Jennifer Lopez has parted ways with her record label, Sony’s Epic Records, as first reported by Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke (Lopez’s rep confirms the split to EW). The once-hot singer-actress had begun to stage her musical comeback late last year when she released a new single, “Louboutins,” and then fell while singing it at November’s American Music Awards. (See photo at left.) This likely means that Lopez’s seventh studio album, LOVE?, will not hit stores in April as had previously been planned.
Finke cites insiders who said that Lopez’s last two singles (“Louboutins” and “Fresh Out the Oven”) fulfilled the contract she had with Epic, and that LOVE?—said to feature production work from the Neptunes and Darkchild—was never finished. Lopez’s manager Benny Medina told Finke in a statement that “Jennifer had a wonderful relationship with the Sony Music group, and they have shared many successes together, but the time was right to make a change that best serves the direction her career as an actress and recording artist. She is grateful and appreciative to everyone Sony for all that they accomplished together.”
Lopez apparently isn’t walking away from her music career: Her rep tells EW that the singer is currently negotiating with another label.
Lopez is still set to host Saturday Night Live this coming weekend. Although, now it seems she doesn’t even have an album-in-the-works to pimp during the monologue. Should she possibly just pursue a talk-show gig instead? Weigh in below, Music Mixers.
(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)
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Comments (1-15) of 115 Add your comment
she should just leave showbiz with the little dignity she has left. she had a good run, and she does have two babies to raise.
How come no one ever says that about men with babies? Is her husband incapable of raising their kids?
I’d guess so, personally. Judging from all appearances and what’s said about him, he’d blow a cog after a couple hours alsone with the kids.
But I bet if they got a divorce you would automatically say that the kids should go with the mother.
i don’t know about the husband, but its not fair to the kids to be raised by nannies and daddy becuase mommy loved the limelight. its not like this is a 9-5 job we are talking about. putting out a record involves alot of press, touring etc etc.
Are men incapable of raising kids? Apparently. At least based on what women have said about men being incapable of multi-tasking, lacking in sensitivity, lacking communication ability, lacking intuition, lacking empathy, etc, etc,. Also we are told that men are too prone to act out violently, lack patience, lack nurturing qualities that women have.
So based on what women have said about men, I would say that no, men are not as capable of raising children as are women. Of course it’s possible that what women say is not accurate, which would raise the question of why they are saying what they say.
I agree she should leave showbiz with the little dignity left, but that has nothing to do with having kids to run. She should just stop already because her attempts at becoming relevant are embarrassing her at this point.
theres more relevance to her than youd know at least for me on a personal level- as a latino iam proud that of jennifer shes certainly not a great singer but she held her own- her star has dimmed but im rutting for her- hope she focuses of her film career- after all she made SELENA and OUT OF SIGHT gems
You are rutting for her???
F relevance. While you’re busy sitting judging her hits and misses j lo is worth at least 100 million dollars. I’m almost positive she will do better than most in the end. No pop culture icon can maintain the level of success she had in the early 00s. However she will always be an entertainment icon for her contributions as a person of Latin descent to film music fashion and even ‘celebrity.’ That is all.
TIM- it was 4am LOL !!
I love her music
I know this article will be flooded with mean spirited comments about how she’s a flop and she should retire since she’s 40 (and apparently, therefore, should die) but her new songs arent bad at all. What is Love is a good song, people just arent interested anymore for some reason. I hope she gets a new record deal, and i hope her next movie does well. She’s very good in the romantic comedy field.
I’m not ageist, as long as you’re still capable of doing something, then I say keep doing it even if you’re 100. But the truth is, J.Lo is a mediocre singer at best and her music has always been designed to appeal to the most profitable demographic (*cough* teenagers *cough*). Her music career has been based entirely on her image, certainly not on talent or quality music. I’m afraid the same could be said for her acting career as well, even though she showed more promise in the beginning. But as soon as she got a taste of success, her head got big, and her priorities changed. Her primary concern was becoming a huge star, not being a talented actress or singer dedicated to her craft. I know I sound pretentious saying it, but it’s true. What do we associate J.Lo with? Paparazzi, clothing lines, perfumes and relationships with famous men. Things that have nothing to do with acting or making music.
I absolutely agree, 4rocket. La Lopez used to be a promising actress that was making inroads as a latino presence in Hollywood, but when Selena became a modest hit and she became intent on being a singer, AND actually became a successful pop star, she totally lost track of what she needed to do to ensure longevity as an artist AND a star. She milked her celebrity for all it was worth, doing crappy film after crappy film, lending her name to every silly commercial venture that would have it, she was obsessed with appearing in Tabloids and being a name brand…and since she wasn’t that talented to begin with, her star shone bright, and fizzled fast…
I agree about the acting. In the beginning I saw every single one of her movies, she was HOT. Anaconda anyone? Wine and Roses? Maid in Manhattan?
She needs to get back to acting in the film noir type movies. As for romcom, she should grow up. She’s old enough to play the mother.
She doesn’t seem focused at all and I do wish her luck with whatever she plans to do. She’s got a good manager, Medina, but I wonder how much she listens to him.
you have valid points -but jennifer had/has promise she just needs to refocus on her strengths- last two singles were horrid- so jennifer should rebuild her film career- who would of thought sandra bullock would be on par with Meryl Streep – and jennifer has career highlights – SELEN and OUT OF SIGHT – so at 40 with kids she has much to offer-
Marrying Marc Anthony ruined her career.
So twins come along and that’s it? Geez, no wonder Beyoncé won’t get pregnant anytime soon…Showbiz is such a biztch! But I must admit the Louboutins song is definitely a bummer!
Jennifer should definitely consider the American Idol gig if offered …Girlfriend is on the hasbeen road.
I didn’t say kids ruined her career. Marrying Marc did.
I second that thought!! I get the impression she put her career in his hands (whether by choice or maniplation) and he flushed it down the toilet.
Totally agree. I espected that she embrace her latin side and come out with some regeeton or salsa hit but no she is totally american pop and even her latin album was too pop not latin at all. I was a long time Jlo fan for her music and acting and all but now after Marc, got to believe he is holding her back.
hah, no it didn’t, teachersdatingsite
Lopez needs to step back for a bit and regroup. Her last album was laughably bad (not that any of them were actually good). Like too many other stars from a decade ago, they are still making the same (now dated) music. I don’t think we’ve ever seen just go good Lopez could be, and more sugary, deadheaded bubblegum pop (or worse, faux-sleeze R&B) is not anything anyone needs today. How about a traditional Latin album? Some *real* Latin pop. Or maybe pull a Madonna and do some electronica?
She DID a Latin album about 1 year ago. It sold so-so. She sang on American Idol in Spanish from the album.
If the AI gig opens up, she should take it.
Sony Epic and us.
NO BENNY MEDINA RUINED HER CAREER THE FIRST TIME AND NOW..SHE SHOULD
OF STAYED WITH SIMON..WHO NOT ONLY
BROUGHT OUT OF THE DROUGHT BUT SHE
ACTUALLY MADE HIT MOVIES. HER CLOTHING PARTNER DROPPED HER TOO
SO BENNY HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY NOW
She has no singing talent, so this isn’t a surprise.
She’s at best a studio artist and i’m being kind about her music
Same can be said about Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson et. al.
Ultimately, one less source of vapid dance pop can only be a good thing.
I’m no Gaga fan, but I’ll say it before anyone else does: she can actually sing live. YouTube is your friend.
Gaga is fantastic live – in fact, it’s the very first thing Ellen commented on when she was live on her show. Check the video. She wasn’t perfect in her first couple outings on TV, but she’s now done at least a dozen live TV performances (post-SNL) where is has been *perfect*. Live her or hate her, she *can* sing and she has buckets of talent.
Say what you will about Lady Gaga, but she’s proven that she can actually sing. Even Taylor Swift is a better singer than Jennifer Lopez. The woman is awful and so is her music.
Yes, Lady Gaga can sing live. But there is no way that Taylor Swift is a better singer than Jennifer Lopez. I mean, did you hear her tone-deaf performance on the Grammys? Yes, I realize how ironic that statement is, considering Taylor made it to the Grammys and won a statuette.
Ironic isn’t really the word. It’s more like pathetic.
the 4 worst singers I’ve ever heard: Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, Hilary Duff, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. They are equally awful.
5, i meant. i’d also throw in Madonna and Rihanna on occasion. Sometimes they sound good, but it’s pretty obvious that if they didn’t use their looks and didn’t have a lot of studio trickery, they’d have no careers.
Well Janet is talented..
ouch, kind of embarrassing now that she’s host and musical guest of SNL this week. But yeah she hasn’t had a hit in about 5 years so not really too surprising when her song got 0 airplay
I bet SNL is really wishing they’d gone ahead with Betty White after all.
ive never been a fan of j-ello’s “music” career. In fact I was never a fan of her desperate need to be a superstar. She was perfectly fine when she was an up-and-coming actress who got work from high profile directors. now all she does it spew out rom-com’s… sooner or later she’s gonna be meg ryan
lol so true
She may not have an album to pimp, but she does have a new movie coming out. I’ve never been a HUGE fan of her music, but I’ve liked some of the movies she’s starred in (“Main in Manhattan” and “The Wedding Planner” come to mind).
well, then SNL should amuse you greatly…
sorry mean to say “Maid In Manhattan”….typo
Annie, is that you?
I actually think she’d be a decent candidate for the Simon seat on Idol. She’s likable, articulate, and has had a respectable enough music career to be considered an authority. She was surprisingly helpful to the Idol contestants when she served as a “guest mentor.” It might be good for her career and possibly serve as a platform to launch a new album (as Paula tried and failed to do)
I actually think Jennifer Lopez on American Idol could be a good idea. But not in Simon’s seat. I assume whoever takes Simon’s place will become the head judge with the biggest voice on the panel, like Simon. And JLo shouldn’t be that person. Maybe I’m wrong. But I hope I’m not. If I am wrong, then it would probably mean Randy Jackson taking the lead. And we seriously don’t need that oaf in that position. They could get JLo to replace either Randy or Kara.
I agree she was surprisingly helpful when she was on AI. I didn’t expect that at all, but she really did a great job at seeing each person’s strengths and pulling it out of them.
I think she would have been really good as Paula’s replacement rather than Simon’s. Simon’s got a very unique role on the show and takes the industry insider seat. JLo wouldn’t be able to fill that. However, she would have been the perfect replacement for Paula, filling in the (not-so-current) pop star role.
She’s not the biggest talent in show biz but she’s had some decent movies; not Oscar-worthy, but entertaining enough. I like her for some reason and hope she finds her niche to regain her prior success. Regardless, she’s got enough money for the rest of her life and several generations to come, so I’m not too worried about her.
Stick to where you’re still viable at. Acting.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the tracks recorded for Love? were to end up as bonus tracks on an inevitable greatest hits collection the label will launch with or without her consent.