I must admit, I really liked some of Jennifer Lopez’s songs back in the day. Lately though, some entertainment experts are saying Lopez’s career is disappearing into el grande black hole. She seemed really fun from the performances back when. I remember when she was lucky enough to grab the movie role for Selena, she was very lucky. That movie is where her star began to rise. Must admit I was a sucker too for some of those more recent comedy romance movies… that other one…the one that Fiennes was in???, I think it was…
Lopez and her music have been banned by her own people, hispanos. Ritmo Latino, the largest Latino music retail chain in the U.S., recently sent out a press release saying it was banning all JLo music, videos, paraphernalia, etc. from its stores… …period. Why? Well she has a new music CD, out this past week, and Ritmo Latino’s president, David Massry told the New York Daily News Lopez “has refused personally to promote her new CD in any of our stores” along with other latino retail outlets. Massry continues "“We’ve supported her from the beginning…Now we are told by her record company she will only visit Anglo retail outlets.” is not and will not be promoting it in any Ritmo Latino stores."
Her new CD is in Español after all, not in English. I don’t get it, what’s wrong with Ritmo Latino? I go there all the time, it’s a great store, and has a great Hispanic targeted store. Most artists I’m sure would love the exposure to a Hispanic audience. Other singers like Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Daddy Yankee, and Thalia have all participated in events together with Ritmo Latino stores.
Looks like JLo could use the publicity too, her new album, this past week is not doing so caliente. It came in on the charts behind a re-packaged Elton John’s greatest hits CD….ouch.
Ritmo Latino’s Massy says “This is not the first time that this has happened. Celebrities have this notion that when they reach a certain level of crossover appeal they forget quickly where they started. We will no longer tolerate these situations."
So okay, that’s the music side. What about the film side? She’s got a couple movies set to be released. Well Bordertown was recently booed at a critic’s screening in Berlin, and JLo shed a few public tears ‘bout that. Also, distributors are not chomping at the bit to pick up the movie….it doesn’t yet have a distributor. Her other movie, El Cantante, has gotten mixed reviews, and it’s an English-language movie, yet its title is in Spanish????
This marketing strategy has me really confused. Perhaps like her Spanish language marketing CD logic, this movie will only get shown in Anglo theaters…. Ay. And then I see her trying to do interview in Spanish…not the most fluent Spanish around, I gotta tell ya.
This all gives me a headache….Don’t forget about your roots, and where ya came from.
Pictures courtesy of Associated Press