Too obvious? Too on the nose there? 

Jennifer Lopez debuted a new song called “Limitless” at the American Music Awards. The track isn’t all that special. The way she performed it though, with all that energy, in a silver sequined suit, made it better than it might deserve. How is it possible that she’s only getting better and better live? 

“Limitless” is a song from Second Act, her upcoming movie about a woman who goes from working at a big box store like Costco/Walmart to the boardroom at a financial company in New York. It’s a rom-com, only the love story is between JLo and her career. Which speaks to the lyrics in the song and, probably, the pantsuit that she performed in. Second Act was originally supposed to open in November. It’s now been pushed to December 14. That’s the holiday box office. And it’s an interesting move. Perhaps, in November, they didn’t want to go up against Fantastic Beasts. So they’ve decided to go up head to head against Aquaman instead on that day, as counterprogramming for the holiday box office. 

I like this play. Aquaman has its demo for sure. But what JLO and her team seem to be saying is that they’re confident that adult women, which is the Second Act demo, will show up at the movies over the holidays to watch a film that’s been made specifically for them, that they may be able to relate to, or that their daughters and sisters and friends may be able to relate to. Second Act doesn’t have the budget of Aquaman. My guess is that it would have been made on a budget between $20 and $30 million, tops. She’s done really well the last few years with low to mid-budget movies and, even though, for a while there, the mid-budget movie was approaching extinction in Hollywood, we have seen some evidence of trending back in its favour, most recently with Crazy Rich Asians this summer. Reese Witherspoon has been getting all kinds of shine for power-producing female projects and creating a space for these stories and advocating for their viability in the industry. Don’t sleep on JLo though. She’s been doing it too. She’s been showing the sh-t out of her work. 

As for her personal life… 

Well, her fanboy was there last night. Alex Rodriguez did not walk the carpet with her and showed up later (probably working the Yankees game), but he was in his seat for her performance doing his usual thing:

And then immediately after Tracee Ellis Ross put a mic in his face and didn’t let him speak much, ha:

Wait. Did he change? When did he change? 

Why didn’t she change? I mean she changed for the performance but this pink dress on the carpet is doing nothing for me. It’s a People’s Choice Awards dress. For someone much less A list than Jennifer Lopez.