Jennifer Lopez Olive Oil to Activism in ELLE US February Cover Story Lensed by Micaiah Carter
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The irrepressibly talented, focused powerhouse named Jennifer Lopez covers the February 2021 issue of ELLE US. Positioned to talk about the launch of her first-ever, olive-oil rich beauty line, the eternally young Lopez is bringing her “secret sauce for aging backward” to a Sephora near you. The alliance will also put Sephora — and J Lo’s new beauty line — in 850 Kohl’s stores by 2023.
Lopez is styled by Alex White wearing Christopher John Rogers, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Prada, Valentino and more for images by Micaiah Carter. / Hair by Chris Appleton; makeup by Scott Barnes
Laia Garcia-Furtado, the features director at Garage magazine (which will no longer be part of VICE Media) conducts the interview ‘The Eternal Glow Up of JLo’.
Read on at ELLE for the details of JLo’s beauty routine and new beauty launch. AOC follows the activism beat and shares news that Jennifer Lopez will perform at the inauguration ceremonies of Pres9dent-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. With the Biden presidency and narrow Democratic control of both houses of Congress, the discussion of Puerto Rico’s statehood will be on the discussion docket.
Appearing with Shakira in last February’s Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show, Lopez can be expected to make another “proud American” musical statement, similar to her 1999 song “Let’s Get Loud” which featured an interlude of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” sung by her daughter Emme. Laia Garcia-Furtado writes:
“The idea of using the song ‘Let’s Get Loud’ [was about] never staying quiet and always using your voice against any injustices in this world. I feel like sometimes people act like it’s not our country, too,” Lopez says. “It was very important to me to put in ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ and have my daughter sing it, because she was [born here] and I was, too. My mom came here. She was not born here; she was born in Puerto Rico, and [my parents] moved to New York. We are proud Puerto Ricans and Latinos, but we’re proud Americans, too. ” Although Puerto Rico is part of the United States and its citizens are American citizens, the island’s identity has always been something separate and distinct from a mainland American identity. As someone who is also proudly Puerto Rican, I understand exactly what she means: We are from the U.S., but not really from the U.S. We get mad when an online store doesn’t ship to Puerto Rico because they consider it to be “international shipping,” but nothing is more important to us than showing off our national flag whenever possible—on T-shirts and bandannas, hanging from the rearview mirror in our car, or even as a tattoo. So you can imagine the level of excitement when Lopez emerged onto the stage wearing a feathered cape adorned with the American flag, opening it to reveal a Puerto Rican flag underneath, as Emme sang “Born in the U.S.A.” It was a singular, unforgettable statement.
Through her son Max, Lopez and her partner Alex Rodriguez became involved with the Black Lives Matter protests. It was Max who realized that the size of Lopez’s social media following empowered her to make good trouble.
“He wanted me to make sure I realized that I had power and that I should use it, and I thought that was very insightful. It was one of those parenting moments when you’re like, Oh, maybe I’m raising a conscientious, kind, loving kid here,” she says. “I’m not used to being in big crowds like that, but it felt very empowering, and it was great to see so many young people out there, really young people. I don’t think it should ever be looked at as anything except trying to make things better, trying to make sure that people don’t get hurt, that people are treated fairly.”
