Jennifer Lopez Says Singing Voice is More Suited for Theater

During her recent interview with CBS Monday Morning, Jennifer Lopez shared with Lee Cowan that her voice was shaped by a love of Broadway musicals, which she considers her natural style.

via: The Root

Jennifer Lopez soared to superstardom starting with her title role in 1997’s “Selena.” From her stint as a Fly Girl on sketch comedy series “In Living Color” in the 90s, to her beloved romcoms to her TV series roles (“Shades of Blue,” anyone?), J. Lo has managed to snag a piece of Black movie lover’s hearts with her acting roles. Her music? Ehh, not so much.

Despite what some would deem mediocre singing and allegations that R&B singer Ashanti was the real voice behind some of her hits, no one would deny Lopez and the box office go together real bad. Her movies has become classics and household favorites in Black households.

And many Black folks want her to stick to just that: movies. Let’s unpack that— but first, let’s drop some context, shall we?

During a recent interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” Lopez admitted her singing voice is better suited for theater and Broadway. Why? Because she “grew up singing musicals because I love musicals,” remembered going “to my first Broadway show,” and that’s “how I learned to sing.”

Jenny from the Block added that’s where she learned “to train her own voice” and it was when she started singing “pop music nobody knew I could sing in that way. And then when I started singing these songs— if I sang ‘My Man’ [or] ‘Somewhere’ from Barbra Streisand, people were like, ‘Oh my God! You can sing like that?!’”

She added: “Actually I prefer singing in that way, that to me is more my natural voice.”

Black folks took no time to troll the Bronx superstar in The Neighborhood Talk’s Instagram comments.

“THIS type of delusion needs to be studied at a postgraduate level,” one person said.

A second person wrote: “She can sing, she just don’t sound good when she do it.”

Another social media user penned how they were “insulted on behalf of the talented broadway singers,” while someone else wrote, “Even the interviewer looking at her like “Ho3 is u cool?”

One person commented, “Now Jennifer… your voice was trained for talking, babe.” Which brings up the next point: Black folks LOVE J. Lo’s movies!

First, it was “Selena” in 1997. Widely considered her breakthrough and most iconic role, the film garnered praise by critics and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture.

Next up, she played U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco opposite George Clooney in comedy/thriller “Out of Sight” (1998). Often cited as her best reviewed film, “Out of Sight” cemented her as a solid leading actress who can hold her own.

And who can forget her trifecta of classic romcoms from the “J. Lo” era of the early 2000s? From “The Wedding Planner” (2001) — which made her the first woman to have a No. 1 album (titled “J. Lo”) and No. 1 film at the same damn time in the U.S. — to “Maid in Manhattan” the next year to “Monster-in-Law” with Jane Fonda, Lopez had box office hits back-to-back-to-back! She was so successful at rom-coms her name became synonymous with them.

Although 1997’s “Anaconda” and “Enough” (2002) aren’t rom-coms, those films highlighted her acting talent and how some Black folks just can’t get enough (pun intended) of her.

And if you ever thought she fell off…uh-huh, she came back with a vengeance. In 2019, she played veteran stripper Ramona Vega in “Hustlers.” Her role earned her a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe nomination, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Independent Spirit Award.

Indeed, it’s an open secret that some Black folks adore her rom-coms, but that love seems to stop shy when it comes to her vocals. We previously reported how the mom of two is often deemed unrelatable, attention-seeking, and inauthentic when it comes to her music.

From being a proud Latina singing the N-word in “I’m Real (Remix)” to not being forthcoming about whose really singing backgrounds on some of her songs to performing a Motown tribute at the Grammys in 2019 (during Black History Month by the way), some Black folks just don’t like how, according to them, she’s inspired by Black creatives but without the credit.

But her romcoms? Untouchable. Undebatable. Full stop. Give her her flowers!

Up next for Lopez is “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” The musical drama, based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, hits theaters on Oct. 10. And time will only tell if her chokehold on Black movie lovers will continue.