She has been dubbed the ‘Queen of Dance’ and is considered one of the most influential Latin entertainer of all time with six albums going Platinum.
But Jennifer Lopez’s carer seemed to have plateaued of late.
He recent tour, her first in five years, has been met with low ticket sales, while her new album is lacking her typical fanfare, debuting at number 38 on the Billboard 200, despite getting the most physical sales of the week at 14,000 copies.
This is a far cry from her early noughties peak, when the singer sold more than 80 million records and had global headline tours.
Even four years ago, the star was applauded for one of the greatest Superbowl halftime shows in history, where she performed a medley of her greatest hits with Shakira as millions of people watched around the world.
So, where exactly did Jenny from the Block go wrong?
Weeks after Jennifer Lopez suddenly cancelled several dates from her tour for seemingly no reason, it seems the entire tour itself is being rebranded.
The couple’s love story started in 2002 (pictured) when they dated while filming the movie Jersey Girl. They became engaged the following year but broke up in 2004
There certainly isn’t a lack of advertising. The mother-of-two’s campaign for her latest album, This is Me… Now, is self-financed – at a striking cost of $20million.
The album, which is heavily-inspired by her rekindled romance with husband Ben Affleck, has been accompanied by a a visual film, This is Me Now… A Love Story (dubbed ‘bonkers’ and a ‘over-the-top delight for fans’ by critics).
An Amazon Prime documentary titled The Greatest Love Story Never Told, about her romance with the Batman star, also accompanied the release. The moniker is an interesting choice, given the couple called off their first wedding due to ‘excessive media attention’.
But why would this mean fans are turning on the once beloved star?
Her appearance in the documentary, has seen her dubbed ‘out of touch’ and ‘delusional’ by some fans. In one – widely reshared – moment J Lo plays with her hair in the mirror while reminiscing about her upbringing in the Bronx, a famously working-class neighbourhood of New York.
‘I like taking my hair out like this,’ she says.
The 54-year-old singer announced the tour in February – her first nationwide tour in five years – to support her new album This Is Me… Now
Now it’s been revealed that the tour will be re-titled from This Is Me… Now: The Tour to This Is Me… Live, focusing more on her greatest hits, via Variety
‘It reminds me, like, when I was 16 in the Bronx, running up and down the block. Crazy little girl who used to f***ing be wild and no limits, all dreams.’
The clip gained backlash on TikTok, with one user – who goes by Angela and claims to have gone to the same school as the hitmaker – saying she was ‘lying to look more human’.
‘We both attended an all-girls high school in an Irish and Italian neighbourhood, so you weren’t “running up and down the block”,’ she said.
Critics too have met the documentary – and album – with a lukewarm response.
‘For all her promises to show us the real her, it’s a struggle to see it in the slick and sexy production,’ The Independent said. The Guardian added it ‘offers very little outside of simply soundtracking a cosy night in chez Bennifer’ adding it was ‘hopelessly middle of the road’.
So, why have the tides turned? Mostly, the star isn’t keeping up with the times according to one brand expert.
‘The backlash against J Lo has for sure been bubbling for a while.
‘In the last decade, despite her love life being well broadcasted, there was still an air of mystery around her, as a mega superstar, ‘ Emily M Austen, who runs the PR agency EMERGE told Femail.
Jennifer Lopez emotionally recalled breaking off her marriage to Ben Affleck in 2004 when they first dated
The singer, 54, opened up about her relationship with her husband Ben, 51, in her new documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told
‘The control of what was fed out to fans via social media and press coverage meant it was much easier to control her image.
‘The first big moment for the backlash came as the Superbowl documentary, Halftime, aired in 2022.
‘Her behaviour seemed uncompromising and whingy, having to share a stage with Shakira.
‘Her grievance about it wasn’t expressed eloquently and made her seem unlikable.
‘In the shadow of beloved and long suffering Jennifer Garner, [Ben Affleck’s ex-wife] much of the imagery we have seen from J Lo has been mundane – car rides with Ben, curb side arguments, fast food takeaways.
‘Often looking miserable. This has shattered the fourth wall, one which we’d all bought into. We didn’t want her to be a normal person.
Critics have blasted Jennifer Lopez’s new film This In Me… Now: A Love Story as a ‘self-financed and resolutely, painfully autobiographical’ vanity project
Jennifer Lopez once revealed how Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs (pictured together in 2000) was the first man to cheat on her during their ‘tumultuous’ relationship from 1999 until 2001
The rebrand is expected to draw in fans from her previous work, which may lure in listeners who didn’t connect with This Is Me… Now
‘The big challenge with a star like J Lo is staying power. As her fans have grown older with her, she’s not done a good enough job of engaging with new fans and bringing them on the journey with her.
‘She’s also not moved her origin story on at all. Much of the backlash on TikTok particularly has been as a consequence of her new documentary, billed as a self indulgent, out of touch memoir.
‘The footage has provided easily cut up clips of J Lo saying delusional things, including her memories of the Bronx, some 40 years ago.
‘Her $60 million mansion as people convinced she’s not really connected to “running around the streets”.’
‘As with any launch, product market fit is important. Fundamentally, this was a documentary no one needed or wanted.
‘It’s like an elaborate LA version of a therapist telling you to go and journal – except this homework was a $20 million self funded timeline of her love life.
Last month, Jennifer suddenly cancelled several dates from her tour for seemingly no reason, now it seems the entire tour itself is being rebranded.
The 54-year-old singer announced the This is Me… Now tour in February – her first US tour in five years – to support her new album This Is Me… Now.
Now it’s been revealed that the tour will be re-titled from This Is Me… Now: The Tour to This Is Me… Live, focusing more on her greatest hits.
Sources previously told Billboard that, ‘the dates were scotched due to routing issues but that new shows have been added and will be announced soon.’
The rebrand is expected to draw in fans from her previous work, which may lure in listeners who didn’t connect with This Is Me… Now.
Live Nation, the company that is producing the tour, did not respond to requests for comment about the rebranding.
However, the rebranding might not work, according to Emily, who believes J Lo’s lack of authenticity could be part of the reason she is struggling to connect with fans.
‘J Lo has made millions from music and film, amongst other huge brand deals and opportunities,’ she explained.
‘Her fans would rather hear about those pursuits, than a never ending musical about her love life. The chat about her wanting an Oscar nomination for Hustlers undermined her work by suggesting she wasn’t tethered to reality.
‘Promoting an alcohol brand when she says she doesn’t drink and is married to a recovering alcoholic didn’t help.
‘The documentary screams “out of touch” and I think the reason for poor ticket sales is likely because fans a) don’t know what they are going to get from her and b) have reservations about whether she is truly connected to what they want to see.
‘Social media is an easy tool to ridicule.
‘Cutting content up, using the Duet feature and watching people reacting to her commentary has only perpetuated this further. J Lo needs to reconnect with her community, listen to what they want, and focus in on giving them that.’ The documentary also looks at her twenty-year journey to ‘self-love’.
Jennifer and Ben were famously engaged in the early 2000s before breaking up, only to reunite – and later marry – in July 2022.
Their initial two-year romance was highly publicised and the intense scrutiny on their relationship was difficult for the couple to handle.
The movie and album dropped on February 16, while the documentary will be released on February 27
Jennifer said: ‘Ben and I broke up three days before our wedding and we crumbled under the pressure. You think you’re doing ok so you shrug it off.
The On The Floor hitmaker also got candid about the pain she felt when the relationship came to an end.
She said: ‘I had a broken heart once I lost the love of my life, my best friend, and I couldn’t talk for so many years and that was the hardest part.
‘I used to think it was everyone else who was broken, now I think it was just me.’
The couple’s love story started in 2002 when they dated while filming the movie Jersey Girl.
They became engaged the following year but broke up in 2004.
While navigating their reconciliation, two decades following their first engagement, the two-time Oscar winner Ben admitted he had zero interest in becoming a fixture on his wife’s social media accounts.
‘Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,’ the actor recalled.
‘Then I sort of realised it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like, you’re gonna marry a boat captain and you go, “Well, I don’t like the water.”‘
He continued: ‘We’re just two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.’
Ultimately, Jennifer respected his wishes, and has only posted a small handful of snaps featuring him, including a raunchy shirtless photo last Father’s Day and a sweet video of them singing Sam Cooke’s (What A) Wonderful World in the car on his birthday.
She shared that ‘we both have PTSD’ from their initial dating experience, but explained that in their present life as a married couple they’re ‘older’ and ‘wiser’ (pictured in 2003)
During the documentary, the mother-of-two acknowledged Ben’s discomfort with stepping in the spotlight as a couple after facing intense media scrutiny when they first dated between 2002 and 2004.
‘I don’t think [Ben] is very comfortable with me doing all of this,’ she said. ‘But he loves me, he knows I’m an artist, and he’s gonna support me in every way he can because he knows you can’t stop me from making the music I made… he doesn’t want to stop me. But that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable being the muse.’
Elsewhere in the documentary, Jennifer burst into tears as she confessed what her husband made her see in herself was ‘moving’.
Welling up, she revealed: ‘What he said and what he saw in me, and what he made me believe about myself, only comes from love.
‘Because nobody else could have made me see that about myself. It’s very moving.
‘Because I didn’t think much about myself and so the world didn’t think much of me. That lined up.’
She said of their reunion: ‘We’re totally different people now and we’re the same and we have the same love 100 percent. Like I’d never fallen out of love with you. I had to just put it over here.’
The couple got engaged near the end of 2002 but broke the engagement in late 2003 before ending their relationship entirely in 2004.
In the intervening years, Jennifer married and divorced her third ex-husband Marc Anthony, with whom she welcomed her 15-year-old twins Max and Emme.
Meanwhile, Ben married and divorced Jennifer Garner, with whom he amicably co-parents three children.
Jennifer Lopez broke down in tears as she discussed what her husband Ben Affleck ‘saw’ in her in her new documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told
The hitmaker became emotional in the documentary as she spoke about her husband and how he has helped improve her self-confidence
The Prime Video doc is the third installment of her $20M media homage to her husband Ben Affleck , which includes the semi-autobiographical film, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, about her highly scrutinised love life
Elsewhere in the documentary, Lopez burst into tears as she confessed what her husband made her see in herself was ‘moving’.
Welling up, she revealed: ‘What he said and what he saw in me, and what he made me believe about myself, only comes from love.
‘Because nobody else could have made me see that about myself. It’s very moving. Because I didn’t think much about myself and so the world didn’t think much of me. That lined up.’
She said of their reunion: ‘We’re totally different people now and we’re the same and we have the same love 100 percent. Like I’d never fallen out of love with you. I had to just put it over here.’
Affleck also addressed his alcohol issues in the documentary, comparing his struggle with his wife’s ‘need for love’.
He shared: ‘The thing you discover, like you do with alcohol, is that there isn’t enough alcohol in all the liquor stores in the world to fill up that thing.
‘In Jennifer’s case I don’t think there’s enough followers or records or any of that stuff to still that part of you that still feels a longing and a pain.’
When it came to casting her movie, Lopez struggled with enlisting celebrity cameos, as she shared which A-listers were given the opportunity.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Lopez burst into tears as she confessed what her husband made her see in herself was ‘moving’
In December, Lopez admitted she and Affleck ‘both have PTSD’ from the glare of the spotlight on their first romance
From reality stars, to singers and actors, Lopez invited a range of celebrities to take part in her Prime movie.
One of the singer’s team members claimed Snoop Dogg, Khloe Kardashian, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Vanessa Hudgens, Lizzo and Ariana Grande were either unavailable or said no following her offer.
Lopez also wanted Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge to star in her movie.
Big names who appeared in her move included: Jane Fonda (Sagittarious), Trevor Noah (Libra), Kim Petras (Virgo), Post Malone (Leo), Keke Palmer (Scorpio), Sofia Vergara (Cancer), Jenifer Lewis (Gemini), Jay Shetty (Aries), Neil deGrasse Tyson (Taurus) and Sadhguru (Pisces).
Lopez’s beloved husband played Rex Stone/ Biker, while her long-time friend Fat Joe played her therapist in the movie.
In December, Lopez admitted she and Affleck ‘both have PTSD’ from the glare of the spotlight on their first romance.
After their broken engagement, they both went on to marry and divorce other people before eventually finding their way back into each other’s arms.
She shared that ‘we both have PTSD’ from their initial experience, but explained that in their present life as a married couple they’re ‘older’ and ‘wiser.’
J-Lo added: ‘We also know what’s important, what’s really important in life, and it’s not so much what other people think. It’s about being true to who you are.’
Lopez and Affleck first met on the set of Gigli and embarked on a relationship that became a flashpoint of attention.
Their eye-catching public appearances, accompanied by the box office disaster of Gigli, were the subject of constant conversation.
Jennifer poured fuel on the fire with the release of This Is Me… Then, which was dedicated to her boyfriend and featured songs about him including Dear Ben.
‘Bennifer’ became a lightning rod for adulation and then mockery, including a memorably acidic parody of them on an episode of South Park.
Trey Parker, co-creator of the cartoon, later asserted he heard gossip that the production assistants started quoting the spoof on the set of one of J-Lo’s films.
‘She got so mad and had to fire people,’ alleged Trey, who is also one of the voice stars on the show. ‘But she kept hearing it in the distance.’
- An earlier version of this article erroneously stated that ‘This Is Me… Now’ debuted with 14,000 streams in the first week of release. In fact, the album sold 14,000 copies, and was streamed 15 million times in its first week.