SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Show business fame can just slip through your fingers, but Jennifer Lopez has kept a firm grip for more than three decades.
JENNIFER LOPEZ: A big part of my life is making sure I never got stuck in one thing, in one place, in one time, in one era - that I just keep evolving and growing and being who I am in this moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYTHING'S FINE (AM)")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Everything's fine. I still feel weird. Same good life, same dull year. Sun still shine. I stay inside. I don't feel bad. I just don't feel right. All my boxes checked, still feel low. Same soft buzz, same old glow. They say I'm lucky. I don't disagree. I just don't feel it the way it looks to be. Mm-mm-mm, mm-mm-mm.
SIMON: And we're listening to the latest from this era of J. Lo. She's collaborated with the Brazilian DJ, Alok, to create a pair of singles called "Everything's Fine." This is the "AM" version - a little warmer, a little sunnier.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYTHING'S FINE (PM)")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Everything's fine.
SIMON: This is the "PM" version - a little dancier.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYTHING'S FINE (PM)")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Friend's hit me up. I take my time. Read the texts, reply offline. I don't feel sad. I don't feel gone. I just don't stay too long. Days blur together, nights...
The song - it really was born from something everybody goes through that's also kind of humorous. It's like, yeah, everything's fine. Everything's good in my life. And I still feel a little weird, anxious. I'm waiting for something to happen or dealing with something from the past.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYTHING'S FINE (PM)")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Nothing wrong, still not right, good on paper.
It's not necessarily where I am today in my life. I'm in my happy era. I'm in a kind of full, whole place for myself in my own life, but I think the record captures a feeling that we've all been through.
SIMON: The public first came to know you as a dancer in the early '90s - backup moves for New Kids On The Block. Then, of course, dancing as Fly Girl on a great comedy series, "In Living Color."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IN LIVING COLOR")
HEAVY D AND THE BOYZ: (Singing) You can do what you wanna do in living color.
LOPEZ: (Laughter).
SIMON: Bring it back, huh?
LOPEZ: Yeah. Bring it all the way back.
SIMON: Did you always know making music was ahead of you, or were you concentrating on being a dancer in those days?
LOPEZ: Honestly, I was concentrating on being an actor, but I just had this musical bug. You know, like, I just didn't want to just act. It was always wanting to sing and dance and act. And I didn't know how it was all going to manifest itself. But when I started dancing, I very quickly pivoted to acting.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SELENA")
LOPEZ: (As Selena Quintanilla) I'm not agreeing to anything. OK, you can't tell me who I can and can't...
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS: (As Abraham Quintanilla) Selena, you wait. You're going to ruin your career. You're going to ruin your life. You're only 20 years old. Give yourself some time.
LOPEZ: (As Selena Quintanilla) Dad, I don't care what you say. It doesn't matter, OK? I love him. And that's it.
OLMOS: (As Abraham Quintanilla) What did you say?
LOPEZ: Once I did a few movies, I told my manager - I was like, I want to make music. I want to record a record. He's like, that never works for actors.
SIMON: (Laughter).
LOPEZ: I just had a very strong belief that I could do both.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JENNY FROM THE BLOCK")
THE LOX: (Rapping) L-O-X, yeah. Southside Bronx. J. Lo, yeah, yeah.
SIMON: I want to ask you about being from the Bronx. I mean, let me bring up "Jenny From The Block."
LOPEZ: Such a great record.
SIMON: Oh, it is a great record.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JENNY FROM THE BLOCK")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got. I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block. Used to have a little, now I have a lot. No matter where I go, I know where I came from. Don't be fooled by the...
You know, people still call me Jenny from the block, and I put that record out - I don't know - 20-something years ago. And I was always very proud of being from the Bronx. To me, it was the coolest place on Earth, and it still is. It turns you into something, grows you in a certain way. You have grit. There's a bit of an underdog to it. New York, even though I haven't lived there for years, lives inside of me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JENNY FROM THE BLOCK")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Nothing phony, don't hate on me. What you get is what you see. Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got.
You know, walking those streets, being on the train, like, my parents playing dominoes in the backyard - all of these things, and being Puerto Rican, really define who I am as a person. And I felt like I needed to hold on to that because when you get in this business, you see people lose their way.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JENNY FROM THE BLOCK")
LOPEZ: (Singing) I'm down to earth like this, rockin' this business. I've grown up so much. I'm in control and loving it. Rumors got me laughing (laughter), kid. I love my life.
SIMON: I have read your parents weren't always ecstatic about you pursuing a career in show business.
LOPEZ: No. Who would be? I mean, especially somebody from New York and the Bronx. You know, you go, Mom, I want to go to Hollywood, or I want to be a movie star, or I want to make music. They're like, what are you talking about? Nobody in our life had ever done that in the history of our family, in the history of our neighborhood. They, of course, had their nervousness about it, and rightfully so.
SIMON: Yeah. You've released nine albums. You have sold tens of millions of recordings around the world. And many of your songs are (laughter) steam engines on streaming platforms. No need to be modest here. What makes you most proud?
LOPEZ: I think my resilience. This is not an easy business. You're under a lot of judgment and scrutiny. With social media, there can be a lot of negativity, tabloid press. But I've been able to keep my kind of heart intact and still have so much hope and brightness in my heart.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET RIGHT")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Get right with me. I'm about to sign you up. We can get right before the night is up. We can get right. Oh-oh-oh, woah. We can get right. Oh-oh-oh, woah. We can get right.
There have been times where I felt that I can't go on or that things were really so bad. And I've been able to make it through those moments. And then on the other side, it's like, you become stronger. You become a little smarter. You have a little bit more wisdom, a little bit more clarity. That's what I'm most proud of in my life 'cause I'm able to pass that on to my children.
SIMON: I mean this absolutely seriously. Do Max and Oskar, your twins, know they have the coolest mother in the world?
LOPEZ: No. No, they (laughter) do not. And I think it would be weird if they did think they had the coolest mother in the world. I think sometimes they think what I do is cool and amazing. And I think sometimes they're highly embarrassed about it (laughter). They're like, what are you doing? But deep down, they know how much I love them and how proud I am of them. And I honestly feel that they love me and are so proud...
SIMON: Yeah.
LOPEZ: ...Of me and how I've been able to get through all the things that we've lived through together, the three of us. You know, it's really just been the three of us the whole time, with really no help from anyone else.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET RIGHT")
LOPEZ: (Singing) I'm about to fill your cup. We can get right before the night is up. We can get right. Oh-oh-oh, woah. Oh-oh-oh, woah.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: For the past seven years, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have been one of Hollywood's hottest couples. But six weeks ago, they announced that they would be ending their marriage. Tonight, in a "Nightline" exclusive...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Ben Affleck, when he and J. Lo were married, they bought a huge mansion for $16 million...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: Jennifer Lopez is shutting down those Brett Goldstein romance rumors.
SIMON: Is it hard to keep a family going in the public eye?
LOPEZ: Yeah. It is. Being in the public eye doesn't exempt us from wanting to have things be private or not wanting to share certain things with the world. And I've admittedly made some mistakes being maybe too open about certain things because I've never felt like I had anything to hide. And so I've learned to be a little bit - have a few more boundaries.
(SOUNDBITE OF JENNIFER LOPEZ SONG, "ON THE FLOOR")
SIMON: You have had so much in life, so much experience, so much of it in the public eye - your life, your music, your story. Your life story has meant so much to people. I mean, tell us what really counts in life?
LOPEZ: For me, it has always been love. All the love and everything that you need for anything in your life is inside of you already - any vision of your life that you have for yourself. If you have that dream, what you need is inside you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON THE FLOOR")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Dance the night away. Live your life and stay young on the floor. Dance the night away.
SIMON: Jennifer Lopez, thank you so much for being with us.
LOPEZ: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF JENNIFER LOPEZ SONG, "ON THE FLOOR") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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