March 29, 2023 • 33 mins
In this episode we try to squeeze a 20+ year musical career into a 30 minute show!! A look back at J-Lo’s discography and all of the songs that have made us dance throughout the years, highlighting all of the influences that led to each album and showing how J-Lo evolved from the girl on the 6 to the woman on the Super Bowl stage!
Lilliana Vázquez and Joseph Carrillo are the hosts of Becoming an Icon with production support by Juan Carlos Arenado, Josie Meléndez, Daniela Sarquis, and Santiago Sierra of Sonoro Media in partnership with iHeart Radio's My Cultura Podcast network. If you want to support the podcast, please rate and review our show.
Follow Lilliana Vázquez on Instagram and Twitter @lillianavazquez
Follow Joseph Carrillo on Instagram @josephcarrillo
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Just so if I feel we're like besties. But I
have to ask you this, in all honesty, have you
seen the documentary Halftime? More like, how many times have
I actually seen it? Okay? Good? I just wanted to
make sure we're still friends here, Okay, okay. So for
those of you who have not seen it, Halftime is
a Netflix documentary about the making of the Super Bowl
(00:22):
halftime show back in twenty twenty. We stay talking about
the halftime show, don't we. We say it in every episode.
It doesn't matter who the artist or icon is, we
are always going to talk about super Bowl Halftime twenty twenty.
We are obsessed because, you know what, it's just that good. Yes,
it gives us an inside look at the making of
(00:43):
the show, but even better, it's a first person account
of Jennifer's career through her eyes, reflecting her iconic career
and the pressures that come with I guess that level
of fame. Yeah. But in addition to that, it's also
about just living up to your family's expectations of who
you are, who you should be, and that is something
(01:04):
many Latinos know all too well. You know, there's also
this one part of the documentary where Jen says that
each of her siblings had a special talent, something they
were always known for. So Leslie was the singer, Linda
was the smart one, and Jennifer, well, she was the dancer.
(01:25):
She was the athlete of the family. And growing up,
Jlo's parents had a very specific recipe for success for
their kids. Stay in your lane. They told them focus
on one thing and be good at that, said gracias,
But no gracias to that guidance. Yeah, because she knew
that she was capable of so much more. She wanted
(01:47):
to do it all, singing, dancing, and acting. Yes, and
in our last episode we told y'all about how she
shook up the whole damn industry and set the fashion
world on fire with those major red carpet looks and
her sense of style. But today it's all about the musica.
J Loo lactante. She's unstoppable. Yes, and today we are
(02:12):
talking about all the hits and all the drama surrounding
those hits. Grab your snacks, sit back and relax. We're
going to cruise down memory lane to see why Jenny
from the Blocks still got it and how she rose
to the top. Burned too brightly in the spotlight, yet
resurrected herself like a mother ethan Phoenix. I'm your host,
(02:37):
Liliana Rasquez, and I'm Joseph Carrillo, and this is becoming
an icon a weekly podcast. Will we give you the
rundown on how today's most famous Latin stars have sha
pop culture and given the world some extra Sublet sit
back and get comfortable, because we are going in the
(02:57):
only way we know how, with buenas and a lot
of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our
journey to find out what makes them so iconic. Okay,
(03:21):
so let me set the stage for all of you.
The year is nineteen ninety nine. Everyone was downloading music
on Napster. Bill Clinton was acquitted people, including myself. We're
scared shitless about why Duk and kids are robbing each
other for Pokemon cards? And wasn't this the year of
the Green Grammy's Dress. No, that's the next year. Nineteen
(03:43):
ninety nine was actually the year of the Latin explosion.
At the Grammys explosion, I hate that term, y'all know
how I feel about this. But that night at the Grammys,
Ricky Martin took the stage and performed La Copa, his
hit song from the nineteen ninety eight World Cup. I
(04:03):
don't know if y'all remember this, but it was Craig
Well Craig for the Grammys at the time. There were
dancers on stilt. He had dancers and drummers in the aisles.
He lit up the stage and everybody loved it. Joseph,
do you remember seeing this performance or hearing people talk
about it. I remember seeing it and just kind of
being in shock that it was just so different and
(04:26):
it was kind of lively and vibrant. But when I
first thought, I was like, oh my god, this is
he is so handsome. These people are so into it
and clapping and dancing, And what did you think about it? Well,
I remember feeling that the Grammys felt like a funeral.
First of all, the room was dead, like typically before
you're saying like in general, I just felt the whole
show was dead. It was like you could hear a
(04:47):
pin drop and this is supposed to be a music
award show, and then all of a sudden you hear
all of the brass instruments and the drums and Ricky
swaying his hips. This man literally brought the Emmy's to Life.
The turn up was real. Yes, And here's the thing.
That night was major because I feel after that night
(05:09):
the door opened, it blew open for Spanish music on
a global scale, because that same year you also had
Mark Anthony Santana, Shakira Jlo of course, and let's just
be honest, Ricky look was really good in those leather pants. Now,
I mean, go, go go. After this one performance, the
(05:30):
entire world wanted an album from every Latino performer, including
one from a young actress sitting in the front row
that night. This was after the movie Selena, right, Yes,
that's right, So in Selena Jlo had shown the world
that she was a triple threat. We knew she could dance, now,
we knew she could act and she could sing, but
(05:53):
at the time her focus was really unbecoming a serious actress.
But with the rest of the world ropping these albums,
the Latin explosion was everywhere. By the way, why did
we have to explode? Why why couldn't it just been
the Latino movement, the Latino wave? Why are y'all trying
to kill us? Okay, okay, let's bring it back. Okay, fine, fine, fine,
(06:17):
I have feelings. I'm very passionate about this, Okay. This
Latin explosion meant that everyone was also asking Jennifer about
her album. What they didn't know was that Jenny was
ahead of them. She was already plotting her musical takeover,
to the point that she actually passed on touring with
Janet Jackson. What shut up, We're going to talk about
(06:40):
it in the next episode. There's some stories there that
y'all may not know. I hate you. Jaylo was going
to be more than just a movie star. She was
going to be more than a performer. She wanted to
be a household name, an icon exactly, and she needed
to prove her singing chop. So she cut some demos
(07:02):
and here's the thing. It actually worked because Sony Music,
which at the time was run by Tommy Mottola aka
Mariah's first husband, signed Jlo to a deal, but Sony
wanted her to sing in English instead. On June first,
nineteen ninety nine, Jlo dropped her first album on the sixth,
(07:27):
inspired by the subway line that would take her from
the Bronx to Manhattan and back. While she was studying
by day and dancing by night like a Latino Batman exactly,
and people were so drawn to these Latin beats mixed
with pop, R and B and hip hop. Well, Jennifer
loved a variety of music, and she put that all
into her album. She would remember listening to wrap and
(07:49):
hip hop on the train home, but as soon as
she stepped through that door, it was all Celia Cruz
one and of course modern day music like Madonna. And
I think that you really feel all of that in
the first album, don't you. I think you can feel
it throughout all of her career. To be honest, do
you remember where you were in life when on the
(08:11):
six came out? Are you for a real bitch? I
don't even know that. I want to know if you
had my love and I give you, would you comfort me?
The way she said to Rust on that song just
killed me every time I heard it, So I remember
where I was, what I was doing, because I was like,
(08:32):
did she just say to Rust to make it run?
Say it again? How did she say it? She gave
me to us? She says, you have to go back
and listen to it. There are words that just drive
me crazy. But I was obsessed with if you had
my love and feeling so good. The remix really interesting.
Do you have a favorite song if You Had My Love?
(08:54):
Because you have to remember this was the very first
single off her very first album, So this is the
moment that everyone will define Jennifer Lopez by for the
rest of her life. And as a style expert, I
have to go back to the white bikini tom with
the white pants and the pin straight hair. I loved
(09:16):
If You Had My Love. So I just remember that
video and I've also dressed up as that j Lo.
So when Jaylo went on tour for her fiftieth birthday,
my friends and I all went. It was a group
of six of us and we each had to be
a different j Lo. I love that. It was so
much fun, so we all dressed up as different j Lo's.
I personally wanted that one, but this girl, Tanya decided
(09:38):
that she wanted to be that one. So I changed
to Jenny from the Block j Loo, but she was
if You Had My Love j Loo because you can't
dress up like j Loo and not do that. It's
one of the most iconic video looks of her career.
So you said, what was your favorite song waiting for Tonight?
Do you remember that one? Seriously, shut up, I'm about
to end the podcast. Okay, that's a rap on j
(10:00):
episode two. But let me tell you why Waiting for
Tonight really kind of set out to me. So. I
was a young baby makeup artist at that time, and
Kevin o'quan had done her makeup, and now as a
celebrity a makeup artist, I was just so. I didn't
even know I wanted to be a celebrity makeupartist until
you know, here I am. But when I found out
(10:20):
Kevin o'quand did her, I was just so mesmerized by
what he had done. And the crystals, like no one
had seen crystals like that in the video. That was
definitely a glam moment. You know what's amazing is that,
looking back, that was her very first album. It was
her very first kind of shot out into the world.
And to know that she was working with Kevin o'quan
on the makeup and she had all of these iconic looks,
(10:41):
and girl, you know, she didn't have the budget she
had now. So this album obviously produced five major singles,
three of them which hit the main US Hot one
hundred charts. You know what else is on that album?
Tony ballad with the future mister Lopez as known as
Mister x Lopez m Mark Anthony. So there's this heart
(11:03):
wrenching song called noma Amis. Have you heard the lyrics?
Though the whole song, Mark is like, I'm a mess,
I'm not good for you. You shall bounce, and She's like,
I love you. We can make it work. Literally the
story of my life. And he's got her back to
him the entire video. He has his back to her.
Take a hint, j Lo. When it came to Lopez
(11:25):
and Anthony in real life. Well, yeah, there's so much
to unpack there, So we're going to save that for
the relationship episode. You're definitely not going to want to
miss that one. I hate you. You're such a tease,
I know. So let's jump forward a year. Jennifer is
back at the Grammys, but this time he Diddy is
on her arm. Yes, we're bringing them back. They attended
(11:46):
the Grammy Awards and we all know what happened that night.
I can imagine what happened that night, but history the
green Versati dress is back front Encore on becoming an icon,
y'all that it is the dress that changed the world,
makes an appearance again on the show as she attended
the awards ceremony with her then partner, who was also
(12:08):
a producer for on the six. It didn't stop there.
Homegirl went back to work and released another album in
two thousand and one, while also starring in a romantic
comedy Talk about a Multitask or j Low. That's right.
She became the first woman to have a number one
film alongside an album. Her sophomore album, j Lo was
(12:31):
released at the same week as The Wedding Planner. So
let's talk about Love Don't Cost a Thing? Where were you?
I was living in Spain at the time, if I remember,
And it made it all the way there, Joseph, this
is the second time I'm gonna end the episode. Okay, okay,
(12:53):
Love Don't cost a Thing was so good and I'm like, well,
my love cost a thing? Can I have your sugar,
daddy jr. Loo. I mean it costs a lot of things.
Let me tell you. You know, she was out there
telling people she didn't need the diamonds she in the car.
She threw a Fendi baggett bag out of her convertible.
I was like, girl, I'll catch that Fendi bag. Throw
it in. Yeah, I was right there. I was on
(13:13):
the p you were on the causeway trying to catch
that Fendi Baghett. I will say about this album, I
don't remember it getting lots of awards. Yeah, I don't
remember it getting a ton of critical acclaim, but it
didn't really matter because it made fans out of everybody.
Not only was Love Don't Cost a thing on this album,
(13:35):
not only was Chris A. Judd in that video but said,
but we also got Ain't It Funny? Okay, which is
one of my favorite songs. And then we also got
I'm Real, which we're going to talk about later because
we cannot just quickly graze over that. We got to
have like a whole moment about that. Okay. But here's
the thing. Around the time of this album, something else happened,
(13:58):
something that has kept every everyone talking for almost twenty years.
Are y'all ready for Little Cheesement? Oh? You better serve
this shit up. Let's go. So I'm gonna tell you
a story that involves another mega super icon. I have
the chills right now. What are you going to say? Okay, So,
(14:19):
remember when we're talking about Tommy Mantola, Mariah's X Okay.
So at the time, Tommy was a power player. He
was the head of Sony Music. He was a certified
hit maker. He founded Hall and Oates. For God's sake,
what is that some sort of breakfast that comes with
brunch and Mimosa's Joseph, Yeah, are you serious right now?
(14:42):
Just kidding. I know you're obsessed and you get worked up.
Do not disrespect John Hall and Darryl Oates. Okay, God
please protect them. They are old. What I'm saying is
that at this time, back in the nineties, everything that
Tommy touched was gold. He had hit after hit, but
most people at the time really knew him as Mariah
(15:05):
Carey's husband now her ex of course, or Dahlia's current husband. Yes,
that is Tommy. Okay. So back in the nineties, Maria
and Tommy got married in this crazy, over the top
fairytale wedding on Long Island, and then the Prince Charming
takes his beautiful young bride back to their castle and
that motherfucker basically locked her up. No, you guys, for
(15:29):
a real dead ass, Maria was a prisoner. No seriously, y'all.
She had guards following her everywhere. There were cameras all
over the house. Cinderella was literally locked up in that
mansion on Long Island. It's keeping more a Fiona and
Shrek and all that was missing is the dragon. It's true.
So finally Maria was like, you know what, enough is
(15:51):
enough and she actually filed for divorce the Emancipation of Mimi.
Oh such a good album. Yes, So all of this
is to say, this is happening. Mariah is finally stepping
out on Tommy, and Tommy, being the piece of shit
that he is, needs to exact revenge on Mimi. So
listen to what he does. He gets on Nosy finds
(16:14):
out that Maria has just optioned the rights to a
beat from a seventies band called Firecracker, and that her
next album is actually going to be led by a
song using that track. So what does this scabroon do next.
M graciously accepts that Maria needs to be a free butterfly. No,
he options the rights to the song himself, puts together
(16:37):
a dream team to make this song using the sample,
basically stealing it from Maria before she can release hers.
That's spiteful, trifling ass, and then he has the nerve
to call up job Rule and says jah, I need
this track right now. And do you know who Tommy
enlists as Jaz's partner on the track I can't I
(17:01):
can't take it. My palms are sweating. Tommy Mettola's newest protege,
a young Latina named Jennifer Lopez. That's right, you guys,
I'm Real is released. It is a straight banger and
goes to number one. Are you do you remember this song?
(17:23):
I was that song. I just want to say that
I really was that song. But were you jaw Rule
or were you j Lowe and her pink, juicy couture outfit.
I was a combo like why you Gotta? I was both. Listen,
we were all a little jaw, a little murder inc
and a little jay And you know, it was the nineties,
speaking of I wonder what a Shan Tivas is up to.
(17:45):
You need to take some icons add like medication right now.
You are all over the place. I love you, okay?
So yes, it was the nineties, all right. So we
were telling you the story because it all goes back
to Mariah and the Cheeseman of all cheesebooks. So it's
a follow two thousand and one. Mariah's out on a
press store for a movie called Glitter, and it doesn't
(18:06):
take long for the rest of the world to realize
that this movie is not good. Okay, I enjoyed Glitter
for the campy spectacle that it is, but it's bad.
It's real bad. It's real bad. Okay. So Mariah has
just had this song stolen from her by her crazy
(18:26):
ass X given to j Lowe goes to number one.
She's out having to promote this shit ass movie in Germany.
Everyone knows the movie's a mess. She hates her X.
He gave her song to somebody else, and the woman
that he gave that song too has a number one
song along with the number one movie. So a reporter
(18:46):
asks her, what do you think of Jennifer Lopez, and
Mariah answers with four words that launched a twenty year feud.
I don't know her. That is still my favorite line
that exist. I don't know her. The shade the shade,
and it's crazy. I looked it up in the dictionary
(19:08):
and it is just the photo of Mariah Carey and
her forced teethy smiles saying I don't know her. I
don't know her. I wonder if secretly one of them
has tried to communicate and put the kabash or do
they like that there's this feud. Well, first of all,
I hate anytime the world pins two women against each
(19:29):
other that are both so incredibly successful in their own right.
It's annoying because there's tons of successful men and no
one's like, oh, Tom Brady, do you hate Aaron Rodgers? Like?
It doesn't work like that in man world. But for
some reason, especially in music and film and television, you
can't have two incredibly talented, beautiful, successful women be at
(19:50):
the top at the same time because they automatically have
to hate each other. So, of course, leave it to
Andy Cohen, the chief chismosa in charge, to dig a
little bit deeper on a feud. So Mariah Carey agreed
to go into Andy's clubhouse and watch what happens live.
By the way, Andy switch sides with her because Maria
always has to be on the left. So Maria's sitting
(20:11):
there and Andy's like, can we please talk about that moment?
And Mariah Carey gave it a little bit more context,
which is what she meant by saying, I don't know
her wasn't that she didn't know who Jennifer Lopez was.
Of course she knew who she was. What she was
saying is I don't personally know her. I'm not down
with her, I don't vibe with her. We don't hang out.
(20:32):
You and I knew Jennifer as much as Mariah did.
And that's what she was saying, right, And the question
is still a specific thing, what do you think of
Jennifer Lopez? Right? And Maria says in the moment, she
answered very dryly and very honestly, which is I don't
know her. She knows of her, but she doesn't have
personal relations with her. But it makes her a damn
(20:52):
good story. And of course the feud has gone on
and on, and I believe one time Jennifer was texting
during one of Mariah's performing and people thought she was
being shady, and then they were both had various residencies
at the same time. So listen, I'm gonna go by
the age old adage of where there's smoke, there's fire.
They're probably not besties, but they probably don't hate each other.
(21:14):
It's true whole time. But I have to go back
to one point that you made. You were saying the
world depending each other. It wasn't the world. It was
fucking Tommy Mottola painting girls against each other. Oh my god,
so now we know who it was. It's always a
damn man. So here's the thing. Jennifer's a star. The
charts say it, the fans obviously recognize it. Her albums
are gold, and she's dropping it after hit. So she
(21:35):
releases an album with remixes, the debuts at number one,
and her third studio album, This is Me Them, and
that album was inspired by someone in her life. Can
I say it as you're like foaming at the mouth
benefer was born, Yes, and with that birthkave a different
(21:55):
kind of media frenzy that would affect all aspects of
the empire she was trying to build and almost ended
it all for her, which makes it so much juicier.
When it comes to her albums, Jennifer has always been
inspired by her relationships, love and sex. This is Me
(22:19):
then came at a particularly interesting time because it was
late two thousand and two and there was only one
thing or person, I should say, on j Lo's mind,
her high profile relationship with none other than mister Ben Affleck. Yeah,
and despite the album having the biggest opening sales of
her career. It only reached number six on the Billboard
(22:42):
two hundred and that was due in part to the
Benefit Mayhem. So let's talk about it a bit. I
want you to tell me as an entertainment journalist, let
me tell you that's why I'm asking. Benefer was the
gift that kept on giving. Here. You had to majorly
(23:03):
high profile A list celebrities, one from the music world,
one from the entertainment world, and when you put those
two worlds together, you have pure combustion. I always say,
it's a lot of times you have an A list
actor dating a B list celebrity, or a B list
reality star or B list musician, but when you have
(23:24):
an A and an A together, it's just all spectacle.
It's also completely doomed and destined to fail because you
can't have that much wattage and expect it to sustain
and survive. I get what you're saying, but I'm going
to do this really weird Latino thing. So weren't there
already big people together. Let's just say, not like Brad
(23:46):
Pitt and Angelina, but like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.
So I'm talking about the wattage of how big they were, right,
but with it a little bit more salacious because she
was Latina. Yes, two things are different, and you hit
on one of them. Yes, she was Latina. And Ben
was the industry golden boy at the time. Right. He
was Matt Damon's bestie. They had written and starred in
(24:08):
Goodwill Hunting, They had won an Academy Award. He was
Hollywood's golden boy at the time. Then you have Jennifer, right,
she's un around the way, a girl from the Bronx.
She was a fly girl, she was self made, she
was Puerto Rican and proudly Puerto Rican. And then you
also have the combination of her coming from music and
(24:31):
he came from film. Bringing together two stars in different industries,
both at their kind of peak was unique. At the time,
you had so much star power. But I do think
that Jennifer was so different and maybe not who they
thought Ben should be with. Maybe they wanted a Gwyneth
Paltrow type for Ben Affleck and instead they had Jennifer
(24:54):
Lopez who was from the block. But you guys, we're
gonna dig very deep. We're going to unearth all of
the benefit drama in a future episode. So let's get
back to the album. Okay, So what do you remember
about this? We got Jenny from the Block and all
I have with Elly, She set aside her dance pop
(25:16):
sound and let R and B and soul take the
front seat this time around, and that was a callback
to the sounds of the Bronx that she had grown
up with. Lopez was influenced by works of Michael Jackson,
Luther Van Dross, and Stevie Wonder, among others, and she
always said with this album she really tried to capture
their sound because their music made her quote heart sing
(25:38):
when you talk about this is me. Then it's an
interesting album because it got kind of mixed reviews from
music critics and from me first foremotion, here he goes. Okay,
so let's get to the facts. It did sell two
point six million copies in the US, It did reach
number two on the Billboard two hundred and it went
(25:59):
out to sell six million copies world Why. So this
was a success whether the critics panned it or not.
But what really made it for me was simply one song.
It was the lead single, Jenny from the Block. That
video was hot. Now This is the Jennifer that I
(26:22):
usually dress up as for Halloween, for Jennifer themed parties.
This is my Saturday Saturdays when I go pick up
my kid from preschool. Hello, this is my Jennifer. Because,
by the way, this look is so back right now,
to the cargoes, the high heeled tims, the whole vibe,
the page boycap, her dancing in the streets in the Bronx.
(26:45):
This video for me, brought me back in a way
that I didn't realize I needed to be brought back
at the time, and even now when I watch it,
it's just pure nostalgia for me. There is such a
feel good vibe to old j Loo songs and that's
what fans really connect to. It takes us back to
the nineties. In two thousand and one. Things were different,
we didn't have social media. It just felt like a
(27:06):
simpler time. This video, for her, it was the old
Jalo and the new j Lo in the fight Oh
my God, like Norma Jean and Marilyn Monroe. Yes, who
will prevail? Right? So she had all of this glitz
and glam and attention. She was with Ben Athleck. She
was living the yacht life, right, but then she was like,
(27:29):
hold up, hold up, I'm still Jenny from the Block,
and she gave us the most poetic line ever written
in the history of me. I don't know which one
you're gonna say. What are you going to say? Don't
be fooled? Oh yeah, by the rocks that I got.
It's true. Okay, I'm going to frame that ship that
(27:52):
is really good? Is really good? Not even don't be
fooled by the rocks that I have. She could have
said no, but it would have been. But then you
can't rhyme it with blocks, and you can't be don't
be fooled by the rocks that I got. I'm still
I'm still Jenny from the block. Used to have a little,
Now I have a lot. Can you try it with
(28:13):
have and see? Don't be fooled by the rocks that
I have. It just doesn't go. It really just doesn't.
It doesn't work. I was sorry, you can't sing that
line and they get your ass slapped by Ben Affleck
on a yacht. It doesn't work. It is a whole vibe,
my friends, well also things. Speaking of being a whole vibe,
(28:36):
it reached number two in the Billboards two hundred and
earned double platinum status in the US. That's right, and
that wasn't the only song on the album. We also
need to talk about I'm Glad, which a lot of
people don't like, but honestly, this is one of my
favorite Jlo videos. I loved that song. It was so happy,
it was so happy, and that, to me, is the
(28:58):
best Jlo has ever moved in I'm Glad. So, in
case you guys don't remember this video, this is when
she kind of did that like flash dance rip off
and people were she's a richel thought in her mind,
but and she dances on the chair under the water.
So I was taking a dance class in New York
one of the first years that I moved there, and
I hired a private teacher to teach it to me,
and I quit after ten minutes. Yeah, it wasn't going
(29:21):
to happen. That is not a true story. Are you serious?
It's a true story. Have you seen the video? Yes? Okay.
I was like, I just need to learn thirty seconds
of choreo and they're like, cool, no problem. So he
did it for me and I was, okay, I can
do this, y'all. I was twenty three at my peak
and couldn't even do ten seconds of the choreo no Bitch.
You saw him walk in with a bucket of water
(29:41):
and you were like, we're not doing this yet. It
is one of my favorite songs on that and she
honestly has never looked better. That's when we get her
in the leg warmers and little black undis and we
get curly hair j Lo, which personally I love her hair.
Oh natural, I love early bouncy hair Jlo, and it's
(30:02):
just all good. I kind of feel that curly hair
caused a frenzy. Well, it might have caused a frenzy,
but it certainly didn't cause a frenzy bigger than the
benefit of frenzy. But the frenzy around this pairing ultimately
became the catalyst for benefit breaking up. Yeah, they weren't overexposed.
(30:23):
I'm just going to say it, and it actually really
negatively affected both of their careers. I just don't know
why I love them. They called it quits, resulting in
one of the singer's biggest heartbreaks ever. And he was
Jennifer's muse. This was the man that inspired this whole
album and on This Is Me, then she had more
(30:44):
co writing credits on this album than any of her
previous albums, and the most interesting writing on the whole
album the dedication girl, let me read it to you.
You are my life, my soul, inspiration for every lyric,
every motion, every bit of feeling on this record. Come on,
(31:05):
it's really romantic. Jay Loo loves to be in love,
and y'all, she was head over heels for Ben, just
that sentence alone when she's saying the rock says she
got and now she's like, you are my life, my
sole inspiration for every lyric. She was definitely fucking in love.
When she looks back at this album. Here's what Jennifer
(31:26):
had to say about this is me then. She said,
twenty years from now, if I give this album to
one of my kids, I'll be like, this was me then.
At that moment, it was all very telling about where
she was in her life. And I have to point
out that now that here we are in twenty twenty two,
Ben and jen back together, it was destiny and by
(31:50):
the way, he is the only man that she has
ever made this kind of romantic gesture too, not even
to Mark Anthony, the father of her kids. Jayla has
gone on to say that that's her favorite album out
of all of the ones she's ever recorded, because it's
the most vulnerable she's ever been on a record. After
the Benefit explosion, it took a lot for her to
(32:13):
rebuild herself. Everything had gotten to her and Homegirl was
feeling soups to Presso. Yeah, she had fired her longtime manager,
Benny Medina. He was the man who basically put her
on the map. She called off her wedding to Ben
and then got married to Mark Anthony a year later.
It was a lot, but she still managed to release
(32:34):
her fourth record, Rebirth, in two thousand and five. Alexis
Petritus of The Guardian had remarked that the album title
suggests that even Lopez has realized that something is amiss
with her career, and despite the highlights, you're still left
pondering the question what happened to Jennifer Lopez? On the
next Becoming an Icon Girl, it's a twenty year career.
(32:57):
We had a lot more to say about the music, yes,
and since we're talking about music, you got to know
how to shake your ass. Becoming an Icon is presented
by Sonoro and Ihearts Michael Kuda Podcast Network Listen to
becoming an icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
(33:19):
wherever you get your podcast
Just so if I feel we're like besties. But I
have to ask you this, in all honesty, have you
seen the documentary Halftime? More like, how many times have
I actually seen it? Okay? Good? I just wanted to
make sure we're still friends here, Okay, okay. So for
those of you who have not seen it, Halftime is
a Netflix documentary about the making of the Super Bowl
(00:22):
halftime show back in twenty twenty. We stay talking about
the halftime show, don't we. We say it in every episode.
It doesn't matter who the artist or icon is, we
are always going to talk about super Bowl Halftime twenty twenty.
We are obsessed because, you know what, it's just that good. Yes,
it gives us an inside look at the making of
(00:43):
the show, but even better, it's a first person account
of Jennifer's career through her eyes, reflecting her iconic career
and the pressures that come with I guess that level
of fame. Yeah. But in addition to that, it's also
about just living up to your family's expectations of who
you are, who you should be, and that is something
(01:04):
many Latinos know all too well. You know, there's also
this one part of the documentary where Jen says that
each of her siblings had a special talent, something they
were always known for. So Leslie was the singer, Linda
was the smart one, and Jennifer, well, she was the dancer.
(01:25):
She was the athlete of the family. And growing up,
Jlo's parents had a very specific recipe for success for
their kids. Stay in your lane. They told them focus
on one thing and be good at that, said gracias,
But no gracias to that guidance. Yeah, because she knew
that she was capable of so much more. She wanted
(01:47):
to do it all, singing, dancing, and acting. Yes, and
in our last episode we told y'all about how she
shook up the whole damn industry and set the fashion
world on fire with those major red carpet looks and
her sense of style. But today it's all about the musica.
J Loo lactante. She's unstoppable. Yes, and today we are
(02:12):
talking about all the hits and all the drama surrounding
those hits. Grab your snacks, sit back and relax. We're
going to cruise down memory lane to see why Jenny
from the Blocks still got it and how she rose
to the top. Burned too brightly in the spotlight, yet
resurrected herself like a mother ethan Phoenix. I'm your host,
(02:37):
Liliana Rasquez, and I'm Joseph Carrillo, and this is becoming
an icon a weekly podcast. Will we give you the
rundown on how today's most famous Latin stars have sha
pop culture and given the world some extra Sublet sit
back and get comfortable, because we are going in the
(02:57):
only way we know how, with buenas and a lot
of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our
journey to find out what makes them so iconic. Okay,
(03:21):
so let me set the stage for all of you.
The year is nineteen ninety nine. Everyone was downloading music
on Napster. Bill Clinton was acquitted people, including myself. We're
scared shitless about why Duk and kids are robbing each
other for Pokemon cards? And wasn't this the year of
the Green Grammy's Dress. No, that's the next year. Nineteen
(03:43):
ninety nine was actually the year of the Latin explosion.
At the Grammys explosion, I hate that term, y'all know
how I feel about this. But that night at the Grammys,
Ricky Martin took the stage and performed La Copa, his
hit song from the nineteen ninety eight World Cup. I
(04:03):
don't know if y'all remember this, but it was Craig
Well Craig for the Grammys at the time. There were
dancers on stilt. He had dancers and drummers in the aisles.
He lit up the stage and everybody loved it. Joseph,
do you remember seeing this performance or hearing people talk
about it. I remember seeing it and just kind of
being in shock that it was just so different and
(04:26):
it was kind of lively and vibrant. But when I
first thought, I was like, oh my god, this is
he is so handsome. These people are so into it
and clapping and dancing, And what did you think about it? Well,
I remember feeling that the Grammys felt like a funeral.
First of all, the room was dead, like typically before
you're saying like in general, I just felt the whole
show was dead. It was like you could hear a
(04:47):
pin drop and this is supposed to be a music
award show, and then all of a sudden you hear
all of the brass instruments and the drums and Ricky
swaying his hips. This man literally brought the Emmy's to Life.
The turn up was real. Yes, And here's the thing.
That night was major because I feel after that night
(05:09):
the door opened, it blew open for Spanish music on
a global scale, because that same year you also had
Mark Anthony Santana, Shakira Jlo of course, and let's just
be honest, Ricky look was really good in those leather pants. Now,
I mean, go, go go. After this one performance, the
(05:30):
entire world wanted an album from every Latino performer, including
one from a young actress sitting in the front row
that night. This was after the movie Selena, right, Yes,
that's right, So in Selena Jlo had shown the world
that she was a triple threat. We knew she could dance, now,
we knew she could act and she could sing, but
(05:53):
at the time her focus was really unbecoming a serious actress.
But with the rest of the world ropping these albums,
the Latin explosion was everywhere. By the way, why did
we have to explode? Why why couldn't it just been
the Latino movement, the Latino wave? Why are y'all trying
to kill us? Okay, okay, let's bring it back. Okay, fine, fine, fine,
(06:17):
I have feelings. I'm very passionate about this, Okay. This
Latin explosion meant that everyone was also asking Jennifer about
her album. What they didn't know was that Jenny was
ahead of them. She was already plotting her musical takeover,
to the point that she actually passed on touring with
Janet Jackson. What shut up, We're going to talk about
(06:40):
it in the next episode. There's some stories there that
y'all may not know. I hate you. Jaylo was going
to be more than just a movie star. She was
going to be more than a performer. She wanted to
be a household name, an icon exactly, and she needed
to prove her singing chop. So she cut some demos
(07:02):
and here's the thing. It actually worked because Sony Music,
which at the time was run by Tommy Mottola aka
Mariah's first husband, signed Jlo to a deal, but Sony
wanted her to sing in English instead. On June first,
nineteen ninety nine, Jlo dropped her first album on the sixth,
(07:27):
inspired by the subway line that would take her from
the Bronx to Manhattan and back. While she was studying
by day and dancing by night like a Latino Batman exactly,
and people were so drawn to these Latin beats mixed
with pop, R and B and hip hop. Well, Jennifer
loved a variety of music, and she put that all
into her album. She would remember listening to wrap and
(07:49):
hip hop on the train home, but as soon as
she stepped through that door, it was all Celia Cruz
one and of course modern day music like Madonna. And
I think that you really feel all of that in
the first album, don't you. I think you can feel
it throughout all of her career. To be honest, do
you remember where you were in life when on the
(08:11):
six came out? Are you for a real bitch? I
don't even know that. I want to know if you
had my love and I give you, would you comfort me?
The way she said to Rust on that song just
killed me every time I heard it, So I remember
where I was, what I was doing, because I was like,
(08:32):
did she just say to Rust to make it run?
Say it again? How did she say it? She gave
me to us? She says, you have to go back
and listen to it. There are words that just drive
me crazy. But I was obsessed with if you had
my love and feeling so good. The remix really interesting.
Do you have a favorite song if You Had My Love?
(08:54):
Because you have to remember this was the very first
single off her very first album, So this is the
moment that everyone will define Jennifer Lopez by for the
rest of her life. And as a style expert, I
have to go back to the white bikini tom with
the white pants and the pin straight hair. I loved
(09:16):
If You Had My Love. So I just remember that
video and I've also dressed up as that j Lo.
So when Jaylo went on tour for her fiftieth birthday,
my friends and I all went. It was a group
of six of us and we each had to be
a different j Lo. I love that. It was so
much fun, so we all dressed up as different j Lo's.
I personally wanted that one, but this girl, Tanya decided
(09:38):
that she wanted to be that one. So I changed
to Jenny from the Block j Loo, but she was
if You Had My Love j Loo because you can't
dress up like j Loo and not do that. It's
one of the most iconic video looks of her career.
So you said, what was your favorite song waiting for Tonight?
Do you remember that one? Seriously, shut up, I'm about
to end the podcast. Okay, that's a rap on j
(10:00):
episode two. But let me tell you why Waiting for
Tonight really kind of set out to me. So. I
was a young baby makeup artist at that time, and
Kevin o'quan had done her makeup, and now as a
celebrity a makeup artist, I was just so. I didn't
even know I wanted to be a celebrity makeupartist until
you know, here I am. But when I found out
(10:20):
Kevin o'quand did her, I was just so mesmerized by
what he had done. And the crystals, like no one
had seen crystals like that in the video. That was
definitely a glam moment. You know what's amazing is that,
looking back, that was her very first album. It was
her very first kind of shot out into the world.
And to know that she was working with Kevin o'quan
on the makeup and she had all of these iconic looks,
(10:41):
and girl, you know, she didn't have the budget she
had now. So this album obviously produced five major singles,
three of them which hit the main US Hot one
hundred charts. You know what else is on that album?
Tony ballad with the future mister Lopez as known as
Mister x Lopez m Mark Anthony. So there's this heart
(11:03):
wrenching song called noma Amis. Have you heard the lyrics?
Though the whole song, Mark is like, I'm a mess,
I'm not good for you. You shall bounce, and She's like,
I love you. We can make it work. Literally the
story of my life. And he's got her back to
him the entire video. He has his back to her.
Take a hint, j Lo. When it came to Lopez
(11:25):
and Anthony in real life. Well, yeah, there's so much
to unpack there, So we're going to save that for
the relationship episode. You're definitely not going to want to
miss that one. I hate you. You're such a tease,
I know. So let's jump forward a year. Jennifer is
back at the Grammys, but this time he Diddy is
on her arm. Yes, we're bringing them back. They attended
(11:46):
the Grammy Awards and we all know what happened that night.
I can imagine what happened that night, but history the
green Versati dress is back front Encore on becoming an icon,
y'all that it is the dress that changed the world,
makes an appearance again on the show as she attended
the awards ceremony with her then partner, who was also
(12:08):
a producer for on the six. It didn't stop there.
Homegirl went back to work and released another album in
two thousand and one, while also starring in a romantic
comedy Talk about a Multitask or j Low. That's right.
She became the first woman to have a number one
film alongside an album. Her sophomore album, j Lo was
(12:31):
released at the same week as The Wedding Planner. So
let's talk about Love Don't Cost a Thing? Where were you?
I was living in Spain at the time, if I remember,
And it made it all the way there, Joseph, this
is the second time I'm gonna end the episode. Okay, okay,
(12:53):
Love Don't cost a Thing was so good and I'm like, well,
my love cost a thing? Can I have your sugar,
daddy jr. Loo. I mean it costs a lot of things.
Let me tell you. You know, she was out there
telling people she didn't need the diamonds she in the car.
She threw a Fendi baggett bag out of her convertible.
I was like, girl, I'll catch that Fendi bag. Throw
it in. Yeah, I was right there. I was on
(13:13):
the p you were on the causeway trying to catch
that Fendi Baghett. I will say about this album, I
don't remember it getting lots of awards. Yeah, I don't
remember it getting a ton of critical acclaim, but it
didn't really matter because it made fans out of everybody.
Not only was Love Don't Cost a thing on this album,
(13:35):
not only was Chris A. Judd in that video but said,
but we also got Ain't It Funny? Okay, which is
one of my favorite songs. And then we also got
I'm Real, which we're going to talk about later because
we cannot just quickly graze over that. We got to
have like a whole moment about that. Okay. But here's
the thing. Around the time of this album, something else happened,
(13:58):
something that has kept every everyone talking for almost twenty years.
Are y'all ready for Little Cheesement? Oh? You better serve
this shit up. Let's go. So I'm gonna tell you
a story that involves another mega super icon. I have
the chills right now. What are you going to say? Okay, So,
(14:19):
remember when we're talking about Tommy Mantola, Mariah's X Okay.
So at the time, Tommy was a power player. He
was the head of Sony Music. He was a certified
hit maker. He founded Hall and Oates. For God's sake,
what is that some sort of breakfast that comes with
brunch and Mimosa's Joseph, Yeah, are you serious right now?
(14:42):
Just kidding. I know you're obsessed and you get worked up.
Do not disrespect John Hall and Darryl Oates. Okay, God
please protect them. They are old. What I'm saying is
that at this time, back in the nineties, everything that
Tommy touched was gold. He had hit after hit, but
most people at the time really knew him as Mariah
(15:05):
Carey's husband now her ex of course, or Dahlia's current husband. Yes,
that is Tommy. Okay. So back in the nineties, Maria
and Tommy got married in this crazy, over the top
fairytale wedding on Long Island, and then the Prince Charming
takes his beautiful young bride back to their castle and
that motherfucker basically locked her up. No, you guys, for
(15:29):
a real dead ass, Maria was a prisoner. No seriously, y'all.
She had guards following her everywhere. There were cameras all
over the house. Cinderella was literally locked up in that
mansion on Long Island. It's keeping more a Fiona and
Shrek and all that was missing is the dragon. It's true.
So finally Maria was like, you know what, enough is
(15:51):
enough and she actually filed for divorce the Emancipation of Mimi.
Oh such a good album. Yes, So all of this
is to say, this is happening. Mariah is finally stepping
out on Tommy, and Tommy, being the piece of shit
that he is, needs to exact revenge on Mimi. So
listen to what he does. He gets on Nosy finds
(16:14):
out that Maria has just optioned the rights to a
beat from a seventies band called Firecracker, and that her
next album is actually going to be led by a
song using that track. So what does this scabroon do next.
M graciously accepts that Maria needs to be a free butterfly. No,
he options the rights to the song himself, puts together
(16:37):
a dream team to make this song using the sample,
basically stealing it from Maria before she can release hers.
That's spiteful, trifling ass, and then he has the nerve
to call up job Rule and says jah, I need
this track right now. And do you know who Tommy
enlists as Jaz's partner on the track I can't I
(17:01):
can't take it. My palms are sweating. Tommy Mettola's newest protege,
a young Latina named Jennifer Lopez. That's right, you guys,
I'm Real is released. It is a straight banger and
goes to number one. Are you do you remember this song?
(17:23):
I was that song. I just want to say that
I really was that song. But were you jaw Rule
or were you j Lowe and her pink, juicy couture outfit.
I was a combo like why you Gotta? I was both. Listen,
we were all a little jaw, a little murder inc
and a little jay And you know, it was the nineties,
speaking of I wonder what a Shan Tivas is up to.
(17:45):
You need to take some icons add like medication right now.
You are all over the place. I love you, okay?
So yes, it was the nineties, all right. So we
were telling you the story because it all goes back
to Mariah and the Cheeseman of all cheesebooks. So it's
a follow two thousand and one. Mariah's out on a
press store for a movie called Glitter, and it doesn't
(18:06):
take long for the rest of the world to realize
that this movie is not good. Okay, I enjoyed Glitter
for the campy spectacle that it is, but it's bad.
It's real bad. It's real bad. Okay. So Mariah has
just had this song stolen from her by her crazy
(18:26):
ass X given to j Lowe goes to number one.
She's out having to promote this shit ass movie in Germany.
Everyone knows the movie's a mess. She hates her X.
He gave her song to somebody else, and the woman
that he gave that song too has a number one
song along with the number one movie. So a reporter
(18:46):
asks her, what do you think of Jennifer Lopez, and
Mariah answers with four words that launched a twenty year feud.
I don't know her. That is still my favorite line
that exist. I don't know her. The shade the shade,
and it's crazy. I looked it up in the dictionary
(19:08):
and it is just the photo of Mariah Carey and
her forced teethy smiles saying I don't know her. I
don't know her. I wonder if secretly one of them
has tried to communicate and put the kabash or do
they like that there's this feud. Well, first of all,
I hate anytime the world pins two women against each
(19:29):
other that are both so incredibly successful in their own right.
It's annoying because there's tons of successful men and no
one's like, oh, Tom Brady, do you hate Aaron Rodgers? Like?
It doesn't work like that in man world. But for
some reason, especially in music and film and television, you
can't have two incredibly talented, beautiful, successful women be at
(19:50):
the top at the same time because they automatically have
to hate each other. So, of course, leave it to
Andy Cohen, the chief chismosa in charge, to dig a
little bit deeper on a feud. So Mariah Carey agreed
to go into Andy's clubhouse and watch what happens live.
By the way, Andy switch sides with her because Maria
always has to be on the left. So Maria's sitting
(20:11):
there and Andy's like, can we please talk about that moment?
And Mariah Carey gave it a little bit more context,
which is what she meant by saying, I don't know
her wasn't that she didn't know who Jennifer Lopez was.
Of course she knew who she was. What she was
saying is I don't personally know her. I'm not down
with her, I don't vibe with her. We don't hang out.
(20:32):
You and I knew Jennifer as much as Mariah did.
And that's what she was saying, right, And the question
is still a specific thing, what do you think of
Jennifer Lopez? Right? And Maria says in the moment, she
answered very dryly and very honestly, which is I don't
know her. She knows of her, but she doesn't have
personal relations with her. But it makes her a damn
(20:52):
good story. And of course the feud has gone on
and on, and I believe one time Jennifer was texting
during one of Mariah's performing and people thought she was
being shady, and then they were both had various residencies
at the same time. So listen, I'm gonna go by
the age old adage of where there's smoke, there's fire.
They're probably not besties, but they probably don't hate each other.
(21:14):
It's true whole time. But I have to go back
to one point that you made. You were saying the
world depending each other. It wasn't the world. It was
fucking Tommy Mottola painting girls against each other. Oh my god,
so now we know who it was. It's always a
damn man. So here's the thing. Jennifer's a star. The
charts say it, the fans obviously recognize it. Her albums
are gold, and she's dropping it after hit. So she
(21:35):
releases an album with remixes, the debuts at number one,
and her third studio album, This is Me Them, and
that album was inspired by someone in her life. Can
I say it as you're like foaming at the mouth
benefer was born, Yes, and with that birthkave a different
(21:55):
kind of media frenzy that would affect all aspects of
the empire she was trying to build and almost ended
it all for her, which makes it so much juicier.
When it comes to her albums, Jennifer has always been
inspired by her relationships, love and sex. This is Me
(22:19):
then came at a particularly interesting time because it was
late two thousand and two and there was only one
thing or person, I should say, on j Lo's mind,
her high profile relationship with none other than mister Ben Affleck. Yeah,
and despite the album having the biggest opening sales of
her career. It only reached number six on the Billboard
(22:42):
two hundred and that was due in part to the
Benefit Mayhem. So let's talk about it a bit. I
want you to tell me as an entertainment journalist, let
me tell you that's why I'm asking. Benefer was the
gift that kept on giving. Here. You had to majorly
(23:03):
high profile A list celebrities, one from the music world,
one from the entertainment world, and when you put those
two worlds together, you have pure combustion. I always say,
it's a lot of times you have an A list
actor dating a B list celebrity, or a B list
reality star or B list musician, but when you have
(23:24):
an A and an A together, it's just all spectacle.
It's also completely doomed and destined to fail because you
can't have that much wattage and expect it to sustain
and survive. I get what you're saying, but I'm going
to do this really weird Latino thing. So weren't there
already big people together. Let's just say, not like Brad
(23:46):
Pitt and Angelina, but like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.
So I'm talking about the wattage of how big they were, right,
but with it a little bit more salacious because she
was Latina. Yes, two things are different, and you hit
on one of them. Yes, she was Latina. And Ben
was the industry golden boy at the time. Right. He
was Matt Damon's bestie. They had written and starred in
(24:08):
Goodwill Hunting, They had won an Academy Award. He was
Hollywood's golden boy at the time. Then you have Jennifer, right,
she's un around the way, a girl from the Bronx.
She was a fly girl, she was self made, she
was Puerto Rican and proudly Puerto Rican. And then you
also have the combination of her coming from music and
(24:31):
he came from film. Bringing together two stars in different industries,
both at their kind of peak was unique. At the time,
you had so much star power. But I do think
that Jennifer was so different and maybe not who they
thought Ben should be with. Maybe they wanted a Gwyneth
Paltrow type for Ben Affleck and instead they had Jennifer
(24:54):
Lopez who was from the block. But you guys, we're
gonna dig very deep. We're going to unearth all of
the benefit drama in a future episode. So let's get
back to the album. Okay, So what do you remember
about this? We got Jenny from the Block and all
I have with Elly, She set aside her dance pop
(25:16):
sound and let R and B and soul take the
front seat this time around, and that was a callback
to the sounds of the Bronx that she had grown
up with. Lopez was influenced by works of Michael Jackson,
Luther Van Dross, and Stevie Wonder, among others, and she
always said with this album she really tried to capture
their sound because their music made her quote heart sing
(25:38):
when you talk about this is me. Then it's an
interesting album because it got kind of mixed reviews from
music critics and from me first foremotion, here he goes. Okay,
so let's get to the facts. It did sell two
point six million copies in the US, It did reach
number two on the Billboard two hundred and it went
(25:59):
out to sell six million copies world Why. So this
was a success whether the critics panned it or not.
But what really made it for me was simply one song.
It was the lead single, Jenny from the Block. That
video was hot. Now This is the Jennifer that I
(26:22):
usually dress up as for Halloween, for Jennifer themed parties.
This is my Saturday Saturdays when I go pick up
my kid from preschool. Hello, this is my Jennifer. Because,
by the way, this look is so back right now,
to the cargoes, the high heeled tims, the whole vibe,
the page boycap, her dancing in the streets in the Bronx.
(26:45):
This video for me, brought me back in a way
that I didn't realize I needed to be brought back
at the time, and even now when I watch it,
it's just pure nostalgia for me. There is such a
feel good vibe to old j Loo songs and that's
what fans really connect to. It takes us back to
the nineties. In two thousand and one. Things were different,
we didn't have social media. It just felt like a
(27:06):
simpler time. This video, for her, it was the old
Jalo and the new j Lo in the fight Oh
my God, like Norma Jean and Marilyn Monroe. Yes, who
will prevail? Right? So she had all of this glitz
and glam and attention. She was with Ben Athleck. She
was living the yacht life, right, but then she was like,
(27:29):
hold up, hold up, I'm still Jenny from the Block,
and she gave us the most poetic line ever written
in the history of me. I don't know which one
you're gonna say. What are you going to say? Don't
be fooled? Oh yeah, by the rocks that I got.
It's true. Okay, I'm going to frame that ship that
(27:52):
is really good? Is really good? Not even don't be
fooled by the rocks that I have. She could have
said no, but it would have been. But then you
can't rhyme it with blocks, and you can't be don't
be fooled by the rocks that I got. I'm still
I'm still Jenny from the block. Used to have a little,
Now I have a lot. Can you try it with
(28:13):
have and see? Don't be fooled by the rocks that
I have. It just doesn't go. It really just doesn't.
It doesn't work. I was sorry, you can't sing that
line and they get your ass slapped by Ben Affleck
on a yacht. It doesn't work. It is a whole vibe,
my friends, well also things. Speaking of being a whole vibe,
(28:36):
it reached number two in the Billboards two hundred and
earned double platinum status in the US. That's right, and
that wasn't the only song on the album. We also
need to talk about I'm Glad, which a lot of
people don't like, but honestly, this is one of my
favorite Jlo videos. I loved that song. It was so happy,
it was so happy, and that, to me, is the
(28:58):
best Jlo has ever moved in I'm Glad. So, in
case you guys don't remember this video, this is when
she kind of did that like flash dance rip off
and people were she's a richel thought in her mind,
but and she dances on the chair under the water.
So I was taking a dance class in New York
one of the first years that I moved there, and
I hired a private teacher to teach it to me,
and I quit after ten minutes. Yeah, it wasn't going
(29:21):
to happen. That is not a true story. Are you serious?
It's a true story. Have you seen the video? Yes? Okay.
I was like, I just need to learn thirty seconds
of choreo and they're like, cool, no problem. So he
did it for me and I was, okay, I can
do this, y'all. I was twenty three at my peak
and couldn't even do ten seconds of the choreo no Bitch.
You saw him walk in with a bucket of water
(29:41):
and you were like, we're not doing this yet. It
is one of my favorite songs on that and she
honestly has never looked better. That's when we get her
in the leg warmers and little black undis and we
get curly hair j Lo, which personally I love her hair.
Oh natural, I love early bouncy hair Jlo, and it's
(30:02):
just all good. I kind of feel that curly hair
caused a frenzy. Well, it might have caused a frenzy,
but it certainly didn't cause a frenzy bigger than the
benefit of frenzy. But the frenzy around this pairing ultimately
became the catalyst for benefit breaking up. Yeah, they weren't overexposed.
(30:23):
I'm just going to say it, and it actually really
negatively affected both of their careers. I just don't know
why I love them. They called it quits, resulting in
one of the singer's biggest heartbreaks ever. And he was
Jennifer's muse. This was the man that inspired this whole
album and on This Is Me, then she had more
(30:44):
co writing credits on this album than any of her
previous albums, and the most interesting writing on the whole
album the dedication girl, let me read it to you.
You are my life, my soul, inspiration for every lyric,
every motion, every bit of feeling on this record. Come on,
(31:05):
it's really romantic. Jay Loo loves to be in love,
and y'all, she was head over heels for Ben, just
that sentence alone when she's saying the rock says she
got and now she's like, you are my life, my
sole inspiration for every lyric. She was definitely fucking in love.
When she looks back at this album. Here's what Jennifer
(31:26):
had to say about this is me then. She said,
twenty years from now, if I give this album to
one of my kids, I'll be like, this was me then.
At that moment, it was all very telling about where
she was in her life. And I have to point
out that now that here we are in twenty twenty two,
Ben and jen back together, it was destiny and by
(31:50):
the way, he is the only man that she has
ever made this kind of romantic gesture too, not even
to Mark Anthony, the father of her kids. Jayla has
gone on to say that that's her favorite album out
of all of the ones she's ever recorded, because it's
the most vulnerable she's ever been on a record. After
the Benefit explosion, it took a lot for her to
(32:13):
rebuild herself. Everything had gotten to her and Homegirl was
feeling soups to Presso. Yeah, she had fired her longtime manager,
Benny Medina. He was the man who basically put her
on the map. She called off her wedding to Ben
and then got married to Mark Anthony a year later.
It was a lot, but she still managed to release
(32:34):
her fourth record, Rebirth, in two thousand and five. Alexis
Petritus of The Guardian had remarked that the album title
suggests that even Lopez has realized that something is amiss
with her career, and despite the highlights, you're still left
pondering the question what happened to Jennifer Lopez? On the
next Becoming an Icon Girl, it's a twenty year career.
(32:57):
We had a lot more to say about the music, yes,
and since we're talking about music, you got to know
how to shake your ass. Becoming an Icon is presented
by Sonoro and Ihearts Michael Kuda Podcast Network Listen to
becoming an icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
(33:19):
wherever you get your podcast
Hosts And Creators
Lilliana Vazquez
Joseph Carrillo
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