JLo’s back again!
A year after she got the city grooving with her Dance Again world tour, Jennifer Lopez will hit the stage one more time after the races at the Dubai World Cup on March 29 at Meydan Racecourse.
“I had one of the most exciting shows and electrifying nights on stage [in Dubai],” said Lopez in a release, referring to her 2012 concert at the Dubai Media City amphitheatre. “I am looking forward to returning to Dubai and joining the celebrations for the Dubai World Cup.”
Entry to the concert is restricted to race ticket holders only.
Lopez, who broke out in 1999 with the single If You Had My Love, is currently working on her eighth album with RedOne at executive producer. And following the resurgence of her career in 2011 with the album Love?, she’s had hit after hit, her latest one being Live it Up featuring rapper Pitbull.
At 44, the actress, dancer, fashion designer, perfumer, philanthropist, producer, recording artist, television personality and mum-of-two really has it all, with a hot boyfriend to boot. It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 20 years since she appeared as a background dancer in Janet Jackson’s video That’s the Way Love Goes?
So why are we still obsessed with this woman? Because she, once voted the world’s most beautiful, has made it through sheer hard work and dedication. Imagine, this is a girl whose parents told her showbiz was no place for a Hispanic girl in America, and is now sitting on an empire reportedly worth $250 million (Dh918 million).
So as she makes her Dubai return, here are five reasons why we’re still obsessed with JLo:
She’s got the looks
“I feel happy and proud. Proud that I’m not 25!” said Lopez after People named her the World’s Most Beautiful Woman in 2011. It’s true. At 44, with that body and skin and hair, we’re proud, too. Because that means there’s hope for us all.
But it’s not easy to keep it that way, she told the magazine. “The thing is, it’s part of my job. I don’t want anybody thinking it’s easy. It does take time and it’s hard work. HDTV widescreen is nobody’s friend!” she said.
Her favourite time of day? When she’s make-up free.
“Just being able to touch my face and rub my eyes and put my fingers in my hair and not having to worry about messing it up. It’s so much better,” she added.
She got the job
Those bickering divas Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj didn’t help with American Idol’s ratings. So who did producers turn to ? JLo of course, whom they reportedly begged to return. Lopez keeps it real and she ain’t got no drama (although we’re loving the subtle tension with fellow judge Harry Connick Jr). The fact is, Lopez is a true professional, and people who matter know they can count on her.
That’s why she has a finger in many pies, from fragrances to TV production, and earned $52 million in 2012, according to Forbes.
“I have a wide variety of tastes of things that I respond to. You learn as you go. People educate you as you go. I don’t take on things I don’t get or understand; when I go into a business meeting about fragrance or clothing, I go prepared knowing what I need to accomplish in the same way as I would going into a meeting with a director about a film,” she told British magazine Stylist last year.
She’s still got our love
It’s been a long journey from 1999’s If You Had My Love, the single that made her, from that debut album On the 6. But JLo has managed to keep reinventing herself. Following her lowest dip with 2007’s Brave album, her sixth, she’s managed to revive her career and stay current again in pop with Love?, her seventh album that came out in 2011 and Dance Again… the Hits the next year. Her lucrative Dance Again world tour that followed, which included a Dubai date in 2012, grossed her more than $1 million per night, according to Forbes. An eighth album is coming with the renowned RedOne as executive producer. Live it Up, the album’s first single, featuring PitBull, is already a radio hit. There’s no stopping JLo it seems.
She’s got the man
Like anyone living their lives in the limelight her love life has attracted a lot of attention. From her first marriage in 1998 to a waiter, who later tried to cash in on her fame, to her high-profile relationship with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, JLo has given people a lot to talk about. And there’s more: There was the back-up dancer Chris Judd, who she married for a year and then Ben Affleck, which spawned a lot of Hollywood neologisms, thanks to ‘Bennifer’ and her marriage and divorce in 2011 from Marc Anthony.
JLo seems to have settled down with new flame Casper Smart, 26, her former back-up dancer.
“It’s about finding a relationship that has enough good stuff to outweigh the bad, because nobody’s perfect right?” she told Glamour UK. “But without the spark that conflict brings, life would be so boring. I want a bit of chaos in a relationship, but I also want a bit of safety and order.”
Word.
She’s a true role model
JLo knows she’s no Mariah. But she’s worked hard at things she’s good at — and what a difference that has made. And that’s not all, she’s a woman who really understands her worth and where she comes from. It’s very rare that you’ll ever see this Jenny from the block caught in the wrong shot, fighting with the paparazzi or licking a hammer for attention (yes, we’re talking to you Miley.)
She respects herself, and earns ours in return. And we love that she’s so in touch with her roots.
“I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I’m Latina,” she tells People Espanol. “I think that’s why Hispanics are like ‘She’s ours; she’s out there, but she belongs to us’ and that’s true. With the Latino community, I am theirs. I do belong to them — that’s who I am.”
No, not just the Latino community J, the world!
