Jennifer Lopez has spent most of her singing career at Sony Music Epic Records. The bland version of what happened, I’m told, is that the contract period had ended and that Lopez had fulfilled it with her last two singles, and that Lopez and Stringer decided together not to move forward with an album. Others insist the Sony label dropped her. There also is disagreement on how finished her upcoming album was before it was canceled. Internet reports say her 7th studio album, titled “Love?”, was supposed to come out in April and featured production from Danja, Jim Jonsin, Darkchild, Chris n Teeb from Dropzone, and The Neptunes among others. A song from it titled “Fresh Out The Oven” surfaced online in October 2009 as a buzz single and reached #1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. But the official lead single, “Louboutins”, had its radio debut on November 23 following the song’s premiere and performance at the 2009 American Music Awards went to #31 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. UPDATE: *The song was the Power Pick of the week twice, and rose to #13 on that chart.*
Lopez insiders claim to me the album was “by no means done” and everyone was “only a few songs into it” and “unlike movie dates, street dates rarely hold in the music biz”. But that album was real enough to delay the release of her upcoming CBS Film, The Back-Up Plan (see below). Others tell me the album isn’t being released because “Louboutins” bombed, as did her performance at the American Music Awards, and Sony Music execs “aren’t sure who her audience is anymore. Where once she had little girls, she’s been supplanted by Beyonce, Gaga, and Rhianna. Lots of fighting going on between Benny Medina (who, of course, is spending their money like it’s 10 years ago) and the label.”
But when I began inquiring about this, her manager Benny Medina emailed this morning to confirm the split. “Jennifer had a wonderful relationship with the Sony Music group, and they have shared many successes together, but the time was right to make a change that best serves the direction her career as an actress and recording artist. She is grateful and appreciative to everyone Sony for all that they accomplished together.”
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The Lopez insiders claim the decision was “a mutual one” between the star and label’s current CEO Rob Stringer (younger brother to Sony parent company CEO Howard Stringer). They say the two had a meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles during Grammy week, and, after a “heart-to-heart” conversation, the star and executive decided to end the long relationship. “It was all very amicable. They hugged at the end of the meeting,” claims one. Meanwhile, I understand that Sony will still be releasing her “Greatest Hits” album in the fall.
Supposedly, Lopez has not wasted any time getting signed elsewhere: it’s rumored she is already in talks with Island Def Jam’s bigwig L.A. Reid to come to his label. Granted, this is a tough time for music artists, especially those like Lopez who were once big in the biz and now are battling not only the changed economics and rampant piracy but also the moving target of today’s music fans. JLo insiders insist none of this is fazing Lopez, who took time off to have two kids with her recording star husband, Marc Anthony, and who is just now returning to her acting career with the release of the feature The Back Up Plan.
But CBS Films recently announced it’s postponing the release of that romantic comedy to April 23rd, same weekend as Wall Street 2 and MacGruber. It had been scheduled for April 16th which then got too crowded. And before that January 22nd when it was to be the first CBS Film. Complicating The Back-Up Plan‘s release as well was that J-Lo/Sony album and exactly when she’d be available to do publicity for the film. Well, no one has to worry about that now.
Meanwhile, JLo is scheduled as both the musical guest and the host of Saturday Night Live next
weekend. But now she has no record and no movie to promote. Hmm.
Benny Medina is a cretin, and he’s utterly useless. He can’t even manage his own ego. If Jennifer expects to resurrect her career she needs to make a change ASAFP.
I hear all the BS about Jennifer. She’s a star and there is and
there will always be someone putting her down. Most of the time there just jealous. Oh well I don’t think it bothers her. She probably laughs all the way to the bank. I am a song writer.
I have no idea how to get a song to Jennifer. I think that Jennifer and Joaquin Cortez could perform my song so well. I write my songs with videos in mind. Its about two latin lovers on the run.I see Jennifer and Joaquin do a flamigo performance in this song. (Try’in To Out run The Rain). If anyone knows how to get it to her let me know. My email is Prairierose2@comcast.net.
Do us a favor, cancel the movie. it looks very tepid and should go straight to video to save CBS the embarassment of another flop.
I actually can’t wait to see JLo on SNL. If she does a skit about falling on her ass at the VMAs I will love her all over agai!
I think the bigger news is that Jennifer Lopez is still recording albums.
Eliot Spitzer’s payola hobby exposed the shady/predictable behind-the-scenes hustling to promote JLo’s brain-vaporizing dribbletunes like her single ‘I’m Real’ (!) to in-lock-step urban programmers.
JLo had some promise as an actress in last century’s ‘Out Of Sight’, but soon enough came to personify/parody bling excess, snake-eyed, materialistic, fake feminist messages, dopey dance sequences, and ‘Blue Steel’-eyed, ‘fierce’ movie opening poses. This grotesque late 90’s soulless, consumerist junk must be composted, and it appears Jennifer Lopez’s career will have to go with it.
Remember, in ‘White Men Can’t Jump’, this smart, saucy minx seemed to embody all that was good about a new, emerging dusky Hollywood archtype. Guess not.
Rosie Perez was in White Men Can’t Jump
ya idiot
Um, feh? That was Rosie Perez in ‘White Men Can’t Jump.’ You’re thinking of ‘Money Train.’ J-Lo would have been no match for Rosie.
Well Rosie had a hand in discovering her, so I guess she knew how to find talent.
Harsh for no reason!! Goodness….
That wasn’t Jennifr Lopez, that was Rosey Perez, who happen to be the choreographer on the comedy show “In Living Color” that launched J-Lo;s career as a dancer.
At what point did people finally realize that she is just a pretty face?
But is she a pretty face?
if you have ever been in a room with j-lo you would know she is most certainly stunning. talented no. but a pretty face hell to the yes. don’t hate the one thing she definitely does have.
I agree, JLo really has a pretty and beautiful face. I love her beauty. Remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :)
the really funny part of this wholly unsurprising turn of events is the very last bit — that she’s hosting SNL. it’s yet further proof how tone deaf lorne is and how culturally irrelevant SNL has become. JLO? SNL? For real?!
Karma’s a bitch isn’t it?
J. Lo’s two biggest problems are that: 1) She really only began to hit it big after she was already past 30, so her shelf life was extremely limited to begin with; and 2) she is notorious for jumping agencies, so no one ever had an opportunity to be loyal to her, or do anything for her.
Honestly, her best-looking days were in U-Turn and Out of Sight, and back when she was dating Puffy and in her “ghetto” phase. And those days are long LONG gone….
Geez. Guess we’re still writing off people who are over 40? This write-off mentality is so yesterday and short sighted.
She is beautiful, talented, kind, and a good actress. She just needs to develop another 10 years of success, which won’t be the same as the last 10 years in many respects. BUT, that isn’t bad. And, it can make her a hell of a lot of money if done right.
I wonder if she will try and save face by backing out of SNL, or if she will use the postponing of the movie and the drop of the album as material for the monologue.
She’s actually a very good actress.
She not aging very well.
Not aging well? Are you kidding me, she looks very good.
….says the fat guy laying on the couch belching up a beer. What did your mother/wife look like at JLO’s age? She just had twins. She looks and is amazing. But even if she had a wrinkle or two or god forbid, still had some of the baby weight , so what? As if growing old(er) is a crime. Now have another beer and shut up.
the big news is that people still show interest in this vapid c#&t
Just turn around…that’s all we want.
Life imitates art.
Her management is practically schizophrenic–an inevitability, really, given how out-and-out nasty, demeaning and arrogant Ms. Lopez has been for years. As the poster above noted, karma’s a bitch.
“She’s not aging very well.” Are you KIDDING me? She is 40 and doesn’t look a day over 30. I understand it is her job to look that way, and I know she may not necessarily be the most talented(personally I am NOT a fan of her music), but she is a decent actress, and she is beyond stunning. G.Patton – what do YOU look like?
J-Ho is a person of no discernible talent, so color me surprised, not. She’s gotten very far on very little and it’s about damned time that she’s gotten dumped by her label.
She works hard to stay relevant, but she’s past her sell by date. Buh bye now.
For a person who started out in a dance troupe that toured Europe on a shoestring budget. Worked her way to being a Fly Girl on a TV show that was on an upstart network not too many people watched. Parlayed that into a gig dancing behind Janet Jackson and MC Hammer. Then decided to act and then use that to sing and record hit records.
Not to mention the big selling perfumes and clothing.
I don’t think to do all of that and still be around 11 years later, you can be called “talentless”.
Also her career could not be the result of getting ahead from sleeping around. That shit only gets you but so far.
Agreed. The gal did pretty darned good to be essentially a Latina dancer from the Bronx. The machismo in the culture, alone, squelches the aspirations of many females. J. L. jumped trajectory and willed her way to the top, with all of the odds against her. Sounds like a TV movie … but cliché or no, it’s truth.
So me thinks Miss Jenny from the B. is sitting pretty on her mound of accomplishments, from any perspective. She’s a survivor with NY hustle. You can’t manufacture that. And trust, she’ll find a way to remain relevant in some incarnation amidst the changing landscape of her career. If the spotlight is no longer shimmering, she’ll resurface behind the scenes … and produce a few hit flicks that aren’t riding on her limited acting skills or fading name. And no, the fare may not be masterpieces … but her market will re-emerge to support her.
The beauty with steamroller chicks like Jen is that she could read a blog like this without being stung by the salt of the underlying jealousy. She’s well aware of her shortcomings, but she thrives despite them. They don’t limit her; she *does* anyways. And that’s the mark of a champ … in Hollywood and in life. You “use what you got” and do, no matter what. You don’t blog about doing.
Love your posting, so very true! I adore jenny and agree that she knows how to use what she does have and make it work! She is a fighter! Always been a fan always will be!
the clothing line never really sold. They tried it a couple times and it never worked. There was no customer for it. To expensive for teens, too cheap looking for women .its gone now.
Jennifer Lopez: there’s no talent there.
She lost me when she called Sarah Palin a name that I won’t say.
Who is she to call people names?
I agree there, she lost me too. You don’t necessary need to agree with everything Sarah Palin is saying but J lo was out of line.
And I like J Lo but there she was wrong.
You two are both wrong! S.P. deserves all the nastiness we can give.
How many people in talk shows call each other names! its all about ratings! Get over it! HOw many people have called her names! really? Build a bridge and get over it!
Memo: I totally agree; someone of her stature should avoid behaving this way. Unless your desperate………Uh Oh
No fan of JLO..but I thought she was very good in THE CELL..
Rob
Maybe it’s just a marketing plot. Record companies have studied what happened to Fiona Apple or Wilco when they had issues with their labels.
Step 1: J-Lo is dropped by Sony Music.
Step 2: The album mysteriously surfaces on the Internet. It’s downloaded illegally by thousands of hip kids.
Step 3: The new material gets a huge buzz from sites such as Pitchfork. It’s saluted as her greatest achievement, a huge step in maturity, complex rhythms and the creative use of autotune as a way to create sonic landscapes.
Step 4 : Rolling Stone puts her on cover in a see-through shirt (her trademark in all her videos), sharing a kiss with Björk. Word of mouth gets out of control. Downloads total millions.
Step 5: J-Lo gets signed back by Sony Music
Step 6: The album is released and tops the charts.
Step 7: Everybody realizes it’s actually crap. Sales collapse. But hey, gotcha, idiot consumer!
Um, yeah except that J-Lo is neither Wilco or Fiona Apple and Pitchfork wouldn’t touch that sh!t with a 10-foot pole. After she parted ways with Puff, she began losing whatever ‘cred’ she had. Furthermore, anyone seen ‘El Cantante?’ Me, neither. Her next movie is a send-up of that hideous movie that Madonna did with Rupert Everett. She looks fantastic (‘Out of Sight’ was cool), but in every photo-op she’s got that ‘doing too much/trying too hard’ vibe.
Maybe it’s time to release another fragrance?
Love your marketing plan, Dwigt. They should consider it. Isn´t Benny Medina the same one she dumped years ago and then he said publicly that she had a reputation for using and dumping people?
Who cares either way? She should just retire and spend time with her family and enjoy the money she made by being nothing more than a pretty good dancer, a mediocre actress and a so-so singer. When your time is up in the biz you need to be able to bow out gracefully and no when to call it quits. J-Lo just keeps going and going and going but she dosn’t get that no one is interested anymore…
Wow, you white trash posters really came out of the woodwork to dismiss Jennifer Lopez. Ghetto phase, really? Jennifer hit it when the getting was good, but she got over-exposed with all of her relationships and the public never got a break from her in the late ’90s and early 2000’s.
She’s better as an actress. And should pursue movie roles and good scripts, but it’s competitive for actresses of any age these days. Everybody mentions Medina as being her problem, well let’s add her husband too. Seems that since she married him, she’s been all over the board trying to find her focus. But who can question love, certainly not me?
Your right on her acting she just needs to stay in more roles she can pull off. Out of Sight, U-Turn, Money Train, The Cell those other movies she tries to act in are not her or represent who she is as a actress as for singing that was never her strong suit. But you know how the business is looks will get you father than actual talent and you know who those people are.
You know what.I have known Jennifer, marc and benny medina since 1997. If u want to talk shit know the facts. Jennifer was one of the hardest working artists I ever worked with. On time, professdional and a STAR. And Marc sings like few around. And by the way…if anyone wants a lesson on sucessful management…look at what Medina is all about. I d sure want him my corner. So stop talking out your ases. The average recording career is 1 and 1/2 records. I think jennifers done just fine you morons
Chris Apostle