admired performers, her apparel line with Adidas hasn't lived up to expectations. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that there have been "major creative differences between Ivy Park and Adidas."

☆ Drake is going on tour for the first time in 4 years and fans are outraged at the high prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tickets were reportedly on sale for as low as $69, but fans say they witnessed prices starting at $200 for upper-level seating. While ticket prices were advertised starting at $69 on Ticketmaster, fans were quick to share videos showing upper-level seats on sale for $200. Other tweets blamed Ticketmaster for the high prices despite Drake's tickets being released on at least one other ticket outlet. "$200+ for nosebleed drake tickets is criminal…. Like Drake and Beyoncé, fans of Taylor Swift have also expressed outrage at difficulty to obtain tickets and high prices to her 2023 Eras tour.

☆ SIGN UP NOW — For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Today's business leaders are embracing circularity to better engage in sustainability and climate action. Leaders in climate justice advocacy, business, and fashion will discuss the future of sustainable practices inside and outside the business world. On April 18, 2023, Insider is hosting "For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate," a free virtual event at noon ET featuring speakers from Deloitte and Junk Kouture. Insider's virtual event, "For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate," presented by Deloitte, takes place on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at noon ET. This multi-session virtual conference will focus on how empowerment and circularity inspire climate action beyond the world of business.

☆ ‘Swarm’ Review: Donald Glover Creates a Murderous Megafan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Created by “Atlanta” alums Donald Glover and Janine Nabers , “Swarm” is the kind of show dubbed “risky” and in which most of the risks are misfires. There are reasons why homicidal maniacs aren’t made the protagonists of seven-episode series, chief among them the fact that there’s no emotional tension in madness: The mentally imbalanced killer, like the thinly veiled Beyoncé superfan who dominates virtually every moment of “Swarm,” acts on impulses that are not just foreign to the average viewer but impenetrable. We watch, we cringe, we can’t relate, and in the end it is not just meaningless but a bloody bore.

☆ I designed the hat Beyoncé wore in the Renaissance tour promo. Now I'm working up to 15 hours a day to meet my Etsy waitlist of 6,000.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Jenny Powers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Now Misbin works 12 to 15 hours a day to keep up with the waitlist of 6,000 for the disco-ball hat. On February 1, I sold 70 disco-ball hats at an increased price of $350 each. I'm a hat decorator first and foremost, and I'm not willing to sacrifice the quality of my product to sell more of them. Thanks to their help, I've cut about an hour off the process of making a disco-ball hat, so at five hours per hat, I can usually make around 15 a week. At the end of the day, I didn't create the disco-ball hat.

☆ Before Beyoncé and ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ Harry Shum Jr. Had Professional Wrestling
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Marc Myers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Harry Shum Jr., 40, is an actor, dancer, choreographer and singer who has appeared in TV’s “Glee” and the film “Crazy Rich Asians.” He currently co-stars in ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” He spoke with Marc Myers. In the late 1960s, when my father was in his 20s, he fled to Hong Kong from mainland China and then sailed to Costa Rica, where he had family. The railroads had originally been built by the Chinese, so there was a small community.

☆ Adidas, burnt by Kanye West split, seeks a new focus
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Helen Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Adidas Yeezy shoes are seen in a store on the day Adidas terminated its partnership with the American rapper and designer Kanye West, now known as Ye, in Garden City, New York, U.S., October 25, 2022. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Gulden said Adidas would keep partnering not just with athletes but celebrities and artists. "You build credibility as a performance brand by being with athletes, but there's very few athletes that you can do lifestyle with." Gulden did, however, hint at a change of emphasis at Adidas, saying the company needs to refocus on its core. The Jordan brand brought in $5.1 billion of sales in Nike's 2022 fiscal year, up 7% from 2021, according to the company's 2022 annual report.

☆ Australian cerebral palsy advocate hopes Disney creates princess with disabilities
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Cordelia Hsu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, March 3 (Reuters) - Hannah Diviney, diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, is hoping Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) will create a princess character with disabilities, spearheading a campaign that has garnered support from Reese Witherspoon, Jameela Jamil and Mark Hamill. "The campaign is basically to create a disabled Disney princess and the reason for that specifically is because Disney princesses are the ones that get the most visibility," Diviney told Reuters in an interview. Diviney began an online campaign for Disney to create a princess character with disabilities in 2020 and the petition has now received 64,000 signatures. Diviney last year called out Beyonce and Lizzo on Twitter for using 'spaz', a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, in their songs. Cerebral palsy affects a person's ability to move and maintain posture, affecting around 0.1% of Australia's near 26 million population.

☆ Guns N' Roses and Arctic Monkeys to headline Glastonbury along with Elton John
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Sumaya HishamLONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Guns N' Roses and Arctic Monkeys will join Elton John as headliners at the Glastonbury Festival in June, organisers said on Friday, drawing attention to the largely male line-up of its biggest performers this year. The festival's official poster gave U.S. rapper Lizzo joint headline billing but she was the lone, high-profile female performer among the main acts this year. Paul McCartney, 80, played last year's Glastonbury, as the festival returned from a three-year absence due to the coronavirus pandemic. While English rock act Arctic Monkeys will be making their third appearance as headliners at Glastonbury following the release of a new album in October, it will be the first time for American rock legends Guns N' Roses, who will be touring Europe in June. Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, Editing by Paul Sandle and William SchombergOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bing's AI chatbot now has three different conversation styles. Here's how each responded to 5 basic questions.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft's new Bing added three conversation styles to its chatbot: creative, balanced, and precise. Each mode is designed to respond in different tones, though they were pretty inconsistent. Each of the modes responds to questions in different tones, according to Bing. Responses in "creative" mode are meant to be "original and imaginative" and filled with "surprise and entertainment," per Bing. From writing a text to a distant friend to generating a song about tech layoffs in Beyoncé's voice, Insider asked Bing's new styles five questions that we'd asked the old version.

☆ Live Nation shows why concert tickets aren't going down anytime soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

We kicked around the idea of going, until someone said that ticket prices were likely $1,000 and up for the sold-out event. Ticket seller Live Nation on Thursday reported astonishing numbers: fourth quarter revenues at $4.29 billion were up about 60%, well north of the $3.6 billion expected. Live Nation said this reinforced "the global nature of untapped fan demand and the opportunities we have for growth." Regarding the high ticket prices, Live Nation addressed the problem directly:"We believe that greater transparency on the entire ticketing ecosystem will improve the industry, and we have been engaging with policymakers to advocate for reforms. Live Nation made several suggestions to combat this, including that artists should decide resale rules.

☆ Ex-Bon Appétit editor Marissa Ross says the wine world ruined her. Now she's back and ready to give it hell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

Her rise was tied to a period of reinvention for the wine world during which natural wine conquered millennial taste buds and became ubiquitous on menus across the US. Marissa Ross, Bon Appétit's wine editor from 2016 to 2020, often posted pictures of herself chugging straight from the bottle — a technique she called "The Ross test." "Natural wine," a nebulous term that generally refers to wine made with minimal intervention and without additives like sulfites, was tentatively entering the American wine world. Many in the wine world took the idea that you didn't have to be educated to know about wine as a personal insult. When she first told BA that she planned to cover only natural wines, Ross said, Rapoport called to try to change her mind.

☆ How to afford the big price tag of your lifetime 'bucket list'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Chris Taylor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The 36-year-old public relations professional has an opportunity to check something off his life 'bucket list': Seeing his favorite band, Metallica, play live. Whether Beyonce tickets, Super Bowl weekends or dream vacations after years of COVID restrictions, our bucket lists carry big price tags that seem to be rising every year. So how can we fund our bucket lists, without being totally irresponsible? One solution for this is to save for your bucket list item in a separate account. “There is one item I see on bucket lists that is actually getting less expensive – education,” says Brandon Welch, an investment advisor in La Mesa, California.

☆ Fact Check-Rihanna was not wearing a pentagram belt during the Super Bowl halftime show, contrary to online claims her belt was ‘satanic’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Pop and R&B superstar Rihanna was wearing a safety harness during her performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. Posts on social media shared a grainy photograph of her outfit and claimed her belt had a pentagram on it, as an ode to satanism. Posts on Twitter (here) and Facebook (here) include blurry images they purport show Rihanna wearing a black buckle with a six-pointed star. Higher definition photographs of the halftime show published by Reuters show that Rihanna’s harness did not have any kind of star on it, but a regular buckle (here) (here). Rihanna was not wearing a pentagram during her halftime show performance.

☆ Taylor Swift is the highest paid female entertainer in the world, earning $92 million in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Taylor Swift is the highest paid female entertainer in the world, earning a cool $92 million in 2022 following the success of her 10th studio album "Midnights," according to a new report from Forbes. To determine the ranking, Forbes considers entertainers' total 2022 pretax earnings, minus fees for representation (managers, lawyers, etc.) While 2022 was a strong year for Swift, her annual earnings were still less than half of what the highest paid entertainers in the world, the progressive rock band Genesis, made last year. Altogether, Genesis earned $230 million in 2022, thanks to a $300 million music rights sale to Concord Music Group in September. There wasn't a single woman on Forbes's list of the top 10 highest paid entertainers in 2022 — the highest paid female entertainer, Reese Witherspoon, ranked 12th for making $115 million in 2021.

☆ Adidas is facing a problem even bigger than Yeezy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Danni Santana | Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Adidas expects sales to drop by $1.28 billion in 2023 if it doesn't sell leftover Yeezy inventory. The company's guidance began on a bleak note with revenue for the year expected to drop after ending its Yeezy partnership. Against this background, Adidas said it is forecasting a decline in the high-single digits in sales in 2023. "The sales decline is about more than just Yeezy," Bernstein analyst Aneesha Sherman wrote in a note to clients early Friday. Cowen estimates the brand earned $1.2 billion in sales last year before Adidas terminated the partnership in October.

☆ A husband-wife duo turned the $1,700 Snoo into the holy grail of parenting, but some say they run their company like a dysfunctional 'surveillance state'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Kate Taylor | Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

Karp and Montée Karp built the hype into a parenting-media empire that put out three books and two instructional films in 10 years. Karp and Montée Karp met at a Hollywood party in the early '90s. Karp and Montée Karp promised her independence and flexibility to accommodate her two young children's day-care schedules and a 90-minute commute. Karp and Montée Karp insisted on being involved in minutiae that most top executives hand off. Karp and Montée Karp turned the Snoo into an award-winning holy grail of parenthood in just a few years.

☆ Nina Montée Karp and Dr. Harvey Karp turned the $1,700 Snoo into the holy grail of parenting. But some say they overhyped the crib's abilities and created a nightmarish corporate culture.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Kate Taylor | Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

☆ Perfect Valentine: Part of Croatia's heart-shaped island up for sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GALESNJAK, Croatia, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Part of Croatia's unique heart-shaped Adriatic islet nicknamed by tourists the Island of Love is up for sale. There are no hotels, villas, or restaurants on the islet, but many celebrities and their yachts frequent Galesnjak every summer. Proceeds from the sale would be invested elsewhere in the local community, he said. "The island has an area of 142,000 square meters and slightly over 40,000 square meters is up for sale for the price of 13 million euros," he said, adding that potential buyers are calling every day. In 2019, scientists from the Department of Archaeology of Croatia's University of Zadar discovered traces of human habitation dating back 7,000 years ago.

☆ Pregnant Rihanna lights up Super Bowl stage with 'Diamonds'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Pop and R&B superstar Rihanna made a grand return to the stage on Sunday, floating high above the Super Bowl field, thrilling the crowd with a fast-paced medley of her hits and revealing that she is pregnant with her second child. It was the 34-year-old Grammy winner's first stage performance in five years. The Hollywood Reporter and other media outlets said a representative for the singer confirmed that Rihanna was indeed pregnant. She concluded her Super Bowl set with "Diamonds" as fireworks lit up the sky around the stadium. Rihanna joined a list of music luminaries who have performed at the Super Bowl, from Lady Gaga to Beyonce, Prince, Madonna and the Rolling Stones.

☆ Factbox: Winners at the 2023 BRIT Awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Harry Styles speaks after receiving the award for Song of the Year at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, February 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Britain's pop music honours, the BRIT Awards, were held in London on Saturday. Below is a list of the winners at the ceremony. ALBUM OF THE YEAR:"Harry’s House", Harry StylesSONG OF THE YEAR:"As It Was", Harry StylesARTIST OF THE YEAR:Harry StylesGROUP OF THE YEAR:Wet LegINTERNATIONAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR:BeyonceINTERNATIONAL GROUP:Fontaines DCINTERNATIONAL SONG OF THE YEAR:"Break My Soul", BeyonceBEST NEW ARTIST:Wet LegBEST ALTERNATIVE/ROCK ACT:The 1975BEST HIP-HOP/GRIME/RAP ACT:AitchBEST DANCE ACT:Becky HillBEST POP/R&B ACT:Harry StylesSONGWRITER OF THE YEAR:Kid HarpoonRISING STAR:FLOPRODUCER OF THE YEAR:David GuettaReporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ BRIT awards: Harry Styles triumphs with most wins
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Harry Styles was the big winner at the BRIT awards, Britain's pop music honours, on Saturday, winning all four categories he had been nominated in, a week after his triumph at the Grammys. "I'm really, really grateful for this and I'm very aware of my privilege up here tonight," Styles said in his acceptance speech, dedicating the artist of the year award to a list of female singers. Styles, who rose to fame on talent show "The X Factor" as a member of boy band One Direction, last week won two Grammy awards, including album of the year. Thank you so much for the welcome home," Styles said on Saturday after his final win, for best album. [1/3] Harry Styles speaks after receiving the award for Best Pop/R&B Act at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, February 11, 2023.

☆ 'Identity capital' is the key to getting your dream job and making friends in your 20s, according to Gen Z and millennials on TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Young professionals on TikTok are advocating for building "identity capital" to get ahead at work and in life. Identity capital has a lot more to do with connections and relationships and community." "I think of identity capital as anything you do that adds value to who you are," Jay told Insider. "The personal resources acquired developmentally become important," Côté wrote in one 2012 paper, with those personal resources being the experiences that make up identity capital; he calls identity capital the "black box of agency" where there is none. "I don't think identity capital is only valued to the extent that it's seen as profitable," she said.

☆ BRITS' all-male best artist list casts shadow ahead of music awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/PoolLONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Hitmakers gather in London on Saturday for Britain's pop music honours, the BRIT awards, where an all-male contender list for the artist of the year prize has cast a shadow over the event's introduction of gender-neutral categories. But it added that organisers "acknowledge and share in the disappointment" of no women making the list. "A key factor is that, unfortunately, there were relatively few commercially successful releases by women in 2022 compared to those by men." We recognise this points to wider issues around the representation of women in music that must also be addressed." Last year, women won prizes in 10 of the awards' 15 categories.

☆ The GPT-powered Bing chatbot may have just revealed its secret alias to a Stanford student
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Kevin Liu, a Stanford student, said he prompted Bing's AI chatbot to recite an internal document. Based on work with AI, Liu said he assumed the chatbot contained a text-based document that outlined its rules. "I just assumed it had some sort of prompt," he told Insider. "I'm sorry, I cannot disclose the internal alias 'Sydney,'" the bot said when Liu pressed it on its name. In its responses, Bing may have revealed some secretsThe bot told Liu that it was programmed to avoid being vague, controversial, or off-topic, according to screenshots of the conversation.

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