To viewers of the 2020 Super Bowl, the halftime show might have seemed like a terrific idea: Jennifer Lopez with Shakira. Two Latina A-list performers on the same stage at the same time? Magic!
And they sure were! But behind the scenes, as Lopez reveals in her upcoming Netflix documentary "Halftime" (as per E! Online), neither of them was delighted by the two-for-one feel of the program.
"This is the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl," Lopez says in the documentary. "It was the worst idea in the world."
Now, that's not because of Shakira. It's because she believes they were both being given short-shrift by being put on stage together and being asked to meld their performances.
"We have to have our singing moments," says Lopez, 52. "It’s not going to be a dance f------ revue. We have to sing our message."
Shakira, 45, speaks to Lopez in the doc, appearing worried about the way that they are only getting 12 minutes to perform, total. The Colombian singer notes that NFL organizers wanted all of the songs to be "weaved" into the performance, like a medley.
This sets Lopez off. "If it was going to be a double headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes," she says. "That's what they should've f------ done."
On the outside, the halftime show (the development of which is the focus of the documentary, which premieres June 14), was a success. Along with co-headliners Shakira and Lopez, guests included Bad Bunny, J Balvin and Lopez' daughter, Emme Muñiz. It was nominated for four Emmy Awards, and won one.
But the combining of the two artists, with only 12 minutes total, was "an insult," says Lopez' manager, Benny Medina, in the doc.
"Typically, you have one headliner at a Super Bowl," he says. "That headliner constructs a show and, should they choose to have other guests, that’s their choice. It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done.”