This month, Jennifer Lopez is doing a residency at The Colosseum in Las Vegas titled “Up All Night.” She kicked it off with four shows on Dec. 30 and 31, and Jan. 2 and 3. Much like last year’s world tour with the same name, it’s gotten great reviews. Apparently, it’s a mix of modern-day music, jazzy-versions of some of her hits, and covers of Broadway tunes and features a 15-person orchestra.
After a terrible 2024, Jennifer declared that she was focused on healing and being kinder to herself. It must be paying off because during her first show, she declared that she’s in her “happy era.” Based on clips that have shown up online, she sure seems to be. She’s also been good-naturedly poking at herself and doling out life lessons to her audience. While vamping with the crowd this past weekend, Jenny revealed the advice that her mentor gave her while she was going through her “really tough” divorce from Marc Anthony in 2014.
“After my third divorce, that’s when I really started getting good at it,” Jennifer quipped in a video shared by @jpasc24 on Instagram Mar. 7 during a performance for her Las Vegas residency. “Seriously, that’s not funny. That’s not funny.”
“It was actually a really tough time,” she continued. “I was really about to give up on it all. I mean, I was a single mom with two 3-year-old twins and I called up one of my mentors. Her name was Louise Hay. Some of you might know who she was. She passed away.”
In her time of need, the renowned self-help author knew exactly how to get through to Jennifer.
“She said to me, ‘Jennifer, you’re a dancer, right?’” the 56-year-old—who was married to Marc from 2004 until their divorce was finalized in 2014—recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ And she said, ‘When you’re learning a dance, and you get the steps wrong, what do you do?’ I said, ‘I just keep going until I get the steps right.’ And she said, ‘That’s right, Jennifer. Always keep dancing.’”
Passing along that same message to her fans, J.Lo encouraged the audience to live by her motto.
“And I wish the same for every last one of you,” she said, “that no matter what life throws at you, that you dance, and you dance, and you dance—again, and again, and again. I love you so much!”
“Always keep dancing” is great advice. It reminds me of Dory’s “just keep swimming” mantra in Finding Nemo and Michael Caine’s, “Why do we fall?” speech from Batman Begins. I love that Jennifer was given this advice in a context that she could easily relate to and learn from. It sounds like this was a lesson that’s always stuck with her. From the outside, it seems like it took her a long time to really understand that in this scenario, “dancing” doesn’t necessarily mean “keep trying to fall in love” but rather emerging from her challenges as a better, stronger person. I think she’s finally gotten there. Also, thanks to all of this talk about dancing, I now have Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” in my head.
My go-to mantra is always “This too shall pass.” The first time I heard it was when a friend, during a very difficult period in my early 20s, sat me down and said it so kindly yet firmly that it’s always stuck with me. Sometimes, it’s really difficult to keep dancing or remember that hard times will pass, though. Anyway, Jennifer really does seem so much happier and at peace lately. I hope she really has had a few years of personal growth and realization that she can be happy with or without a man.
Photos credit: PopCulture/Backgrid and Avalon.red