It’s been 14 years since Missy Elliott treated the world with a new album. Sure there were a couple of bops in between — 2015’s ‘WTF (Where They From)‘ was classic Missy in all her pop-weirdness — but it’s been simply too long since she provided hungry listeners with trippy hip-hop tunes and even trippier visuals. But tonight she’s finally back.
Earlier this afternoon, Missy Elliott revealed on Twitter that she’s “dropping a collection of new songs!” Whether or not it’s a full album or EP is to be determined, but ‘a collection of new songs’ is good enough for me. The forthcoming release is dubbed ‘Iconology,’ which is perfectly suited for the hip-hop queen whose rumored return to music has kept fans on their toes for over a decade. Plus, she’s gonna be presented with the Video Vanguard Award at this year’s VMAs on Monday. Long live Missy!
Be sure to stream Iconology when it drops tonight.
At midnight tonight I’m dropping a collection of new songs! Let’s #ThrowItBack to a time when music just felt good and made us want to dance! Sincerely, Dr. Melissa “Missy” Elliott #ICONOLOGYpic.twitter.com/rv2eVYGy1J
When Collin Martin, a midfielder for Minnesota United FC, came out earlier this year on Twitter, he made waves as the only openly gay soccer player currently playing in the league. Off the field, the 24-year-old spoke to Ward Simmons, head of marketing and public relations for Baccarat, in the Baccarat Hotel NYC about the overwhelming response to his coming out, representation in soccer and other sports, and being an ambassador for Athlete Ally, a non-profit committed to fighting homophobia and transphobia in sports. Read the interview below.
All clothing throughout by John Varvatos. Photographed by David Urbanke, styled by Terry Lu for the Winter 2018 issue of ESSENTIAL HOMME.
What has it been like coming out? What was the initial reaction from your teammates? Coming out publicly this year at my team’s Pride game on June 29th is something I’ll never forget. Since that day I have received support from all over the world and messages from people that have resonated with my story. I had been out to my teammates for over a year before my big announcement so obviously they had already known I was gay. They have definitely noticed a bit of an increase in attention coming my way now and so they poke fun at me for that.
After coming out, you have received a lot of positive feedback from the community via social media and news coverage. What has that been like? The feedback that I have received has been amazing. The tweet and Instagram I made in June went viral and for the most part, the messages I have received have all been extremely supportive. Some of the personal messages I’ve received have explained how my coming out has spurred individuals into coming out to their own family and friends. I didn’t realize I would inspire so many people for just being open and trying to be a representative for the LGBTQ community in the sport.
You coming out as a current male professional athlete has sparked a national debate why you’re the only one. Why is that? I really don’t know why. It still shocks me to this day to hear that I’m the only current out gay male in the five professional major league sports. I’m certain there are more gay athletes like me but maybe they feel their sexuality doesn’t need to be made public. I remember taking notice when I was in my first couple of seasons in Major League Soccer when Robbie Rogers came out while he was playing for the LA Galaxy. I thought that his brave actions would be sufficient and that his representation for the LGBTQ community was enough but that just isn’t the case. The LGBTQ youth in sport are still questioning their place in sport and representation at the professional level is critical for kids to look up to.
Despite the LGBTQ community making tremendous strides these past several years, they still feel unsafe in certain areas such as the locker room. Your current project with non-profit organization Athlete Ally is focused on creating more inclusive and comfortable spaces for the LGBTQ community. Tell us about it and how we can help. The locker room is definitely a place where LGBTQ individuals may still feel uncomfortable or may hear unaccepting language. For myself, I have found that me being open with my teammates has been the best thing for me in terms of bridging that gap of misunderstanding. Many of my teammates have never had a gay friend and there may be some questions, or they most often are curious about what it’s like being gay. Being able to have those conversations with my teammates has been very rewarding. If I hadn’t been open with them they wouldn’t have the chance to engage with me as a gay man. Giving them that chance to receive me and accept me is something I am very proud of.
Athlete Ally has given me an amazing platform to not only share my story with other athletes but to have meaningful conversations on what it’s like being gay in sports. A lot of what athlete ally is doing is trying to explain to athletes, teams, organizations, and anyone in the sport that individuals they interact with may not be just like them. So being cognizant of language and pronouns and just understanding that our heteronormative society may not always be inclusive to gay athletes. A couple months ago I was able to talk with the student-athletes at USC and UCLA in Los Angeles and hear from them how their universities are trying to make sports more inclusive. Being a part of those conversations was very meaningful for me and I know a closeted college student like I was would have benefitted greatly.
Athlete activism is a hotly debated topic right now, from the NFL to athletes using their platform to speak out on issues. What’s your take on it? I think athletes not using their platforms would be a missed opportunity to effect positive change on the fans or individuals that follow them. An athlete’s reach has been amplified more than ever now that social media can be used as a tool to facilitate the start of these conversations. Each athlete is uniquely different and they are going to have issues that are very important to them. In the case of the NFL, a lot of these athletes are standing up for marginalized individuals whose voices have continued to be suppressed. It is very admirable that athletes like Colin Kaepernick are willing to risk their livelihood by speaking out on issues that still divide us today. I believe Kaepernick should have a job and it saddens me that that isn’t the case!
A specific example of athlete activism that has garnered national controversy is the NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem. Do you think that some athletes are in fear of creating negative attention to their teams and hold back? Do you think that this same fear correlates with athletes who are LGBTQ but are reluctant to come out? Well, you have seen some owners and teams implicitly condemn their players in participating in these peaceful protests. So, of course, there is a perceived negative attention that many of these teams are fearful of. I feel that the teams that are supporting their players and the causes that are dear to them are the organizations that are doing it the right way. There is definitely a fear for LGBTQ athletes that their sexuality would impact their position on the team. An outward support of the LGBTQ community from the ownership of a team down to the coaches would go along way for LGBTQ people in sport to know that they shouldn’t question their place in the sport.
Essential Homme, Baccarat, and John Varvatos support Collin and congratulate him on his success on and off the field. Join The Movement of Victory Through Unity at AthleteAlly.org and become one of the many ALLIES for Inclusion.
Parody social media accounts are one way to cast irony on the narcissism—and often-fraudulent nature—of social interactions on the interweb. As Karley Sciortino of Sluteverrecently wrote, “Social media is probably ruining my life, but at this point, without it, it’s almost like I wouldn’t have a life.” All the same, parody accounts can “ruin lives” too, in some instances igniting police raids and First Amendment lawsuits.
But it’s not always anarchy! Eli Yudin and Carey O’Donnell created the parody Twitter account @nottildaswinton in 2012, gaining the praise of notable publications and even Swinton herself. “She reached out to us and told us she was a fan of it,” O’Donnell commented, “which we were happy about knowing that she understood we weren’t mocking her, but celebrating her eccentricities in this exaggerated character of herself.”
And then there’s the food. #foodporn with over 30 million posts, #eats with more than 225,000 posts, and #eeeeeats toppling 120,000 posts. Not to mention the recent denouncement that avocado toast is “the most annoying food on Instagram.” And so emerged the counter-consumption of a newborn account @youdidnoteatthat, speaking the truth in this mixed up world of far too many macarons and ice cream cones used as props. The handle features often familiar faces (deceptively) consuming high-calorie snacks with colorful commentary.
Here’s some of the account’s best fashion-centric entries:
That time Kate Hudson smiled at a piece of cake. And then…didn’t eat it. #youdidnoteatthat
She didn’t eat it. Too much sand in the buns.
Oh my gosh look they come already in their own little trash bags! How convenient!! #youdidnoteatthat but#youdidblockthat Emily Schuman.
What he really wants to know is if those cupcakes are Paleo approved.
Coco, the consummate professional, actually pulls this off. Christian on the other hand seems to think he’s holding a grenade. We can actually smell his fear.
A regram from our favorite @bryanboycom who is the consummate fashion professional. His disdain for that “magnum-flavored, chocolate covered rectangular donut with macaron filling” is palpable.
Say whatever you want of the amalgamation of corporate politics, design drama, and physical renovations, that is Marc Jacobs, but don’t you dare try to argue that your boi Marc isn’t on trend. A few months ago the brand, not the man—although, who can really tell at this point?—launched fashion’s first retail pop-up, in which payment was accepted in the form of Tweets. A social-media slap in the face from the company that was banished to hashtag hell when a disgruntled intern famously bashed MJ CEO Robert Duffy. Now, three years later, the company is in a period of preparations to go public (the American fashion dream). Giving digital media one final I’ll show you!, the house’s diffusion brand, MbMJ (formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs), has looked to Twitter and Instagram to cast its new it-girl (or boy, we guess, but let’s be real, the winner will definitely end up wearing a dress) for FW14. Entering the contest is simple: just post a sexy selfie to your fav network (or both) with the hashtag #CastMeMarc and keep your fingers crossed. Although based on the current hellish amount of normal-human-looking-entrants, we’re not taking this as a real casting as much as a power move, because if House of Cards taught us anything: true power is making the ugly people below you think you matter.
It almost feels tired to be talking about it already/still, and it’s only been three days, but yeah, #WorldsMostTalkedAboutCouple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West finally landed their Vogue cover for the magazine’s April issue. Whether you loved it or hated it, that continues to not really matter, however nothing could stop people from speaking out, including 2014 People’s Choice “Favorite Actress in a New TV Series,” Sarah Michelle Gellar. The actress took her to continuously-bustling Twitter to share her thoughts on the matter:
The little-Tweet-that-could quickly got picked up internationally with headlines like “Sarah Michelle Gellar Slams Vogue Cover Girl Kim Kardashian,” and “Sarah Michelle Gellar Cancels Vogue Subscription.” Kardashian’s best friend Jonathan Cheban, not missing a beat or Tweet, responded directly to Gellar aggressively asking, “Do you matter?”
Gellar, a lady, chose not to respond. Though her legions of loyal fans quickly jumped to her defense, asking the obvious to Cheban, “Do you matter?”
Main image courtesy of Reuters; featured image courtesy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Robin Thicke, who was caught blurring the lines of marriage (see what I did there!) when he hit the dance floor at Club 79 in Paris. Taking a page from the Kristin Stewart Guide To How To Get Caught Cheating, Thicke was snapped kissing a lady that’s not his Mrs.
Juan Pablo Galavais, who chatted with a reporter from The TV Page (who?) at a network party and said that a gay man would not make for a good Bachelor, telling the reporter (who verbally agreed with him) that homosexuals are “more pervert in a sense”.
Esquire Magazine, which posted an article titled The Straight Man’s Guide to HBO’s Looking. In it, writer Mike Stingley, gave a bevy of cringeworthy quotes including, “You’ll be praying for a car chase and checking your phone a lot watching this,” and “…after four episodes there is not one reference to The Wizard of Oz, All About Eve, or Barbara Streisand”.
Liam Payne, who had to endure an onslaught of Twitterfare after posting a Tweet to a Duck Dynasty cast member that included a shout to the “family values [they] still all behold”. Besides meaning to say uphold, Payne also neglected the power of his reach, forcing himself to backpedal with an onslaught of kinda/sorta/half-assey apologies.
Google, who sent out a now-leaked company-wide email that gave its employees talking points (Ex: “I am so proud to live in San Francisco and be a part of this community”) in regards to a public hearing on shuttle regulations for their private transit lines. The addendum: feel free to add your own style and opinion.
Shia LaBeouf, who keeps on keeping on.
Justin Bieber, who… who cares!
Bonus:
Joan Rivers, who called the sole heir to the Kardashian/West empire an “ugly” baby, noting that she’d “never seen a six-month-old so desperately in need of a waxing.”
Article images courtesy of Tumblr; featured image courtesy of Prince.org.
You’re a trendy guy. You’re up on the latest Raf campaign, big on Twitter, hey—you probably even have the new TRUST CD (yeah, that’s right, before it’s even out). We’re pretty impressed. So like Drake, you probably wear a lot of Hood By Air. The New York-based banjee-inspired steetwear brand launched in 2006, but in the last few years has been blowing-up in hype due to it’s popularity in both worlds of hip-hop and fuccboi fashion. The only problem? Since it’s rise, HBA has had a very limited and mostly offline stock list. Well, until now. Replacing its former, cryptic website—a nondescript splash page with a logo and sales email address—today the clothing label unveils its completely redesigned website, complete with shoppable exclusives from the Hood By Air Classics Collection. Head over now to see for yourself and say goodbye to hours spent waiting outside VFILES!
Cameron Diaz (of The Mask fame, of There’s Something About Mary fame, of The Sweetest Thing fame, one third of the revamped Charlie’s Angels, and just a general sexpot/Hollywood obsession) joined Twitter last Friday (11/09/2013).
“Liver and lover of life; professional laugher, eater, make-believer.”
Big deal? Yes and no. No for the obvious reasons: Twitter is demoralizing. But yes, yes a little bit when any star of her caché decides to join social media (See: Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s recent entry into the Twitter-sphere). Cameron Diaz, seemingly out of nowhere, crash landed on planet Twits at 1:38PM EST announcing:
I JUST got a super cool new app called Twitter. Twelloooo!!!
“A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee and learn about a new product.”
That’s the invitation — sent via post — to a small group of elite folk who will attend a top-secret, er, secret-ish, event at Facebook’s headquarters tomorrow morning, 10AM sharp. No word on where they’ll be getting said coffee from, but the new product being feverishly rumored is a video-sharing product that will be the first major overhaul to Instagram’s curriculum vitae.
Instagram’s video feature will be the new arch nemesis in town, battling Twitter’s mobile app Vine, which allows users to create and share six-second video clips. Matthew Keys, the former social media editor at Reuters, reports that the feature would allow users to upload between five to ten seconds of video, besting Vine by a brisk four seconds.
Since Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012, the app has risen to a user base of over one hundred million and logs over forty million photo uploads per day. With the newfangled option of video-sharing, we just have to ask: Will we still be able to filter? Guess we’ll find out over coffee tomorrow morning.
