Mel wearing a purple bob wig in public like she's Britney circa 2007. |
On Friday morning, I headed up to scenic Central Park supppper early in the AM (4AM and I are totally BFFs now, guys) to the ABC Summer Stage area to see an icon in her own right, Ms. Jennifer Lopez, do her thing live in support of her latest disc, A.K.A., out this past week (on my birthday - June 17th!). Full disclosure, the access to this concert was not of my own volition but through my day job as we had VIP Access thanks to the Alzheimer's Association (NYC Chapter) as part of the sponsorship for the event that day. Kudos to them because we had a blast.
Right at 7AM, Ms. Jennifer Lopez appeared in full hair and makeup with all of her gorgeous, tanned, ripped male dancers (and two gorgeous, tanned, ripped female ones, too). She was wearing all black and a pair of black high-top sneakerheels and began rehearsing in earnest her set that would be going live on ABC in about an hour. She ran through a handful of songs but the one that seemed needing the most kinks ironed out was "Booty", a cut from A.K.A. that is to be on deck to be the project's next single. I may be wrong but I think the 'Good Morning America' performance was one of the first live performances of the song -- and it's easily my favorite cut from A.K.A.
You may laugh but that song, co-written by Diplo, is catchy as all get out and I'll be damned if I didn't have it stuck in my head for the rest of the day following this performance. The routine included oversized golden spatulas (that were doused in glitter and looked like they were covered in shiny golden tinfoil up close) that were waved by her sexy male dancers. We joked that they looked like pizza trays (#ILuhYaPizza). Oh, the delirium induced by being woken up at 3AM! Another part of the routine included Jenny rolling on to a white couch (probs from IKEA and it was so filthy and beat up close up! Some assistant should be fired for this!) that her mens lifted up over their heads and spun around. Slay, Diva Mama. Own it.
She also ran through a bit of "On The Floor" and when the opening licks of "Let's Get Loud" were called up we lost our damn minds (it is, of course, the best J.Lo song ever recorded, thanks). Given our relationship with the AA, we were there in full purple regalia that included purple wigs and Jennifer came over to our side and waved and pointed to our wigs and smiled. It was a magical experience, guys. Obviously, we're now best friends. After her run through, she ran off stage to get properly dressed and the dancers continued choreography run throughs with Ms. Lopez's choreographer slaying it as her stand in.
Once the show started/transferred to Central Park for live coverage, everything started to blur. Liv Tyler suddenly appeared -- a gorgeous Amazon of a woman, I had no idea she was so tall -- and had a short interview live on stage that none of us could really hear. (Insider Dirt: when you go to these types of live studio/television tapings, the audio is captured through sensitive microphones but aren't necessarily amplified for the studio audience like you'd expect microphones to. I don't know the logistics of why -- just be satisfied that it's the truth.) Then, J.Lo arrived in full silver glitterbomb gorgeousness -- as GMA themselves tweeted, her sparkle-spangled boots deserved their own concert -- and opened with "Booty", which went off without a hitch.
(While I'm on "Booty", can I just say her infamous 'booty' didn't seem that big in person? She herself is super petite, as most popstars/showbiz folks are. Either it's -- gasp! -- gotten smaller over the years or the camera/right wardrobe choices just add to its voluptuousness. It was there but it wasn't overwhelming. Yes, this legit was a topic of discussion of ours during her soundcheck. No, I am not kidding.)
(While I'm on "Booty", can I just say her infamous 'booty' didn't seem that big in person? She herself is super petite, as most popstars/showbiz folks are. Either it's -- gasp! -- gotten smaller over the years or the camera/right wardrobe choices just add to its voluptuousness. It was there but it wasn't overwhelming. Yes, this legit was a topic of discussion of ours during her soundcheck. No, I am not kidding.)
She also performed the album's Max Martin-penned current single "First Love", "On The Floor" (like "Booty", performed sans Pitbull, thank Jososphine), just a touch of "Let's Get Loud" (sigh) and once the filming was through, she came out to perform another song just for the fans. She chose the A.K.A. ballad "Never Satisifed", which she had co-written.
Overall, I feel like very few go to a J.Lo show to be wowed by her voice -- they go to see her kill it with her dancing and her stage persona. Jennifer gave us that and then some, dancing hard in her high heeled sparkle boots. She also looked fantastic and seemed very much the consummate professional both during rehearsal and her performance. "On The Floor" included a pseudo-impromptu dance break that included a lot of hair swinging. Oh, and did I mention one of her background singers is Pia Toscano, formerly of American Idol fame?
My only complaint would be how short her performance of "Let's Get Loud" was so I'ma just leave this one here. Luh Ya, J.Lo...
My only complaint would be how short her performance of "Let's Get Loud" was so I'ma just leave this one here. Luh Ya, J.Lo...
That video above is from 2000, guys. Bow down.
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