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It could be argued that it is her destined role. The current month marks the debut of This Is Me … Now: A Love Story, a feature film where Jennifer Affleck (formerly Lopez) takes on the persona of the renowned American artist, performer, and symbol of popular culture known as … J-Lo. Indeed, she portrays herself, albeit in a peculiar way.
The preview for the movie, which will only be available on Amazon Prime, is perfectly crafted for social media buzz. It includes a emotional therapy session, daring motorcycle crashes, and a staged intervention with J-Lo’s friends confronting her about being a sex addict. While there is a lot of sexual content in the movie, particularly rough dry-humping and her character marrying multiple men in one scene, the focus is on the spectacular musical numbers. In one scene, men dressed in pink tuxedos dance with umbrellas in garden mazes. Surprisingly, this extravagant production is simply a promotional tactic to promote J-Lo’s ninth album, also titled This Is Me… Now.
If this appears a bit crazy, then it’s not any more unusual than recent events involving J-Lo, all of which could be considered unexpected. This includes her 2021 reunion and subsequent marriage with Affleck, whom she had previously dated from 2002 to 2004. More recently, it was announced that she will be producing a new movie for Bob the Builder, where the character travels to Puerto Rico and takes on a significant building project under the name Roberto.
Believe it or not, there is a method to this madness. The new film follows the current trend of pop stars using cinemas as a key tool in their promotional campaigns. J-Lo’s latest album is marketed as a continuation of her 2002 release, This Is Me … Then, which coincided with her relationship with Affleck. Instead of using concert footage to make extra money from fans unable to attend live shows, J-Lo has taken a different approach by creating a “therapy-musical biopic” genre, claiming it to be her most personal project yet. Surprisingly, Affleck even makes an appearance, though his true feelings towards the trailer’s statement “not all love stories have a happy ending” are unknown.
Recently, movie theaters have transformed into popular destinations for major events rather than just a place to silently watch a film. These are now spaces where people dress up, bring friends, and even dance in the aisles. The release of the Barbie movie sparked a trend of wearing hot pink outfits and footage from the Eras tour can be found all over TikTok, with viewers enthusiastically singing along and linking arms. Last year, Talking Heads re-released their iconic concert film Stop Making Sense in theaters, resulting in similarly lively reactions and the announcement of a tribute album titled Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, produced by the entertainment company A24. This week, Pet Shop Boys’ concert film Dreamworld: Greatest Hits has been showing in cinemas and will have its final screening this Sunday (4 February).
Jennifer Lopez is not the only artist who has considered using a concert film to promote their album. In recent news, rapper 21 Savage announced his own project, American Dream: The 21 Savage Story, which is a biopic featuring Donald Glover. However, unlike J-Lo, 21 Savage later revealed that the trailer was actually a parody meant to promote his album. Lopez, on the other hand, seems to be fully committed to using this tactic to promote her music.
Why would she need to? Unlike Swift, Beyoncé, and others, she has been a dominant figure in both the film and music worlds for a long time. This year alone, she has also appeared in the science-fiction movie Atlas and the sports drama Unstoppable, showcasing her versatility. One could argue that the album is actually promoting the film, and if anyone could successfully pull off such a wild idea, it’s probably J-Lo.
Source: theguardian.com
