Jennifer Lopez doesn’t know the meaning of the term triple threat—from years working as a singer, dancer, actress, designer, producer, TV show judge, and fragrance and beauty mogul, she’s more like a octuple threat (yes, that’s a real word). During tonight’s MTV Video Music Awards, all of Jennifer’s hard work will be celebrated as she’ll give a show-stopping performance and accept the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award—she also has two nominations for her glitzy new “Dinero” video.
With nearly 20 years in the music industry and eight albums and 23 VMA nominations to show for it, Jennifer is well-deserving of the award that celebrates her status as a video icon and “the most powerful entertainer on the planet.” After all, not many can make videos that always seem to include impressive dance breaks and enviable style.
Jennifer follows in the footsteps of past recipients like Janet Jackson, Madonna, Beyoncé, and Rihanna and is the seventh woman and the first Latinx artist to claim the award since it was introduced in 1984. Tonight will be her first time performing at the VMAs since 2001 and here are just a few of the reasons she’s truly deserving of the honor.
1. Jennifer first came on the scene as one of the immensely talented Fly Girls. Jennifer joined the group of dancers who performed on sketch comedy show In Living Color in 1991 and immediately became a fan favorite.
2. Jennifer danced on the show for two seasons before she decided to bless our lives through acting. One of her first movies was playing the lead in the biopic for the iconic Chicana artist Selena Quintanilla, who was murdered by the president of her fan club when she was 23-years-old. When speaking about the role, Jennifer previously said, “I felt she [Selena] had a sense to live in the moment, that you’re not promised tomorrow. For me, that was the biggest lesson. That affected me in my life far more profoundly than the movie did in career terms.”
Jennifer earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role and became the first Latina to earn $1 million for a movie role.
3. After starring in movies like Anaconda and Out of Sight, Jennifer jumped into music. In 1998, she released her first album, On the Six, which included hits like “Waiting For Tonight” and “If You Had My Love.” Jennifer’s first VMA nomination was for “If you Had My Love” in 1999. Sadly, she didn’t win for “If You Had My Love,” but she did win Best Dance Video with “Waiting For Tonight” in 2000.
Jennifer recently said she was involved in the editing of the video and she added, “It was 1999, just about to be 2000 or Y2K—everyone thought the world was going to crash, so the director, Francis Lawrence, and I just threw the ultimate rave in a rainforest!”
4. Even more memorable than the actual music video for “Waiting For Tonight” was the green Versace dress she wore to the Grammys in 2000. Jennifer was nominated for Best Dance Recording, and ultimately took home the unofficial award for most stunning dress and plunging neckline.
5. Throughout her career, the Bronx, New York native has received her fair share of criticism, most notably from singer Mariah Carey. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “I don’t know her” thrown around to shade someone, you can thank Mariah for that one. Even though Jennifer insists she and Mariah have met, Mariah maintains that she doesn’t know Jennifer and therefore can’t comment on her music.
Being the graceful woman she is, Jennifer continues to let it roll of her back and move along with her successful life.
6. And she doesn’t let any performance mistakes trip her up. During her 2009 American Music Awards “Louboutins” performance, Jennifer fell while jumping off the back of one of her dancers, which yeah, fair. While that would’ve made most people all flustered, Jennifer jumped back up and proceeded to smash the choreography—seriously, this woman didn’t miss a beat.
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7. With her talent and years of experience, Jennifer decided to mentor singers on American Idol. Jennifer joined the judging panel for the hit Fox show in 2011. While on the show, viewers tuned in to see her glamorous style, hear her wisdom, and (sorry) watch her knock all the contestants out of the park with her own special performances.
She also gave us this gem of a GIF.
8. While she was on American Idol, Jennifer worked on a Univision show called Q’Viva! The Chosen. The show was similar to American Idol and followed Jennifer and her then-husband Marc Anthony around Latin America trying to find talented artists to perform in a huge Las Vegas show. Ultimately, the show was canceled after one season, but that didn’t spell the end of Jennifer’s time on talent competitions.
9. Her next career move was to go back to her dance roots. Jennifer is the executive producer of the dance competition show World of Dance, which premiered in 2017. The show is currently in its second season, and Jennifer also sits alongside dancers Ne-Yo and Derek Hough on the judging panel.
10. She basically invented the Juicy Couture tracksuit trend with her “I’m Real” music video. Jennifer posted a throwback clip of the video and wrote:
A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on
11. She’s received a Vanguard award before. GLAAD gave Jennifer the Vanguard Award in 2014 for her work with the LGBTQ community. When accepting the award, Jennifer said:
12. She wants her work to be representative of society. Jennifer was also an executive producer for ABC Family’s The Fosters, which is about a biracial lesbian couple who take in foster children from different cultures and backgrounds. She said, “When I was growing up, the families around me were not reflected in television or film. I wanted to be part of The Fosters because of the show’s depiction of a diverse society.”
And while she thinks diversity is increasing in Hollywood, Jennifer said it’s affected her career. “I’ve struggled with it in my career because I am a Latin so there are certain roles that I’m not considered for and my name never even comes up.”
13. Honestly, her booty deserves an award in its own right, just sayin’. Just take a look at her “Booty” video with Iggy Azalea—it’s so booty-full it needed a special warning courtesy of Jennifer herself.
14. In 2014, she performed with rapper Pitbull during the opening ceremony for the World Cup in Brazil.
15. Because watching Jennifer perform here and there at awards shows and the World Cup isn’t enough, she got her own Las Vegas residency in 2016.
Sadly, her last Vegas shows will be in September this year.
16. Her most recent video, “Deniro,” is all the proof she needs to show she’s worthy of the Video Vanguard award.
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