Jennifer Lopez: It's OK to be out in the Latino music industry (EXCLUSIVE)

I don't do many interviews on this blog. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because I get pitched so many promotional interview opportunities that have little if anything to do with this blog. Perhaps it's because I haven't mastered the art of interviewing. But when the chance came my way to interview the amazing Jennifer Lopez how could I say no?  Her handlers said she wanted to reach out directly to her Latino LGBT fans through this blog and I was thrilled.

Unexpectedly, I got all nervous and stuff. I'd heard La Lopez was a tough interview to do, that she was furiously protective of her privacy and short on answers. So I prepared a long laundry list of 'Yes' or 'No' questions and hoped they'd would be enough for the 10 minute interview.

Turns out I signed up for a whole different interview than I expected and didn't get to ask all the questions I had prepared.  Jennifer was gracious, open and sweet.  What follows is the transcript of our conversation.

BLABBEANDO – Hi Jennifer! This is Andrés Duque from a blog called Blabbeando.
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Hi, how are you…
BLABBEANDO – I’m good. I wanted to introduce myself: I write a blog about the Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community – and I’m a huge fan so I really wanted to thank you for taking this call.
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Absolutely! Thank you for having me.
BLABBEANDO – First of all, as a huge fan, I’m hating you right now because you put the 'Lambada' back in my brain after all these years [JL laughs]. And also, over the weekend, I couldn’t stop saying 'Let me introduce you... to my party people' [JL laughs again]. And I wanted to ask you how do you feel about the impact the song is having this week and how you came along to release it as a single [Currently "On the Floor" is the #1 song and #1 video on I-Tunes].

JENNIFER LOPEZ – What it means? First of all, it’s amazing. I feel totally overwhelmed. It’s not the type of thing like asking people who have been in the business for a while and they’re like “Oh-kay, my record’s out.”
It never gets old when it hits, it’s like ‘YES!’ People like it! I love it! I love it! You know, because you have to believe in your music so when other people get it it’s just awesome. It’s just amazing.
BLABBEANDO – And you’re really busy right now, with "American Idol", so it must be difficult to stop and sit back and enjoy the moment. But, are you enjoying the moment?
JENNIFER LOPEZ – I am. I am. That’s probably what’s different about this album and this time in my life than it was for this album - and my first few albums, I should say. You know, it’s that I’m actually more in the moment now. I’m more mature now and smart enough to not miss it [laughs]. You know what I mean? This is amazing, this is great and I want to really, really want to be present for this whole thing. I’m just… really, I’m enjoying it.
I’m enjoying doing “Idol”. We are having a great time. We are having a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed that process. I find it a very creative process. Back and forth between the contestants and us. And what we can share with them from what we know being in the business for a long time. And I love that.
And the record being out right now at the same time, and that all working, that wasn’t planned per se? I knew I was gonna put out and album this year but I didn’t know when. It worked out. It worked out great and it’s all just working together and it just feels really great. I feel really fortunate, really lucky right now, Andrés.
BLABBEANDO – Now, I know that there was a change when it comes to record companies. Was there a point where the album almost didn’t see the light of day? Because that must have been frustrating, working on an album and having it almost not come out on the market.
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Yeah. That wasn’t the case. The case was that I had come to the end of my contract and I had to decide whether or not to stay with SONY or not stay with SONY and I felt… and I went to SONY and asked them if I could move on.
And they - at that point in time - with the transitions going on within the old company, understood. And I had a good enough relationship with them from having some much success – I had done seven albums over there – that they understood me wanting to do that and, like I said, there were transitions going on. They weren’t prepared to do what they needed to do for me and that album at that time. It was really a mutual ‘Yeah, maybe this is the best thing,’ and we decided to part ways.
And I know people want to make more of it than that. That I was dropped or SONY was messing up. They want to make this really big thing about it. But it really was a conversation between me and one person at the company going ‘I think it’s just time, we’ve run our course and let’s find a new home’ and that’s what happened.
I knew that there were places that I could go and who wanted to work with me, and new fresh blood where I could go to and it happened smoothly and quickly.
BLABBEANDO – Now, the ‘fresh blood’, you’re singing with Pitbull and you have new collaborators and you seem always keep up with the latest [music] styles. And it really sounds fresh. I loved – I can’t even pronounce it but – “Loubutins” and I love “On the Floor” and you’re gearing these songs to a dance music [crowd] and, to some degree to the gay community, because we love dance music. And I think you’ve been really smart in the past to use some of the best dance producers and remixers. Talk to me about how you came to work with Pitbull and what other people you are collaborating vocally in the new album.

JENNIFER LOPEZ – For me, when I go to do my music, there’s always gonna be a mix of all the things that I am. I’m a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx. You know what I mean? And here’s always gonna be a mix of dance and urban in my stuff – and pop music - so once you throw all that stuff into the bag then it’s all about me just being myself.
So whenever I work with different producers – I worked with RedOne on a lot of the tracks in the album – and with him it was like ‘Let’s do some great dance tracks’. When I worked with Tricky and Dream, I went to them and I said ‘Let’s do my kind of more urbany-feel pop-record’ and I go to different producers for different things – but it all has to be very ‘me’.
It doesn’t work with every single producer you go in there with, you know what I mean? [laughs]. You go in there and nothing happens. But sometimes, like with RedOne or Tricky and Dream you go in there and in a week you make five, six, seven records. And with the records that actually worked, that are in the album – a lot of Tricky and Dream, a lot of RedOne – those are the ones that you have a lot of chemistry with.
BLABBEANDO - I also wanted to ask you, because in the past you’ve been a professional friend and a personal friend… Last year there was actually a number of people in the Latino music industry that came out as being gay or lesbian, and they include, of course, Ricky Martin but also Angelo Garcia, who was also a former Menudo, Lisa M who did salsa way back in Puerto Rico and now is doing reggateon, and Rita Indiana who is a tremendous up-and-coming talent from the Dominican Republic. So you have all these performers – mostly from the Caribbean – Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic – coming out. I wanted to know how you felt about Ricky’s tremendous step to come out as well as what the moment means in terms of… is the Latino music industry changing and making it safe for people to say who they are?
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Right. Are you asking me if I think it’s safer now?
BLABBEANDO – Yes.
JENNIFER LOPEZ – I just think it’s a reflection of the real world we live in. And it’s OK to be out. I do think it is. I do think it’s acceptable for people to be who they are. I am a huge advocate of that. In that sense, that’s the only way we can truly love ourselves, it’s by accepting who we are and letting everybody know who we are.
So, I’m very proud – you know – I’m friends with Ricky and I’m very proud of him and support him in everything he does. And all these people who have been... who want to step forward and tell the world who they are… I think that’s awesome.
BLABBEANDO – I also know you’ve been a longtime ally. You’ve always kept the gay community in mind in terms of the music you release and I know you know we are some of your biggest fans so…
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Absolutely…
BLABBEANDO - …I personally wanted to thank you for that as well.
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Absolutely. I mean, I had an aunt who was gay. I grew up with it. It’s just to me, being around dancers my whole life, you know? There’s a lot of dancers as well who are gay and it’s just not… For me it was never even anything as an issue. I had uncles… It was just seeing people were people. And it wasn’t one way or the other for me.
BLABBEANDO – That’s right. I think sometimes we – in the Latino community – we are your brothers, your sisters, etcetera, etcetera, we are part of the family. It’s more open than I think people give it credit for, at least in the Latino community.
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Right.
BLABBEANDO - Now, going back to the album: What’s the next single? Have you decided on that? Will there be different singles released to the Latino market and the American market?
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Well, we have a lot of plans for the album as things go along. We have three different choices that we can do as a second single and it’s really hard for us to choose. We think we know what we are doing and then at the last minute we might change it [laughs]. But we are shooting a video very soon with Li’l Wayne on one song called “I’m Into You” but there’s another song called “Papi” and there’s another song called “Run the World”. So there are a few songs that we are thinking about as a second single. And we might release some simultaneously: Some are more urban, some are more dance. And, also, we are releasing very soon – or if it’s not released already, I don’t even know if it happened in the past day or two – the Spanish version of “On the Floor”…
BLABBEANDO – That’s great…
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Pitbull did a new version of his rap in Spanish and I re-sang the whole thing in Spanish as well. We are gonna do a Spanglish version where we mix in the Spanish. And then we are probably gonna do a whole Spanish version of the album. So – We have a lot of plans for it.
BLABBEANDO – Well, I know my ten minutes are up but I really wanted to thank you for taking my call.
JENNIFER LOPEZ – Thank you, Andrés, I really appreciate it so much.

Related:

• Jennifer Lopez gets real (The Advocate)
• "Love?" - General Discussion (Yuku/Beyond Beautiful)

Year in Review, pt. 3: World Cup fever, Jorge Steven Lopez's killer brought to justice, Lady Gaga's Little Monsters in Monterrey

Soccer superstar supports marriage equality: On the eve of the South Africa FIFA World Soccer Cup, May brought expressions of support for marriage equality from one of soccer's biggest starts: Cristiano Ronaldo. His country of birth, Portugal, became the 6th European country to allow gays to marry in May and a reporter wanted his reaction. "We must respect the choices made by anyone," he said. "after all, every citizen should have the exact same rights and responsibilities."

The Putos Peronistas fly their blue flag: In May, Argentina got one step closer to becoming the first country in Latin America to grant same-sex couples the right to marry when the House of Deputies voted in favor of a marriage equality bill with 125 in favor, 109 against and 6 abstentions (you can see the blue Peronist Fags flag proudly flying above the legislative chambers after the vote was taken).

Justice in the murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado: In Puerto Rico, Juan José Martinez Matos pleaded guilty the brutal murder of 19 year old gay college student Jorge Steven López Mercado last November and received a sentence of 99 years in prison.

The murder had drawn international attention for its brutality as well as for the silence it elicited from the leading political and religious figures in the island, with rallies for justice held in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.  Public figures such as Miss Universe 2001 Denise Quiñonez, Calle 13 singer René Perez and Ricky Martin also raised their voice denouncing the crime.

Uniting all those threads was the amazingly moving work done by my friend Pedro Julio Serrano,who works at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, who helped the López Mercado family to get through some of the most difficult times as their murdered son was brought to justice. Pedro Julio was next to Jorge Steven's parents after Martinez was sentenced...

Maradona is not gay. I repeat, Maradona is NOT gay: In June, as the FIFA World Cup got underway and the Argentinean soccer team emerged as a favorite to win the tournament, team manager and soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona raised some eyebrows when he adamantly denied he was gay in response to a reporter's seemingly badly translated question (here is a direct link to the video).

Argentina, alas, did not go on to win the Cup which also meant that Maradona did not have to keep a promise he made to the team's technical manager to run naked around the Obelisk in downtown Buenos Aires.

Church mural is too gay: In the Dominican Republic, an artist who had been contracted years ago to paint a church mural, denounced that a new priest wanted the mural torn down because it was too gay.  A community vote on whether the mural would be left standing or torn down was planned but I never found out the outcome.

Lady Gaga to the rescue in Monterrey, Mexico: In the meantime, LGBT activists in Mexico who had long lobbied the Mexican government to observe May 17th as the official "International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia" were enraged that the federal government finally acceded to their demands only to strip the words "homophobia" and "transphobia" from the official designation. Instead, Felipe Calderón's government, who had previously appealed the groundbreaking marriage equality ruling in Mexico City before the Supreme Court and lost, called it "The National
Day of Tolerance and Respect towards Preferences".  How did the activists respond? Of course! Staging a Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" flashmob at the Plaza of Heroes in Monterrey!

Menudo outing, pt. 2: Oh, and in the meantime, another former Menudo singer came out. Or, in other words, Angelo Garcia was already out but nobody asked him until a couple of months before even Ricky Martin came out.  But word of a 2nd Menudo being an openly gay man didn't catch fire until media followed up on Ricky's Twitter confession.

Premiere: Angelo Garcia rushes out demo tracks on YouTube

It certainly seems to have been a tumultuous week for ex-Menudo boyband member and now out gay man Angelo Garcia.

On Sunday, popular blogger Matthew Rettenmund posted an item from the June 8th issue of Spanish language gossip magazine TV Novelas on his Boy Culture blog in which Garcia spoke openly about being a gay man.   He also posted an update featuring photos Garcia sent to him in which he appeared posing with his boyfriend.

The post was quickly picked up by several blogs, including Blabbeando, and then got tremendous play in Brazilian mainstream media (don't ask).  It was only later in the week that Spanish language media such as Univision, People en Español and MTVtr3s picked it up and it's only now spreading throughout Latin America.

If Ricky Martin's coming out received what amounted to indifferent shrugs in the United States, the reaction to Garcia have mostly been associated to his pumped up physique and not his music. After all, he never really had the musical cross-over that Ricky Martin enjoyed in the United States during his "Living La Vida Loca" days.

But most reactions, including mine, have also focused on the fact that he is the second Menudo member to come out.

Actually, according to Garcia, that's erroneous: He says he came out two months before Ricky Martin did.

"Let me clear something up with all my friends and Fans," he wrote yesterday in a Facebook Fan Page post, "Ricky Martin might have been the most Famous Menudo to ever come out but I was the FIRST! I am getting a lot of attention about this now because of Ricky's Revelation so having 2 Menudo boys be GAY I guess is NEWS WORTHY but I spoke publicaly (sic) about my Sexuality 2 months before he came out. It is funny how the press TWISTS the TRUTH".

If that sounds snooty, petty or a stab at attention-grabbing, he explains in another post why he felt he needed to make the statement. "I did not expect all this media attention and I am not looking for attention or trying to ride coat tails or steal other's THUNDER! I am TIRED of The RUDE IGNORANT comments and RUDE Emails people are sending. I Love myself just the way I am. Like Christina aguilera says 'AND IF ...YOU DONT LIKE IT F*** YOU!'"

And he is right. Some replies on message boards and online articles have been vicious and more than a few have accused him of trying to ride the Ricky Martin's coattail to fame.

As I wrote in my previous post, I did find a previous interview in which Garcia openly discussed his sexual orientation, and in which he also discussed his experiences as a male stripper at Manhattan's now gone Gaiety Theater in Times Square.  But it wasn't clear to me if the interview had been conducted in April when he did an erotic photo shoot for Paragon Men - 2 months before Ricky Martin came out - or after Ricky had come out. In any case, the interview went unnoticed and it's only now that media is focusing on Garcia.

In those interviews, Garcia also mentioned he was working in new solo material. He'd previously released a solo album titled "Cool" but that was in 2006. I checked out some of the tracks out there and found some promise but was not impressed overall.  I also thought he was bluffing a bit when he said he was working on new material. Apparently, I was also wrong.

Last night on YouTube, Garcia released two demo tracks he is working on for his upcoming English-language release "Scandalous". I imagine he wants to take advantage of the attention he has been getting this week and who could blame him? It's also probably a way to try to turn attention away from his Menudo past as well as put a spotlight on his music.  But is it good?

In interviews, Garcia has described himself as a gay male version "Lady Gaga" but in the cover art and in the song stylings he actually reminds me more of Adam Lambert.  Both songs obviously needs some additional production work but I think they show great potential and build up on the promise he showed in his past solo work. 

First up, the better of the two demos, "The Morning After"...



And then, "Fallin 4 U".  Funny, one of the lines in the song says "I wanna explain it to the world that you are my favorite girl"... I guess if gay actors can play straight, gay singers can play straight too? Or will the lyrics be changed once the album is released?



What do you think?

Related:

• Angelo's Facebook Fan page here
• Angelo's MySpace page here
• Angelo's Twitter feed  here 

Previously:

• Puerto Rican singer Lisa M. comes out (April 23, 2010)
• Ricky Martin: "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man" (March 29, 2010)
• Dominican singer Rita Indiana comes out (March 23, 2010)