The show is a breathtaking, mesmerizing extravaganza and JLo is onstage for virtually all of the production, which is close to two hours. And when she is there, she’s dancing highly-choreographed, energetic numbers while simultaneously singing live — no lip synching here. It’s an amazing accomplishment, one that would be physically impressive for a 26-year-old, let alone a gorgeous 46-year-old, and her stamina and coordination are just boundless. Plus, her voice has never sounded better.
Now, if this weren’t enough to blow you away, consider that JLo is also currently a judge on the final season of American Idol, and is starring in the new NBC hit drama, Shades of Blue. Plus, she just hosted and performed at the American Music Awards on Nov. 22, and is the devoted mom of two 8-year-old twins, Max and Emme. Do you still think you have a lot on your plate? Oh, and she’s really nice, funny and down-to-earth — the kind of person who asks how you’re doing, and gives a hug before an interview.
Now, you may think that it’s easy for someone as rich, famous and talented as Jennifer Lopez to make her dreams happen, versus you accomplishing yours, but consider this: being a celebrity does have tremendous upsides — which Jen happens to appreciate — but it also has huge downsides that many women wouldn’t want to contend with. It’s one thing to not do your very best work on a tough assignment, but it’s another to face mean reviews for a film, or to go through a heartbreaking divorce and a called-off wedding, with the world speculating about what went wrong.
JLo has had to cope with all of that, and yet she has always fought back from her private and career agonies to keep on fulfilling her dreams. She just keeps on getting excited by creative challenges, then works to fulfill them. So can you! Despite American Idol and Shades of Blue, she just couldn’t walk away from the opportunity to create a Las Vegas show. She had loved traveling around the world with her hugely successful “Dance Again” tour. “I feel like [“All I Have”] was the chance to create a show that I would not be able to create on the road, and that was exciting to me creatively,” she told Hollywoodlife.com exclusively, after her premiere performance of the residency on Jan.20. “You can do amazing things in Vegas and when you are not touring a show and have to pick up a set and take it — that is very expensive — so a lot of times, you have to scale back…this was a totally different idea, to create a show that I have always wanted to do.”
So how has she actually managed to juggle all her work and kid commitments? “You know, I take it step by step and day by day…and I have an incredible support system, and my days off are my days off and my kids are with me all the time, so we make it work,” she explains. What she doesn’t say herself, but it’s very clear, is that she works very hard, and she loves to take on big challenges. She’s not afraid to reach for the stars. Remember, too, that she took on directing and producing her first movie, a thriller called The Boy Next Door, which premiered in Jan. 2015 and quickly became profitable, earning $52.4 million worldwide. Then, she wrote her insightful and highly personal book, True Love, about the importance of learning to love yourself.
It seems that a lot of the time, we women get afraid of taking on too much. We’re guilty that work commitments will take away attention or time from our kids or significant others. We think that maybe we aren’t “balancing” our lives. We worry that our friends or mothers may be upset if we aren’t always available. Or maybe we think that working hard to get promotions for jobs that are more exciting and challenging will make people think we’re too aggressive or not “nice”. We want to be “good girls” rather than fulfilled women.
Well, think again. If you have dreams you want to achieve or creative challenges you want to explore like JLo has, don’t give up on them. There are ways to juggle and find unconventional solutions sometimes. When Jennifer was on her world tour, for example, she brought her mom, Guadalupe, along with her children, and her sisters often visited to help out with Max and Emme.
But Jennifer has always been completely unafraid of just rolling up her sleeves and doing all the work that’s required to be a success, from taking lessons from a vocal coach to strengthen her singing voice, to working out almost daily to stay fit and strong so she can handle the demands of dancing, to collaborating with top choreographers so she has to best routines, to being on time and staying completely professional with her career commitments. She’s very self-disciplined.
Her “Dance Again” tour manager once told me that she never worried about Jennifer always being on time and prepared for every one of her performances; she ALWAYS was. Ja Rule — who dueted with Jennifer on her Las Vegas opening night — told Hollywoodlife.com exclusively: “She reminds me of a ball player. You know, like Steph Curry. He was the MVP and he comes back better than he was last year. You know, you have to work hard to do what you want to do and Jennifer works real hard and it pays off.” That’s right. Hard work does pay off. So get inspired by Jennifer Lopez and don’t give up on your goals — fight for them, just like JLo has done. Make your dreams happen!
Do you agree, Hollywoodlifers — is JLo an inspiration for you? Let me know.