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