5 years in the past, Jennifer Lopez was on a white-hot tour, promoting out arenas like Madison Sq. Backyard and performing her in style hits from the late ‘90s and early 2000s.
Lopez is a multi-faceted entertainer, however the stage is the place she really shines. She offers you slick choreography, dazzling costumes and shiny, beaming lights. For her, being onstage is being at house. Her efficiency alongside Shakira on the Tremendous Bowl halftime present, which got here months after her 2019 It’s My Get together nationwide jaunt, additional proved this.
So promoting out an area tour — the identical venues Lopez has carried out at for 20 years — isn’t usually an issue for the star. And Dwell Nation wouldn’t have booked a tour in the event that they didn’t suppose she might promote the tickets. However Lopez’s headline-making resolution to cancel her upcoming trek as a result of household points amid stories of poor ticket gross sales seemingly has nothing to do along with her music or hitmaking capability.
For years artists with robust catalogs have efficiently carried out on the highway. At occasions the excursions are tied to a brand new album — one most don’t care to listen to throughout stay exhibits — however generally there isn’t new music. Everyone knows how effectively nostalgia sells, and Lopez is one in every of a whole bunch of acts who’ve benefited from this. It’s been 13 years since her final main hit: “On the Ground” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Scorching 100 chart in 2011. Earlier than that, it was 2005’s “Get Proper” and 2006’s “Management Myself.” New hits usually are not an element. Whereas they might be useful, they aren’t a necessity to promote a tour.
As an alternative, it’s about likability. And social media likes, or lack thereof.
And right here’s seemingly when shit hit Lopez’s fan: She named the tour after her a lot scrutinized, trippy Amazon Prime musical movie This Is Me… Now: A Love Story and album This Is Me… Now. They had been accompanied with a documentary titled The Best Love Story By no means Informed, which gave an inside take a look at the making of the movie. That actually lit up social media, and never in a great way.
She was clowned, and clowned, and clowned once more — from her taking part in along with her hair as she remembered her early days within the Bronx to what individuals deemed an inauthentic bodega order, taken from an interview she did to advertise her new initiatives. She was even criticized for her matter-of-fact response when requested which designer she was carrying on the Met Gala — merely “Schiaparelli” wasn’t effusive sufficient for some. Each transfer she made was met with an eye fixed roll.
Due to the best way audiences devour media in the present day, it’s truthful to imagine that those that have closely bashed Lopez didn’t even watch both of these movies. They only learn the headlines — on this case, watched 20 second clips on social media. I watched each movies, and sure, they had been corny and at occasions cringeworthy, however they weren’t that unhealthy (and really acquired some respectable opinions). Sadly, that doesn’t matter, and the fixed TikToks blasting her gained over the web, revealing Lopez’s unlikability issue. At this level, it’s like she will do no proper. She is giving the ick.
And it’s not that Lopez was all the time the most-liked superstar — for years individuals have mentioned the “I’m Actual” singer isn’t that actual and questioned her road cred although she sings about being “Jenny from the Block” within the Bronx. And others have referred to as her out for holding vocals from Ashanti and Christina Milian on the hits they wrote for her with out acknowledging them. However this yr, the aversion to Lopez appeared to succeed in new ranges.
And sadly that spilled over to her tour. Lopez tried to rebrand the stay exhibits, ditching the identical title of her movie and album and making it about her profession hits. But it surely was too late — the domino impact performed out and the world jumped on the bandwagon and boarded the J. Lo hate practice. Individuals even used clips of Sterling Okay. Brown’s expressions throughout their promotional tour for Netflix’s super-successful Atlas to try to counsel he was throwing delicate shade at his co-star.
The tour cancellation additionally revealed one thing else: fickle followers. If you don’t have hundreds of thousands of die-hard devotees like Beyoncé or Taylor Swift — or whenever you’re not the it-artist of the second like Billie Eilish or Olivia Rodrigo — you’re attempting to attraction to potential ticket consumers who might be simply swayed to go to your present, or move.
It’s like going to Las Vegas and deciding to see a sure artist’s present. It gave you one thing to do for an evening. However should you missed it, the journey nonetheless went on. That’s J. Lo and her axed tour in a nutshell.
Love don’t price a factor, however loyalty is priceless.
