Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
On Sunday night, famously smooth guy Usher slid onto the Super Bowl stage and moonwalked to “Love in This Club,” raising Alicia Keys’ husband’s blood pressure. I’m usually the type of person who soaks up popular culture events through other people’s tweets, so I almost skipped his halftime show until I found out that Raymond IV was spinning around to “OMG.” I was about to do it. with skates. Wearing his cap backwards and stunt-wearing an off-white sapphire muscle suit that accentuates the pecs he already has, Usher displayed the lithe athleticism he honed during his stay in Las Vegas and his hometown of Las Vegas. A nod to Atlanta’s black roller culture. Seeing him slip between will.i.am’s legs on mini-wheels almost makes you forget that that line about “tits” was sadly omitted from the extravaganza. That was enough.
Please allow me to express my humble opinion. More pop stars, and entertainers in general, should roller skate. Admittedly, it’s no easy feat, and a broken coccyx would be disastrous for a gentleman as reserved as Jacob Elordi, for example. (The extra inches would make him look weird anyway.) As for the rest of the people, what better hobby could they have? Chatting on podcasts or selling questionable grain-free dessert recipes? Let’s start with a bicycle ride! It’s a whim. It’s becoming clear. Imagine what a regular gliding repertoire would do for someone like Selena Gomez. Maybe she should spend her next loudly announced social media vacation at the rink with her daughters.
Usher skates regularly, but he always says cheese like he’s in a Floss commercial. The innovative fit of his backing dancers was co-designed with Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace’s Liberty Ross, whose Rockefeller Center is a nod to her father’s iconic Hollywood rink, where Prince prancing around in “silky little bikini underwear” and Nile Rodgers zooming directly into the DJ booth. From his house. Flippers’ 2022 grand opening was packed with celebrities, with Usher (of course), Meek Mill, Patti Smith, Gayle King, and Ella Emhoff all lined up in the same counterclockwise motorcade. Just imagine how many great paparazzi photos we could get if more celebrities attended the four-wheel games.
In the early days of the pandemic, when everyone was scrambling to buy neon Impalas, their agility was fooled by the magic of one TikTok girl who ran down an LA boulevard heading for “Jenny from the Block.” I was deceiving myself about sex. However, in addition to the inline skating scene, barbie And Lana Del Rey’s music video featured her gliding past tumbleweeds in typical Lana fashion. Lately, we haven’t seen many roller expressions in mainstream culture. Makes me wonder where the Studio 54 revivalists are heading. Despite the massive sequined disco homages we’ve seen so far, major pop girls have been shy about strapping in. renaissance The song was made for a late-night spin, as Beyoncé celebrated her 41st birthday with a roller disco-themed birthday party, while Blue Ivy performed the choreography for “Blow” on stage. I can’t see you showing it off. With a holographic quad and some nerve, Dua Lipa could completely dispel the “Go Girl Gives Nothing” suspicion. I say this as someone who searches her YouTube late at night and always ends up with her video for Jessica Simpson’s “A Public Affair” music. “Celebrities, let’s get started.”