20 years ago I fell in love with the love of my life and I was working on an album and it was called this is me then and it was all about capturing that moment in time yeah I said now the most amazing incredible unbelievable thing has happened and the reason we're here is because I want to capture this moment in time because it is even better than the first time
truthful albums about true love are hard hard to create and if I'm being honest sometimes hard to listen to which is why even as fans we can be cynical dismissive when presented with True Love on the record but here's the thing opinions change music lasts forever and sometimes even love can be Everlasting this conversation is about a true love story in two parts then and
now with Jennifer Lopez thanks for having us absolutely thank you I always love sitting down talking with you yeah you too and it's not like I haven't been asking I mean I've been bulk like very bold about it like I think the last time we spoke virtually I was like so when are we going to be face to face and have a conversation like are literally invited myself the thing like
the long thing and I was like when I make new music we'll do it so oh wow we're going to get to that um but yeah the reason that we um are having this conversation to start with is one of the weirdest reasons ever let me break it down so in 2002 that's so weird in 2002 you made a Timeless modern almost classic sounding r b record yeah you know we had very pop orientated but
yeah Timeless RMB touchstones and you called it this is me then and it was almost like you knew in 20 years time you could look back on yourself in that moment and reflect on the life that you were living his work is weird that album was written and inspired by somebody you felt deeply in love with it's true and then here we are 20 years later reflecting on then now with the
same person that you were once again it's like what are we in the Twilight Zone you know it is a little bit like the Twilight yeah it doesn't happen it doesn't happen and you know that album this is me then really captured a moment in time where I fell in love with the love of my life yeah and I just it's all right there on the record and I didn't even realize what was happening
and what I was doing just got out of the way you know it was just every day going from the set to the recording studio doing the thing being in love you know him coming into the studio you know Corey writing this you know I'm glad and going this reminds me of you know what I mean and we as you know me tweaking the lyrics with him like every single song
that we wrote there me writing dear Ben and yeah it was such a special moment in time to have captured and it's funny because I was going to call the record Jenny From the Block you know because that song is on there and it made sense because you were coming off to back yourself titled right you know JLo you know we're just like but I'm still genuine I'm J-Lo now but no I'm
still Jenny From the Block exactly but it didn't feel right I remember having this conversation with Ben and we were doing Jersey Girl a movie that we did a long time ago in Philadelphia and uh and I said I remember the apartment I remember the conversation and he was I was like just don't know what to name this album I just can't like now it's like the
songs are not the thing there's no title track it's like and he was like well this is you right now like everything that you're writing on this record that I've been seeing is this is like this is you in this record like this moment he was like when you look back on the record yeah it'll be like that was me then dang and I was like it would be this description this is me yeah then right
this is me at that moment yeah so I decided to call it oh okay this is me then this moment in time was captured of finding your kind of soul mate in that time and and it and it's all there and when I listened to the lyrics now I didn't even realize I was writing some of our story that would happen which was sick like still yeah and some of the records on there which were more
obvious about Ben but even records that you were like well that's kind of a breakup record and like I didn't even realize that it was kind of prophetic in a weird way it is and when you listen to it it's crazy like that and you and it's it's fun when you go through a situation as an artist you have this opportunity to express yourself through the art what's going on in your life if you get
to the most personal places it becomes this beautiful magical moment yeah now most artists are open to that heartbreak being the obvious place where you're totally willing to go yeah love specially Big Love yeah it's not often so overtly presented in such a celebratory way no I mean it was unique in that regarded album yeah here's the thing I think you you said something
really profound there a lot of artists feel um I think or my experience with artists other artists is that when they're suffering when they're in pain yeah they come out with this really crazy art yeah for me it's the total opposite right when I'm in love is when I'm inspired wow the most and I was the most inspired then and I have not made another record
like that since then so where does the pain go uh the pain for me um was always private very private very kind of like a part of myself that I've would hide from the world always because I felt like it was always about being my best self being honest being kind putting my best foot forward this is show business you put up the smile you do the dance you do
the you know the performance but you're also a very giving artist it makes sense the music that you share is on an energy level you seem dedicated to promoting positive energy it's all about love for me yeah there is nothing really that I like to sing about that doesn't have to do with love or relationships or trying to figure that out that's why I love question mark was so heartbreaking love
question mark was that's like oh dear the world's biggest romantic is struggling with the thing that inspires her the most and that was a hard time in my life and I think when people really look at the things that I chosen to do at different times and it is very telling and I've always been kind of that way that I have to do things that really resonate with me or it just doesn't feel
right I can't fake certain things like I'm an actress yeah and I'm uh good at that you know I love making movies but I'm not good at being fake at all but then there was this side of me that like you said where did the pain go I was in so much pain for so many years and I just had to survive in a way and my way of surviving was by working more and doing more and hiding that side
of myself because the odd one that you had to do it the music won't let you hide no so I didn't make sure because that's why this is that way that I did in 2002 yeah until now the anniversaries come and go the one thing about the music business is we love an anniversary anniversary right yeah and investor time 20 years big records 20 years November
25th that's right and so can you imagine how it would be and feel to reflect on this album if there was no happy ending it would feel so strange because you okay this is me looking at me then dude I wouldn't even perform these records They didn't even tour it it was so painful after because it didn't work we broke up because it didn't work out yeah once we called off that wedding 20 years
ago I was it was the biggest heartbreak of my life and I I honestly felt like I was gonna die and it sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just was you know couldn't get it right couldn't get it right but now now 20 years later it does have a happy ending which is great it has the most would never happen in Hollywood ending there would be like
that would never happen so we're not going to write that because nobody would believe it ending and you can listen to this album again and you can actually appreciate it again for what it is right well yeah and it's funny because when me and Ben got back together he said to me he was like you never performed the songs like you never did I'm glad you never did this you never did you
actually say that to you yeah he is fishing he is sufficient why didn't you uh perform this yes and I was like you're right I said it was painful it was like it was a part of me then that I had to put away to kind of move on and survive it was a survival tactic for sure God it is the great unrequited love album yeah because it's so open and honest it's the great you gave
everything to that relationship girl in love Yeah hopelessly devotedly in love with the person she wants to be with forever yeah and that type of love that you're not afraid to You Can't Hide you're just like this is how I feel this is who I am I love this person I love him with all my heart and soul and it was a mutual that leads me to my next question if it
was too painful for you to acknowledge that music yeah it's your decision to leave it all on the table someone who it's about doesn't really have much of a role in that right they did the inspiration yeah the inspiration the Creator yeah so he has to live with that album too yeah has he ever talked about his relationship with that music I mean he loves that album
he loves that music he knows all of the words you know what I mean it's pretty sweet it's it's crazy he also was with me while I was creating it you know and you know what it is to make an album you're listening to the the Demos in the car you're you're listening to the mixes you're I wrote this today what do you think of this you know it was just it was that over and
over and over again for two years while we were together two and a half years that we were together you know so he he knows it so well and he loves it so much and he's my biggest fan which is awesome and uh and supporter and when he came back into my life again the same thing happened where I felt so inspired and so overtaken with emotion that is just pouring out of me and I she felt good
I felt and what happens when you told me when I vote when I feel good I write music you write music I write music and I wrote music and I got in the studio and I think in May and by August when we got married it was done can we talk about it yes I'd love to so we we know that you've remained loyal and faithful to music because throughout your film career and other opportunities
you've contributed your voice and your and your your love of music to the world it's not like you haven't made music no no no we just haven't had an album that has uh opened up your heart the way that album did no and so when you went back into the studio well let's actually rewind a second how do you know how do you know when you haven't focused
on it for so long what does it feel like I was terrified yeah I was like I haven't done this that means you had to do it yeah I hadn't done this in 18 years when we first got back together and I was like I don't even know if I can do this because I had done my singles and this you know became a very single also the music business changed during that time too so it became a very
singles driven culture and I do a song Here live but it doesn't like the fire it doesn't burn it doesn't change anything it doesn't Inspire anything it doesn't move people in the same way you know it's a moment those singles are moments about one person you know everything that you do I feel like you're trying to open up yeah and as much as the world piles pressure on you
yeah it makes you want to retreat your instinct is to want to share my instinct is to to give my whole heart all the time yeah and you can't do that with a song you can do a bit of it you can do a little bit but you need a body of work you need a moment in time and all I said to the producers that I worked with and it was like four or five of us who worked on this record from top to bottom
yeah I was like 20 years ago I fell in love with the love of my life and I was working on an album and it was called this is me then and it was all about capturing that moment in time yeah I said now the most amazing incredible unbelievable thing has happened and the reason we're here is because I want to capture this moment in time because it is even better
than the first time so that's why we're here and I sat them down and I shared stories with them and we'd you know talked about it and I and I was in the studio every single day and every day we wrote one or two songs at least maybe sometimes three a third idea this or that and within like I said two months we were done with the album that's a lot of trust who are you with I
went in with Roger yep uh his team he has uh Angel Lopez uh giddy do you know giddy so it was really the three the three of them yeah I I was like you three have to be here every single day because it is so amazing and we captured it all every day we were filming everything that happened and um and it was ink and myself and Stevie Mackey and that Those Were the
Staples and then we had other amazing people like Dougie and Cadence and different songwriters come in and out who were awesome yeah um but for the most part that was the crew small crew because it's your story the last time you told this story we've established this was love on full display this is like yeah do with it what you will this is me this is me man I made this album for us and
whatever you want to do and millions of people responded I mean it was a hugely successful album so when it came time to writing an album again 2.0 did you feel the same desire to be as open about about your feelings now as you did then or has something changed a little bit it was exactly the same it was really about I think because I went into it with the attitude of like I'm gonna capture this
moment in time I'm different than I was 18 20 years ago I'm different than I was 20 years ago I've grown I've learned things I've been through some you know I've had some hard times I've been through divorce I've been through a lot of different um difficult relationships at times and so and private things that happens you know but it got me to this place and it was just
about let's capture who I am right now here today and what I've gone through it I mean we have songs on there that are like talk about what this life is like for me whereas Jenny from the blog was like me going I'm still Jenny From the Block I know I'm famous now I know this but I'm still Jenny From the Black I know I was talking about yeah you know
my life is not all hearts and flowers like you thought it may have been let me tell you a little bit about what it was like yeah you know what I made it through and the things that I did so we captured me at this moment in time when I was reunited with the love of my life and we decided we were going to be together forever and the whole message of the album then is like this love
exists this is a real love now I think what I with the message of the album is very much if you were wondering if you have like me at times lost hope almost given up don't because true love does exist and some things do last forever and that's real and I want to put that message out into the world and that it does take a lot of vulnerability um but I couldn't stop myself and some
parts of it scare me and I think parts of it scare Ben too he's like oh do you really want to know well because they must be the stuff and I'm like else to do it baby because there must be some PTSD from the first time around that lasted even for a period of time if not today based on the fact that we're going to share this it's pure it's real
it's us it's honest why wouldn't you see that and what we saw in 2002 if you trace back to that moment it was really like quite an ugly time yeah because the world us all of us I'm not trying to create hierarchy here we shot our hand we shot our hand we were like it's too much we don't want us too much oh you're moving no no no no no no no oh your benefit you're you're not two
individuals you're one Collective brand yeah you're one Collective joke and it was kind of brutal looking back on it now it was it was brutal and I don't feel there was actually a case study for that before you two came along no it was a new thing and it was um it was very it destroyed us that was part of what destroyed us was the outside energy that was coming at us and we loved each
other it was hard I felt at times unfair but neither one of us is that person to be like woe is me so we were like well we just got to dust it off and keep it moving and I think in the weirdest way that it motivated both of us to then become and do the things that we wound up doing which is kind of go into hyper gear he went into hypergear and I
went into hyper again you're not together but not together we had to do it separately and he went on to you know start directing when his Oscar do his his second Oscar was saying like where people had written him off in a way same thing with me it was just like people are like her music career is over who's this she's that you know what I mean I wasn't getting movies I wasn't
I had to power my way back I had to work and work and I got divorced and I was like okay I'll do America I'll do the reality show I'll do the television show I'll do the you know the single I'll do this I'll do you know and it was just okay I'm gonna go on tour for the first time like all these things with two babies you know and it was just it fueled us in a weird way
that we felt we had to prove ourselves again yeah but when you have to prove yourself in the face of some kind of exterior motive the distraction of self-destruction yeah and in your own way you struggled I struggled very much you know and in a way you're distracting yourself but it can become self-destructive but I feel like without the mistakes you need the mistakes you need to fall
down to pick yourself back up and go what am I like for me after my divorce I was like what am I doing wrong right I have two babies trying to make this work with all my heart and soul like what am I doing wrong what is wrong with me yeah and it made me look at me that's when the work begins and that's when the work began which was my kids are 14 years old now my twins and
it was a journey of 10 years of like figuring myself out and making the same mistakes and doing it again and okay okay I got that piece figured out no but but still this is not good that this piece now that P and you start putting the pieces together you start digging deep into yourself until you become oh you know that's when the self-love begins yes right we have to learn how to
love it you have to learn how to love yourself and what happens is that we're born and we learn that love has value so like I I need to be loved I'm a kid I need to be loved so how am I value to this equation right yeah and so we put a lot of our own identity in the way people how our parents love us yeah how they reflect it back on us yeah let's
talk about the work because when I figured it out around the time of our firstborn I went through some deep deep work because I didn't love myself enough to be a parent that I wanted to be yeah and it was in the I mean I stand here today and I'm like I'm so grateful I did the work but there were moments where I was like I can't climb up that hill today I know I can't do it it's too
painful you know what but I think it's everybody's journey and so it's like the thing I try to you know one of my friends just had her husband of you know I don't know 30 years just passed by uh pass away I'm sorry and she was like I've been looking at all these old things she was like in everything I find of you is like love myself you got to love
yourself you gotta love like I was on that journey of trying to figure out what it was to love yourself yeah because I knew that I could never really have true love in my life again until I figured that piece out that is the most important piece and it took you know all these different Avenues and different practices and ideas and coaches and all kinds of you know life coaches and
therapists and and some books and you know whatever I could get my hair wherever there's something that's going to resonate yeah you can remember you have to find that you do you have to find that and then all of a sudden you know you start crafting this kind of new person yeah I should think it's the real person yeah I think it's the real person kind of
strip away and you pull away the identity that doesn't translate anymore to you and you start to find the person that you are deep down inside because because there's all this tar on top of it correct I used to say like you have to pull the tar out you have to dig into the tar and kind of pull it out because if you read something that resonates and it makes you feel something yeah like
I'll read a quote sometimes if I'm feeling like I need to yeah yeah to find some some repair yeah Center yourself and I get my eyes are water yeah because it will resonate so deeply with me just this statement and I'm like oh that actually might be the real me because I felt that so deeply inside that I I actually got something there yeah I found something 100 there was so many
different places and people that helped me along that Journey but only because I wouldn't stop looking I knew I needed to be better and once I had kids that was a big motivator too I was like I got to be good for these kids I always say that they saved me because I was going in a way where it's just like I was going to be doing you know the destructive relationship thing for
the rest of my life you know what I mean and they made me look and go okay what are you doing what are you doing is this what you want to model for them is this who you want to be what are they going to think of this gotta break the cycle yeah well what am I going to do so I really set off on that that work finding who you are yeah you're putting it through your music too I mean there
was a time around 2002 before and after I felt like everybody that you had close to you that you're in love with was playing a role yeah was helping you to create this like someone was exact producing this someone was involved in there doing a tour here and so it felt like the whole thing was just wrapped up in this search for a deeper identity through
love yeah one thing I think that I wanted the childhood ex being the middle child you know my dad working nights my mom being a very young mom who was still like a teenager you know what I mean and wanting that love and stability and family that I could not find and craving it and craving it so badly that I just would get into things that I'd wondered like why why am I doing this why am I with
this person why am I why am I allowing certain things you know and until you really start like you say loving yourself and figuring out like wait I'm not would I treat my kids like this yeah would I treat my friend like this what what advice would I give my sister right now yeah why can't I give it to myself what am I doing yeah like I'm you're the smart one here
you're supposed to be you're the smart successful one what are you doing because success isn't necessarily it doesn't matter that's the distraction and that's why I think for me the music is so important because the way that I express myself and the most visceral level and the most honest way is through the music and through performing I think when I'm on stage in
front of people it's when I feel the most to me God it must have been a strange eight years without that opportunity to express yourself like that yeah and I know you as we've established you're doing other work yeah but you get to step away from that craziness of Music where it's so personal to do the personal work yeah but still feeling of going back in that room oh
yeah just knowing I've got something to say I remember the first time in so long it was every day was emotional every moment but it was filled and fueled with so much joy and happiness like every day I was like I'm gonna write another song with this man right now I'm gonna do it but that's what I wanted to do the feeling was so bursting out of me
that I just wanted to put it somewhere yeah I wanted to put it somewhere and I did and I was just like oh my God and I just again you feel always afraid when you put your whole self and your whole heart into something you never know how people are going to receive it it has a difference the difference is in 2022 no matter what the world throws at you to it's not gonna it's change
anything this time no and so the music finally has a Creator that's gonna back it and be like I'm touring it we're doing this time we're doing we're doing it the first time I ever saw my wife I know what love at first sight is I totally do it was she was in a kitchen we were teenagers and the galley door of my friend's kitchen parents Kitchen open up and I saw her and it swung back and
in that moment it opened up like that I was in that was it it took her 10 years to figure it out but I was in when you were there I was in which sounds creepy I didn't like stick around for 10 years I mean we lived our lives but we have a miniature Jennifer Ben thing going on here it took us 10 years um so I'm gonna ask you this because I shared you mine and I think it's a nice
way to to to get get back into then what does it feel like the first time you sawing was it love it first sign you know I was with somebody when I met him so that thing didn't happen I think what happened is as we worked together we became such good friends we realized that we were crazy about each other I remember found myself you know kind of you know
thinking about him after the movie was over you know and having to take care of my own business because I was coming out of a relationship at that time and but it's like you just knew it's just like this is the person I want to be with and that happened over a period of months you know it wasn't an instant thing because we weren't allowed to do that yeah I think yeah we weren't in
that place where we're like both single and was like okay yeah yeah it's simmering yeah it kind of grew over time I think about the sound of this album of Ben and I think about um I think about where you were coming from you were coming out of these first two albums a lot of tempo a lot of attitude a lot of vibe yeah real new Eureka Revolution going on pun
yes Joe yeah Nori yeah you I mean Puerto Rico yeah let's go we were in the house as they said back in the day in the house and you would you were definitely establishing a new world order for the music and for the culture um and then this album comes out and it's like I said you're drawing on Stevie and Marvin and yeah like Aretha and things that just feel very Timeless and even
the way you enunciated like if you listen back to your performance on this album it's crazy like would you mind like you're enunciating like a classic soul singer yeah you're not rolling your words like it's yeah like just pop music or whatever being slangy and then kind of streety guttery do you know it wasn't like yeah I totally know what you mean I was very influenced at that time by uh
first of all Corey Rooney was my partner in the where's Roger was my partner now um and the guys there but it was just me and Corey and we wound up you know again just me and him in the studio different people would come in and out yeah but you know he was you know he could he sings like Stevie Wonder I don't know if you know Corey Rooney but you know you
know whenever we have ideas and stuff it's just at the piano sing a little bit I have an idea I want to write something about this yeah and or he'd come in and he'd be like and the way in in the car I was writing this down on the napkin you know and that's how I'm glad ad was written and you know uh different things like that it was just his influences of
mindfulness and because we were kind of the same age and our parents had listened to All That 70s Soul music you know um that was very much a part of who and the 80s kind of like you know Let's Groove tonight and Earth Wind and Fire those records yeah because that was the cool music for me when I was growing up 80s Rappers Delight all that kind of stuff like those things
we're so much a part of like again Jenny From the Block yeah you know and then it was like but how do we take it from like you said what the first two albums were to elevate it to something else and that's when I bought in Bruce Sweden and we started using more live instruments live strings you know we still had all the other kind of drums and things going
on but and we'd get tracks from other you know producers and stuff but really much like this is me now uh and this is me now it was even a further kind of Step Up in that sense because we created you just told me the name of the album yes is that the name of the album yes this is me now I need I wish I had Wi-Fi so I could hit the air horn button on my phone don't you love it when a plan
comes to you I didn't even have to fish for that one I just landed on the plate I know I know it's cool this is me now you getting me yeah this is me now I'm sorry it's cool so in 2002 it's called this is me then and you've called it this is me now yeah it is perfect like you thought in 20 years time you look back on oh man then like no no now is what matters isn't that the great
lesson the moment is the only thing that truly matters that's the only thing and when I think now that we're older we realize like it's much more clear because even and then when we felt that way now we know now we know and there's no questions and there is no kind of like well let's see how this goes like nope it's me and you that's it all the way till the end that's it it's gonna be us
was it quick when you when you came together again and realized that the love was still immediate that was the that was the immediate that was the immediate we're not wasting any more time we're not we're not we knew we had our kids and we had to you know tread lightly and carefully so they could come along with us because they didn't live those years like our crazy
parents they're like who are these two and they're like wow like they've known each other forever and yeah that's it we did know each other forever and we uh you know had to live these separate paths and we did other beautiful things and we had these amazing children um but when we came back together and and the universe and God and as it would have it once we got whole enough and
complete enough and loved ourselves enough and could stand on our own two feet really completely as a universal habit we were bought into each other's lives again and it was like a a crack in the clouds and the sun came through and it was like boom that's it and we were both very sure very short and I mean I remember and one of one of the songs that I wrote for the album
um which is on the inside of this ring right here of my engagement ring that he gave me it says not period going period anywhere period where my first diamond ring he gave me the pink diamond ring it said sing and this one he put not period going period anywhere period because that's how he would sign his emails when we started talking again don't worry don't worry I'm not going
anywhere wow and I wrote that we're closing the gates on the world and we are making this decision right here's the statement we're going to put this right yeah and if you notice something really amazing I have not that I'm really in the headlines much I I don't really read much I don't really catch up on much and times have changed it's a business now it was just out of can I
swear are you okay it was out of control over the beginning of 2000s I mean it was feral yeah now it's a business yep but have you noticed that cool everyone's like oh maybe we should just leave them alone this time have you noticed that like fall back it was funny yeah I just let them do their dreams it's funny when we first got together there was this like kind of big like oh
my God we love it and we were both like oh funny that really where were you oh okay okay we love we really love that but it really like there was real love for it yeah you know it just was overwhelming yeah by the way for us too yeah and for everybody yeah and I get it because Happy Endings exist and we need them and it's nice to know they're not just in
the movies no you have given a second chance if you do the work if you do the work if you do the work and you don't give up you can get there to somewhere amazing and beautiful and blessed and that's how I feel and because of that I just I mean as an artist that's just the only reason I'm here is to share what I know and what I learn and what I go through and if when I can to
be inspired to do that in the most honest way I think that's when I fulfill my own purpose yeah because you haven't done it until now that's how honest you are yeah it's like there are no Happy Endings until there's a happy ending now I can see guys and by the way you've earned a happy ending I mean you have given the world through Cinema many Happy Endings and it
was becoming like almost brutal it was good in every movie it's like here she is with a happy ending and in real life it's like oh my God I remember some tweet I saw that made me laugh so hard and it was like all I want is what everybody wants world peace and for JLo to five true love and I and this was years ago this was like four or five years ago and I was
just like this is funny I was like these people because because I feel like what I've done over the years is I've I've shown you my heart yeah I've shown you my heart and I'm not ashamed of that and I know that I've made mistakes and I know that I've been through rough and I know that you you kind of peeped me you know you knew that and you allowed me to stay gracious in the
public eye and let me grow into the woman that I am and find my way and you saw me trying and you saw me not giving up and you saw me working hard and you saw me trying better and growing and making my mark and making my moments and showing the performer I wasn't showing the actor I wasn't showing the woman I was and the mother I wasn't the person I was and the friend that I could be to
you and and I appreciate that and I love that and I think that's why it is my responsibility to share whatever it is in in that most open way and that's not easy I read the Vogue article it was beautifully written and it was it was really it was a lovely it was just a proper amazing Legacy piece of Journalism you know that summed everything up and it talked about 1920
and this this great return and it talked about Versace and it talked about the films I talked about the Super Bowl Super Bowl you know obviously the Super Bowl comes and goes every year what was that well I've never spoken to about it I spoke to you before I speak to you after what's it really like doing a halftime show it's hard it's it's a lot of stress and any artist who does it
feels it I remember somebody I know who was a manager who worked with an artist who did it years ago legendary artist was like that was the only time that I quit and they were still with that person yeah and uh because it is not easy in the sense that it is the biggest show on Earth it is the most watched the shortest amount entertainment Show on Earth everybody's
too you can't even get your feet wet no you gotta dive straight in you've got to jump in yeah and I mean I did you know the documentary halftime it was about that in a lot of ways it was me you know at a kind of pivotal birthday in my life half time of what I feel my life is and at the same time you know putting together this show that had so much
meaning and I had to find a way to kind of put all the things that were most important to me to show who I was like I was an opportunity for people who never knew me I never saw me yeah to say oh that's that's who's who's if they just were like who's Jennifer Lopez who's JLo who is that I had to be like this is who I am I am a woman on top of the Empire State
Building saying and I am getting from the Block and I am a Latina and I am a mother and this is who I am and a survivor and I I wanted to put all of those things in there and I am you know and my mother and I'm sexy and I'm you know uh tough and I am vulnerable you know what I mean you're really trying for me I was really just trying to to also make my community proud
that was a big part of it for me being Puerto Rican being from the Bronx you know it's always been a flag that I have held high yes and uh it was important to me and and getting to do it with Shakira as well was a beautiful thing because it was like both moms and both Latinas like not exactly what you would expect at the Super Bowl halftime show but at a time
when the culture and the community that you want to make proud has benefited enormously from artists like Shakira and yourself Paving the way and and seeing seeing things change in your lifetime now I mean it's 2022 timestamp on this on this conversation Bad Bunny was announced as our artist of the year which is a big deal at Apple amazing right he's the number one I know he's
the number one else on the planet I mean his numbers are like stratospheric I know it's crazy and he hasn't compromised himself nope not for a second nope that's the new generation and that's new generation but but for you still being at this point in your life with so much to do there's so much to say about to release your first album and how long I mean it must be amazing to see the
changes and see how the world has responded to those steps that you and your peers made oh yeah oh yeah and in that moment I think we felt a huge response like okay this is what how to show people what Latinos are and to we're beautiful and strong and and happy and you know what I mean and and you there's nothing to be afraid of like in the country at that time it was it was a
lot going on which is why I decided to put the cages in there and make that statement and powerful and you know all of those things but yes I mean with with Bad Bunny seeing now that Spanish music because I didn't even start in Spanish but I was saying English music and did some Spanish records here and there but that Spanish music is now you know Global Music is
American music like with English-speaking music in the weirdest way you know what I mean is is so phenomenal and such a change and I am it's funny you say that bad bunny is you know kind of doesn't compromise who he is himself because we grew up in the show business time of like like I said kind of put your best foot forward yeah but this generation my kids even inspire
me to not shy away from who I really am and how I really feel and what I really want to say and it's funny this is crazy I don't know what I was doing I don't know if I was prepping for a show or doing something I was at my table with one of my twins and I was playing this is me then I was playing still I go you know always wondering if my kids like what I do you
know this is so funny because I do the same thing I'm always looking at the corner of my eye to see if they're reacting and they're just like clothes don't even look at me Dad it's not even but I was playing this is me then yeah I said you like this song they were like kind of bopping I said do you like this song and they were like yeah I love that song and I was like
oh and I played another record played I'm glad I was kind of like went down the track list yeah and they stayed there the whole time they didn't like leave but they basically said I like your old music better than your new music huh because I had just worked on some Spanish record that I had just put out or whatever okay I think I was going to be El Paso or something like that so
this wasn't gonna happen long ago yeah and I said you do really it was kind of proud too because I knew I had written all that music too yeah and uh they go yeah I said what's the difference I just wondering with their young ear like what do they hear they go it was you it was more you it feels like you and that's I think when I called Benny and I said I want to make this record
I know how I want to make it like I did this is me then I want to do it I was like it's time for me to make another record can I make a music observation and that that adds to that that personal observation that your child really generously gave you it's so gift and by the way didn't stop thinking about it for weeks that they said that to me because those moments are really
important like our kids the kids don't often volunteer that it's no it takes courage to say that to your parents at that moment in time especially when you know it's your art the music that you've made has has reflected the search you've been on yeah 100 that album reflects you were grounded you wrote the words you orchestrated and produced The Record with your collaborators it was you
stepping in and saying I know what I want to say here and I don't need anyone overseeing the situation or observing or trying to guide me like a like a star I'm a writer I'm gonna write this I'm going to write this yeah yeah I'm going to create this yeah I don't even know what's going to happen I know that and and I think with this is me now is funny because Rose and Angel I
don't think they thought I was going to be in the room every single minute every single day right like they're used to artists coming in and out and doing this and that and I was like whenever we had sessions that's all I did that day yeah I was just like we have a session we started this time we're writing today we're writing today we're writing we're
creating today and we literally created every song in the room right there magic in other words Rose we come up with an idea somebody would start with you record we talk yeah we need to write this song today you know what we need to we talk for a few minutes up top that's what we need to write today I was like that's the thing you know what I was
thinking about I slept last night and I thought this let's do this and giddy would start playing something on the guitar Roger would start on the you know he has his like wall of like 12 keyboards and he just goes over to them like a mad scientist and starts playing you know Angel gets out his drum machine once he rose would kind of like do it first he kind of lay down the foundation
and I'd be like that's it that's it that's it that's the right there right there and he go with that okay let me let me play that one more time play it one more time Loop it do it giddy oh well Getty's like we should call this you know this this song and then get on the mic ink would get on the mic and start playing with Melodies and I mean that and we'd stop and then we'd write
the words together and that's how we made every song right there in the room and then you finish the day and it's the maddest thing right you do it like that you listen back to in the car because you never leave without a monitor mix so I don't care if it's not mix you give me something it's totally it doesn't stay in the room give it to me send it to me
right right now yeah right now right Texas I'm not leaving until you send me the QuickTime file right now every time I'm annoying that way every artist is why would you leave without the music what are you crazy did you get in the car and you press play on it and you listen to it and the times I've been in the room when I've seen that happen will be a part of that moment when you didn't
have a session or a beat or whatever it just pours out yep you are having the first first impression yeah you are having the first time you hear it is how everyone's going to hear it and you get to be a fan once and only once of what you did yeah and after that the analysis begins oh yeah oh yeah and it's funny because I remember I would like take it
is the most incredible feeling like this didn't exist this morning yeah I get to be a fan this to think exists this morning and I would take it and I would let I'd be like be like what did you do that I was like we wrote this because people wrote this today this has been yeah and then you have to play it too yeah it's about you and again again every day he's like not again I said we
got this out of our system 20 years ago nope we sure didn't we got so much more to say and it was the best working experience I've ever had I didn't you could not get me out of that studio if I you know back then when I made that album 20 years ago I didn't have kids yeah so I could be in the studio all night if I wanted to yeah I remember myself you know really loving
anywhere but then going home at three four in the morning now I can't do that you know what I mean at a certain point I was like I gotta run upstairs and put the kids with the kids you got your stuff for tomorrow you did your homework okay back down I gotta go have dinner with kids you know and so it was like that but when I I just didn't want to leave the studio
it was we had so much creative loving energy in it that it was just the most beautiful place to be it was like taking all the love that I have uh in my heart for this person and what I want to say and then putting it in the room and then adding music on top of it which I love probably more than any other thing besides that right and though the combination of that was just
so explosive because you got it back because you got it back also it's been so long in your life you got it back and I mean that's why you do the work yeah it's got to amount to something you there are times where you were like what's where's it going yeah I'm just sometimes you really get to that point and me and my husband talk about this it's like that point where you just almost
give up you're like right but something inside you let the little little spark the little little tiny little piece of flame that's still there won't let you give up and you don't and you can't you can't you hear me you can't you have to keep going you're gonna chill at this time without a doubt I'm either going to tour or go to a residency I'm gonna I'm gonna
create this show yeah I will put them together yeah they have to because the first album is lonely and needs a tour this is me now and Mentor the first album is like we just did it that's it it's done listen I never know what's gonna happen I don't want to go away too much right now I want to be home but you don't have by the way you don't have to put 300 you know I know
you have to do the one laminate that just has World Tour on it I mean that's like that's like old school so old school when I did the It's My Party tour yeah um 2020 with hustlers and with the Super Bowl and with all that that year that was so amazing It's My Party tour with 38 shows across the United States and like I think seven shows abroad yeah and it was an amazing tour and it really
like had that thing and that kind of signature like moment in time and when you do that special kind of limited experience people really enjoy it and it's like if you miss it you miss it Missy you miss it by the way bring it back whenever you want and you can bring it back whenever you want that's true thank you for welcoming us here absolutely I just want you to know
that um you just continue to inspire people in an amazing way and you've been so open throughout your life and shared so much with people that yeah in a way we all feel like we do know you yeah but now that I'm getting to know you I can confirm that it's even better in real life thank you I can't wait for you to hear the record I can't wait either [Applause] foreign [Music]