Jennifer Reborn

If Jennifer Lopez had a dollar for each time her private life became the subject of tabloid fodder, she would have easily doubled the fortune earned from her approximately 15 years in show-business. The official figure for that, by the way, is a cool US$255mil (RM969mil), according to Fortune magazine’s 2004 list of 40 richest people under 40 in the United States. Lopez, who turns 36 this year, is ranked 19th.

At a press conference at the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel in Tokyo two weeks ago, the Bronx-bred singer-actress did look like a million bucks in person. Her shoulders were bared in a beige strapless empire line dress and her skin was radiant.

But now that money isn’t an issue, she seems to have had enough of sharing herself with the public. These days, much to the chagrin of the paparazzi, all she wants talk about is work.

There’s her fourth and latest album Re-birth, which was released worldwide last week, and her new movie Shall We Dance.
Not forgetting Sweetface – her fashion line with Andy Hilfiger, which presented its first high-end collection at the New York Fashion Week last month – and Miami Glow by JLo, her third and newest perfume, also launched at the event.

In Tokyo where she was promoting the album and movie, the Japanese media – clearly besotted with the big-bottomed Latina – kindly let her have her way.

It was friendly territory, no doubt.

Rebirth, pre-released in Japan on Feb 23, is already a bestseller in the country. The initial ship-out numbered 200,000 copies, with about 5,000 re-orders a day.

Shall We Dance, too, has a Japanese connection. It is a Hollywood adaptation of a much-loved 1996 Japanese film of the same name. Lopez plays a ballroom dancing instructor opposite Richard Gere in the movie, which opens in Japan next month.

About 800 journalists – largely from Japan with a smattering of others from Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia – filled the hotel ballroom, stealing shots of her with mobile phone cameras throughout the press conference.

As if bound by unspoken agreement there was no mention of her new husband, singer Marc Anthony, or her high-profile former relationship with actor Ben Affleck.

Instead they plied her with non-intrusive questions like “What do you think of Japan?”

Returning the favour, she obliged with polite but perfunctory answers (“They are so gracious, I always have great experience here,” she said).

Listening intently to each question, she punctuated her replies with girlish giggle and little waves to the audience.

It was reminiscent of an interview that she did with The Associated Press earlier this month, in which she said: “I don’t want to talk about anything that is personal and private at all, because what’s the use? You’re open with people, and then they try and make a soap opera out of your life.

“Then it’s not about your work anymore, it’s not about the movie you’re promoting or the record you hope your fans will enjoy, it becomes about other silly stuff and it’s damaging. It’s damaging not just to your career, but your person.

Her meet-and-greet with the media was, not surprisingly, a brief 20 minutes.

She was then whisked away, presumably to The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo where she stayed during her four-day promotional tour in the city.
Um, was there any dirt to spill? Did she throw any tantrums? Make any unreasonable demands?

No, she got her customary massage and requested for some shabu-shabu (Japanese Steamboat), her minders said.

“Sizeable” was the only way they would describe her entourage, which once ran up to 100 people during a 2002 appearance on British chart show Top Of The Pops.

Where was the diva who once booked seven limousines to ferry her less than a kilometre up the street for a lunch appointment?

Or the heart-breaker famous for short-lived relationships with waiters Ojani Noa, choreographer Chris Judd and weapons-wielding hip-hop mogul Sean “P.Diddy” Combs?

Married off into oblivion, it seems.

She was replaced instead by the image of a sweet, not-so-young thing with a penchant for describing everything – from her album to her movie – as “lots of fun”.

Aptly, Lopez said the title of the new album Rebirth signifies “a new beginning”.

It features collaborations with rappers Fat Joe and Fabolous and producers like Rich Harrison, who was responsible for Beyonce’s Crazy In Love.

Her first single Get Right is currently No.20 on the US Billboard Top 100 chart.

The album, she said, was a result of a six-month creative hiatus following the release of three albums in four years.

To date, she has sold over 35 million copies of albums worldwide, with the best selling album so far being J.Lo (2000). That album sold over eight million copies, while On The 6 (1999) sold over seven million and This Is Me? Then (2002), over six million.

“I found myself in the studio laughing and having a good time,” she said. “It was like doing my first album all over again.”

Things have indeed, come full circle.
Like On The 6, Rebirth is a recording by Jennifer Lopez, not as J. Lo, she said recently.

“I’m not J. Lo, she’s not a real person. She was just a bit of fun that got really crazy. I’ve never been anyone but Jennifer.

The nickname J. Lo has of late come to signify a chequered past that she would like to forget.

Most memorably, cavorting with Ben Affleck in a music video for the song Dear Ben in her 2002 album This Is Me? Then, starring together in 2003 box office bomb Gigli, then calling off a much-publicised engagement drew scorn from scribes who found the couple’s publicity-seeking ways nerve grating.

The new Lopez, it appears, is determined to keep her love life away from harsh public scrutiny. Her June wedding with Anthony was hush-hush, and she acknowledged the union only eight months later in last month’s issue of People magazine.

But strip her of such controversy and what’s left? If it’s her music, she maybe in some trouble.

Witness Lopez and Anthony’s dismal duet at last month’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Their song Escapemonos (Let’s Escape) was decidedly beyond her limited range and incited entertainment rags like The Hollywood Reporter to dub the performance “horrifying”.

Later in Tokyo, she lip-synced to Get Right at a private showcase for journalists and fans, backed up by a group of four dancers.

Dressed in a cropped top and equestrian pants that accentuated her famous posterior, her dance steps were slickly choreographed and pouts timed to perfection.

It was like watching her music video, up close but not personal.

Fans reached out to her when she came within grabbing distance, but she avoided eye contact and carried on with her routine, afraid perhaps to fluff another performance in a room full of industry people.

When the song ended, she disappeared, after a cursory “domo arigato” (“thank you” in Japanese).

Maybe it was the soaring temperature in the heated ballroom.

But there were no chants for more from fans as everyone made a beeline for the exit.

Perhaps, though, it was because they felt the old J.Lo, the limelight hogging star whom many either love or hate, was slipping through their fingers,

And all that was left was a girl from the block who says a little, but hides a lot. – The Singapore Straits Times/ Asia News Network