Jennifer Lopez showed her versatility as an artist when she became as successful as a singer as she was an actor. Her foray into both led to Lopez breaking an industry record that very few people before and after her had ever touched. At the time, even Lopez herself didn’t believe the accomplishment.
Jennifer Lopez felt it had to be a lie when she broke this industry record
Lopez wasn’t the first artist to do both acting and singing. However, she was one of the few that came out with a number 1 single and a number 1 movie at the same time. In 2001, she released the popular romcom, The Wedding Planner, alongside Matthew McConaughey. That same year, she also debuted her hit single “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” which featured on her second studio album J.Lo. Lopez was confident in her hit single. But finding out she was the only one to break such a record was hard to understand at the time.
“We knew we had a hit single and a hit single already out,” she said in an interview with Billboard. “We all worked together to promo and get that out and when they debuted they both went to number one and everybody was really happy.”
She insisted that there had to have been someone else before her that accomplished the feat.
“I kept asking because they were like ‘Did you know? This is the first time this has happened!’ And I’m like, ‘No. Just look back,’” she said. “Barbra Streisand must’ve done it. Diana Ross… Somebody must’ve done it. It must’ve been a… What about the guys? Check the guys…”
Lopez felt the achievement was so rare that, overtime, she doubted she’d be able to duplicate the same success again.
“These feats or history things that happen are good but there is no way to top them or plan them. I never do things for those reasons,” she once said according to Black Film. “You can’t do what you can’t control. I can only control one thing, and that’s what I do and the product that I put out there. So that means not getting involved with things I’m not passionate about. So I give it 100% and really control my work and product and what I do and that’s all I really try to concentrate on.”
But it’s worth noting one other artist did achieve the same feat before her. The late Prince’s 1984 film Purple Rain was number 1 at the box office when his song, When Doves Cry, also took off. After Lopez, however, only Eminem, Harry Styles, Beyonce, and Bad Bunny replicated Lopez’s rare feat, according to Business Insider.
Jennifer Lopez just wanted to find a balance when she first started singing and acting
Lopez had modest expectations for herself when she decided to juggle dueling careers. She had music aspirations soon after her film career took off, and wasn’t afraid to tell label executives what she felt she was worth.
“I didn’t know what to ask for,” she once said in a separate interview with Billboard.
“I was so young and clueless at the time, so I said, ‘I want an A-list deal like all the big stars,’” she added. “There’s something about being that young — there’s a little bit of ignorance that goes with it, because you don’t know what’s going to happen and so you have all these lofty ideas.”
Still, studio executives were impressed enough by her demo, and her potential as a film star, to work with her. This led to Lopez putting out her debut album On the 6 in 1999. In an old interview with ET, Lopez sounded cautiously optimistic about the album’s possible success. For her, a best-case scenario meant simply being able to keep up with both her acting and music careers.
“It’s just a balance,” she said. “I take both careers very seriously. Hopefully, the music will do well, and I’ll be able to continue doing that, as well as the movies. I’m just going to keep working hard and trying to make good music and make good movies. That’s all I can do, That’s all I want to do.”
