Jennifer Lopez is seen leaving her New York apartment on April 2, 2024. Photo / Getty Images
Jennifer Lopez is seen leaving her New York apartment on April 2, 2024. Photo / Getty Images
J-Lo’s latest efforts have been met with criticism, and the star’s gone from ‘I’m real’ to questions around authenticity, wealth and what that mysterious “orange drink” is.
The more attention a star gets, the more likely it is that the internet turns on them. Call it content fatigue, tallpoppy syndrome or any other moniker you prefer, but the pattern proves itself again and again.
Jennifer Lopez has been more visible than ever recently, but it may not be having the desired effect. Photo / Getty Images
The album, the film and the documentary have all received underwhelming reviews. Her North American tour of the album has been renamed a ‘Greatest Hits’ tour amid poor ticket sales, with Lopez quietly cancelling several tour dates.
She’s been perched front row at numerous fashion shows, parked next to Anna Wintour.
Jennifer Lopez and Anna Wintour at the Coach Spring 2024 show at New York Fashion Week. Photo / Nina Westervelt, Getty Images
Bennifer’s many public outings have also drawn a lens on Lopez and Ben Affleck, with lip-readers calling attention to apparent ‘tension’ in their relationship as signalled by Affleck’s famously grumpy resting face.
The recent wave of criticism is reminiscent of the hate Anne Hathaway was subject to in the 2010s, and more recently Taylor Swift, for little reason other than the fact that she was everywhere on our screens. So, have we simply seen too much of Lopez in recent months or are there other factors at play?
Why is J-Lo getting criticised?
A lot of the changing public opinion seems to stem from a video posted to TikTok and Instagram where fans are upset by her attempts to be “overly relatable”.
Comments on the video of her mixing cocktails in a floral dress include: “Not you trying to mimic Jennifer Garner?” and “She can never be JENNIFER GARNER.”
Several moments in her documentary haven’t gone down too well either. One moment particularly stands out: Lopez running her hands through her hair, looking in a mirror while reflecting on her childhood in the Bronx.
“I like taking my hair out like this,” she tells the camera. “It reminds me, like, when I was 16 in the Bronx, running up and down the block. Crazy little girl who used to f***ing be wild and no limits, all dreams.”
While some simply cringed, another accused her of “lying” about her upbringing.
“We both attended an all-girls high school in an Irish and Italian neighbourhood, so you weren’t ‘running up and down the block,’” she commented.
Returning to her old stomping ground, Lopez and Affleck have been undertaking some high-profile house hunting in New York’s Upper East Side; one listing spanned four floors and 7000 feet.
The couple’s real estate acquisitions are under the spotlight following their purchase last year of a palatial 38,000-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion for $99 million, reportedly paid in cash.
Her recently resurfaced clip outlining Lopez’s Bronx bodega order has earned ire too, with social media users mocking the star’s lunch order.
Originally published by Vogue as part of its ‘73 Questions’ series, it appeared in This Is Me ... Now: A Love Story, and has now been doing the rounds online.
Some commenters have queried her rather plain lunch, while others are intrigued by the beverage choice.
Lopez said her order of choice was a ham and cheese on a roll, small bag of chips and an “if you know, you know” orange drink.
And her mysterious “orange drink” has fans mystified. TikTok’s citizen detectives in particular are having a field day trying to guess what it is, with ‘what’s the orange drink Jlo?’ going viral. “You bugging bro Ham and cheese on a roll with no lettuce, tomato, mayo, salt pepper ketchup is CRAZY AND WHAT IS THIS ORANGE DRINK?!” said one TikTok user.
Should we be surprised?
Lopez’s past endeavours have earned questions around authenticity.
Following the release of her alcoholic beverage range Delola Spritzes, Lopez walked back a 2018 statement to InStyle where she claimed to be sober, clarifying on Instagram that while “that was true for a long time” she does now “enjoy the occasional cocktail”.
In 2021 in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, she tried to make her single Love Don’t Cost a Thing go viral online 20 years after its release, encouraging fans to video themselves throwing expensive items on to a beach.
Needless to say, the “tone deaf” campaign didn’t go down well with viewers stuck at home, many of whom were struggling to get by amid the pandemic. “Can’t nobody afford to be throwing their stuff on the beach,” one fan commented at the time.
Elsewhere, her comments critiquing other female stars in a 1998 Movieline interview have resurfaced, despite the fact that she’s since apologised for calling Cameron Diaz “a lucky model” and Gwyneth Paltrow “hot by association”.
She claimed that in this case she was “misquoted and so taken out of context”.
Does everyone agree with the criticism against J-Lo?
Of course not.
We know Lopez for her message of self-acceptance and her embrace of a second chance at love - she famously dated Affleck from 2002 to 2004, they called off their engagement, and then shocked the world when they reunited years later in 2021.
If nothing else, she represents the hopeless romantic in all of us - in internet lingo, “delulu”, short for “delusional”.
With her US tour set to kick off this August, you can expect to see more of her in the coming months, though it remains to be seen when she’ll find favour with the internet again.
