Jennifer Lopez’s former producer has announced that he thinks the singer needs to ‘sell everything,’ move to Nashville, and release a country album if she wants to save her career.
In recent months, the singer, 54, has faced an onslaught of problems in both her personal life and her work – with rumors swirling that her marriage to Ben Affleck is on the brink of collapsing and her first tour in five years getting canceled following poor ticket sales.
But now, acclaimed Hollywood mogul and Jennifer Lopez’s former producer Jon Peters has revealed that he believes he knows the key to helping the Jenny From the Block songstress boost her career – country music.
In the latest episode of TMZ Investigates, JLo and Ben: Missed Warning Signs, Jon – who previously worked with JLo when he produced her 1995 movie Money Train – explained that he thinks the hitmaker would become a huge success again if she switched her focus from pop songs to western-style songs.
He said he reached out to her manager Benny Medina to share his suggestion – and even offered to fund a country LP.
‘Her career needs to change. I told her manager Benny Medina, she needs to sell everything and… move to Nashville and do a country or western album,’ he said in the new show, which debuted on Sunday.
‘It would be a monster, she’d get every young guy. I [told Benny], “I’ll fund it. You don’t even need a record company, I’ll put up all the money and we’ll own it.”‘
R&B sensation Beyoncé recently shocked the world when she released a country album, called Cowboy Carter.
Jon, 79, famously produced Barbra Streisand’s album ButterFly in the ’70s, before switching his focus to films.
He ran Sony Pictures from 1989 until 1991 but then left to start his own production company.
Over the years, he produced a slew of well-known movies including Superman Returns, Man of Steal, Batman and Batman Returns, and the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born.
In the doc, Jon also shared his thoughts on what may have gone wrong between Jennifer and Ben, and he theorized that Jennifer has a ‘love addiction.’
‘She’s a love addict, look at the men she’s been with. She can’t be alone,’ he said. ‘She needs a man in her life, she has never spent any real time developing herself.’
Popular TV host and addiction specialist Dr. Drew then dove further into the topic, explaining that love addiction is very real, and can be extremely detrimental to a relationship.
‘There are actually thousands of people engaged in 12-step programs who identify as love addicted,’ he shared.
‘The features of that include not having great boundaries, they tend to get sucked into relationships readily and easily, they fall hard for people, and once they go in they can’t get themselves out.’
Jennifer Lopez been linked to many men over the years, and has walked down the aisle four different times.
Rumors have been swirling for weeks that she and Ben were headed for divorce, as it’s been reported that they are living in separate houses and are trying to sell their $60 million Beverly Hills home.
They have stayed tight-lipped on the speculation, but they put on a united front when they were seen holding hands at Ben’s daughter Violet’s graduation on May 30.
Photographers also caught them sharing an awkward kiss at his son Samuel’s basketball game days later.
They arrived separately to the sporting event and greeted each other outside; they opted not to smooch on the lips, instead proceeding to do an air kiss, with Ben seemingly patting his wife on the back, before they headed into the event together.
In addition, Jennifer posted a tribute to Ben in honor of Father’s Day on Sunday, calling him her ‘hero.’
‘Our hero,’ she gushed, alongside a snap of him from his 2001 action film Pearl Harbor. ‘Happy Father’s Day.’
Jennifer and Ben do not share any children together, but they do have kids of their own from previous marriages – the popstar has twins with ex-husband Marc Anthony while Ben has three children with his former wife Jennifer Garner.
The singer released her new album This Is Me… Now back in February, and it was accompanied by a musical film called This Is Me… Now: A Love Story and a documentary entitled The Greatest Love Story Never Told.
The album debuted at number 38 on the Billboard char, her first LP to not make the top 20.
She then announced that she would be embarking on her first tour in five years – but just months later, it was revealed that it was canceled so she could ‘be with her children, family and close friends.’
Weeks prior, it looked like Jennifer was struggling to sell tickets, with blocks of seating still available at multiple venues, according to official seat maps on Ticketmaster.