ARTICLE AD
I enjoy Jennifer Lopez’s dogged, determined spirit. Plus I’m a gal who loves excess, so I admire the over-the-topness she was going for with releasing This Is Me… Now the album, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story the musical film, and The Greatest Love Story Never Told documentary. Only the album hasn’t done that well in the charts or sales, and as we all now know, Jennifer personally funded the $20 million it cost to make these projects. But J.Lo also has a This Is Me… Now Tour later this year, where she can deliver a great live show. Except now, one month on from announcing the tour, several dates have been canceled without much of an explanation
Some Jennifer Lopez fans will have to wait a little longer to be introduced to the woman J.Lo is now.
According to a message on Ticketmaster’s website, the pop star and actress has canceled concert dates on her upcoming This Is Me… Now tour dates, including planned stops in Nashville, Tenn., Raleigh, N.C., Atlanta, Ga., Tampa, Fla., and New Orleans, La.
The canceled dates were all planned to take place across a consecutive eight-day stretch from Aug. 22-30. EW has learned that a logistical issue through the promoter forced the last several dates to be canceled, but that there’s potential to work something out for the affected cities in the future.
EW has reached out to representatives for Lopez and tour company Live Nation for comment on the cancellation, as Ticketmaster’s note indicates only that, “Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event.”
The cancellations follow the high-profile release of Lopez’s accompanying cameo-filled, self-funded streaming movie project and its parent album This Is Me… Now, a sequel to her 2002 album This Is Me… Then that, like its predecessor, chronicles Lopez’s love life — particularly her marriage to actor Ben Affleck.
While the streaming film (and a subsequent documentary about its creation) made headlines and courted viewer eyeballs according to Amazon streaming lists, This Is Me… Now the album marked one of Lopez’s least successful outings to date. It debuted and peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and fell off the ranking entirely the following week, though it did reach No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart.
On the one hand I’m really impressed with Jennifer sticking to her guns for the trifecta projects. It takes equal parts confidence, delusion, and chutzpah to say YES! when absolutely everyone else in your life advises NO! The thing is, though, you kind of have to be right in order to pull off this maneuver and, well… yeah. By the time Jane Fonda weighed in with her doubts, that’s at least where I would’ve taken a pause. As for these cancellations, it could be something or it could be nothing. I think it’s too early to tell. But it certainly gives the vibes of an inauspicious start. I had a dorky idea, though: if AARP can sponsor the latest Rolling Stones tour, do you think Ben Affleck is on the phone with Dunkin’ to broker a deal? This Is Me… Caffeinated!
Photos credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages, IMAGO/mpi099 / Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon