Don’t beat around the bush when it comes to multi-hyphenate Jennifer Lopez.
At her concert on the final day of the 2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix, J.Lo came to work, and work she did. A tightly-packed set included gems from her past as well as sizzling tracks from her upcoming album A.K.A..
Clad in a few sparkly mini-dresses throughout the night. J.Lo brought solid choreography, showmanship and powerful vocals to the table. Her concert started 10 minutes later than scheduled, which did give enough buffer time for the more than 60,000 fans to rush down to the Padang to catch her.
Opening up with First Love, J.Lo vocals were on point and continued so throughout the performance. Preferring to keep the talk sets between songs to a minimum, Jennifer Lopez focused on keeping the energy for the demanding choreography and singing.
J.Lo’s setlist contained a mish-mash of hits from her extensive song catalogue. Classics such as Love Don’t Cost A Thing and Waiting For Tonight were interspersed with newer tracks, post-On The Floor.
Her male dancers also upped the energy with their sharp moves and suave looks, which gave concertgoers plenty of eye-candy to gawk at. Unsung heroes include the backup singers, who harmonised well especially in First Love. One of J.Lo’s backup singers is Pia Toscano, former American Idol alumni. Could that have attributed to the sterling backup vocals? Maybe.
But if there was one thing we had to put a finger on, it was J.Lo’s sudden brazenness in the sexuality department when her latest single Booty came on. The controversial track transformed this classy performer who used obvious sexual symbols sparingly; instead, she grabbed, tapped and twerked her butt wherever possible. It seemed a tad bit out of tack for J.Lo but kudos to the performer for not chickening out to the choreography. It is not easy to jiggle your ass in front of 60,000 fans without feeling a little cheap. At least, J.Lo was professional in the performance of it.
In fact, she was so confident that before Booty started, she said, “Singapore, are you ready for the real thing?”. Notwithstanding possible shade to some other artiste with an allegedly fake butt (*ehem NICKI ehem*), that phrase alone encapsulated the true essence of J.Lo. A consummate performer, a humble person (accepting flowers and taking selfies during the concert) and a classy professional, Jennifer Lopez will indeed go down in history as one of the greatest entertainers of our time.
And she will definitely remind you, no matter how great she is, that she is still Jenny From The Block (the song she closed the concert with.)
Shake that.
