Oh Scotty, beam me up and take me back to Friday the 6th (of June)!
I’ve been dying to blog about all the fun I had at the World Pride Music Festival that day! I would’ve published this article three weeks ago, but due to summer classwork and alllllll the thoughts I needed to process…
But at least it’s finally published, and so now I’ll finally talk about what needs to be talked about here: my attendance at the festival and the magnificence that was THE Jennifer Lopez’s performance! I remember seeing the news of her being a World Pride headliner back in February while at my internship site. I read an article on USA Today about it and was like, I’m gonna go see her in the very first row. So, I bought the 2-Day VIP ticket as soon as they went on sale, because in case the tickets sold out quickly, I didn’t want to miss out. I was absolutely determined to watch her perform from the front row, and it was my first concert of hers too. Really, she’s the only reason I bought the ticket to begin with.
Before I start talking about J.Lo’s performance and turn this article into a rhapsody of J.Lo praise, I’d first like to talk about other things I saw at World Pride. If you’re simply here to read about my thoughts on J.Lo’s performance, then go ahead and skip to that part. Otherwise, scroll like you normally do. Due to the length of this article, a Table of Contents is included.
Table of Contents
Arrival + Other Artists’ Performances
So at the festival, there were four different stages for people to watch different performers on. I only watched performers on the Dreamland stage, and early Friday afternoon there were DJs Anne Louise and Ty Sunderland who set the tone for the whole day. I didn’t arrive at the event until around 2PM, but I did get there early enough to have front row access. For the record, I didn’t stay planted there the whole time. I had the chance to walk a bit, grab a bite to eat, and check out the JLo Beauty Bar that was exclusively for VIP pass holders. I had time to do all that before the first performer of the day hit the stage, which was Betty Who.
Betty Who came out at around 4:10PM, and she put on an entertaining performance! I need to check out more of her stuff. The only song I knew of hers beforehand was one in which she was a featured artist: Troye Sivan’s song “Heaven.” Although, she performed “I Love You Always Forever,” and I recognized that tune. I didn’t know she sang that song, but I recall hearing it in at least one commercial.
The next artist up was *eye roll* Trisha Paytas.
I would’ve bopped to her songs if it weren’t for her having a history of doing some very fishy, problematic things. Not even just ignorant, insensitive-but-blown-out-of-proportion type of things, but very fishy and problematic things. In fact, “fishy” and “problematic” are too soft to use here. Better words to use would be “appalling” and “abhorrent.” Watch these two videos here and here, and you’ll understand why I tuned out her performance. I looked down at my phone and did not clap for her one bit. I didn’t even take any pictures or clips of her performing, just simply because she doesn’t deserve to take up any space on my phone.
The other artists, however, did take up space in my phone. I enjoyed watching Rita Ora perform! I don’t know much about her music, but at 12 years old I loved playing “I Will Never Let You Down.” I still love that song, and now that it’s playing in my head, I’m thinking about revisiting it. I also know of Rita as a featured artist on Charli XCX song “Doing It,” which is another song I voluntarily play from time to time.
Other than J.Lo, the only artist on the lineup whose music I already had solid familiarity with was MARINA.
Let me tell you something, I LOVED MARINA back when she had her diamonds! She used to go by the stage name Marina and the Diamonds, and as a young teen she was one of my favorite artists. The music slapped, the alter egos were cool, the aesthetics popped, and she was a really remarkable artist! Froot is one of my favorite albums ever and it literally entails my life’s soundtrack. However, she fell off after she dropped “the Diamonds” moniker and released Love + Fear. That album was so boring I had to cut it off after a few songs. It’s been several years now, and I’ll probably try listening to it again at some point. Still, I haven’t avidly followed her since then.
Anyways, about MARINA’s World Pride performance: I loved that she opened up with the song “Froot”! I remembered most of the lyrics, so I sang that song out loud! There were other songs she performed that I wasn’t familiar with, but you bet several hundred dollars that I sang songs like “How to Be a Heartbreaker,” “Primadonna,” and “Bubblegum B***h” out loud. Those were HITS! And interestingly enough, her new album PRINCESS OF POWER was released on the same day as her performance. So, she took the opportunity to perform the album’s eponymous track in front of thousands and thousands of people. One thing’s for sure: I need to listen to that album and also check out her previous album Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land (which I haven’t listened to but should).
Tinashe is another artist whose music I know little about. I knew of “2 On” and had also heard “Superlove” and her more recent song “Nasty,” but that’s about it. Nevertheless, I was excited to see her perform because she’s known for being a very talented dancer, and she is! Tinashe brought a lot of energy on stage, with stellar stage presence and hype person energy to match! That was really exciting—the ways she hyped up the crowd. At that point I had considered her the best performer of the day.
As for Paris Hilton, I’ll give her props for bringing bops on stage, giving the audience light wands and beach balls, and for wearing a super gorgeous rainbow butterfly outfit that internally gave me life. “Bad B***h Academy” is a bop that I’ve thought about listening to again on my own. That said, I was hesitant to embrace her appearance on the World Pride stage. I got a few photos and a video clip of her performing, but I refrained from taking more of them due to my strong ambivalence towards her. Granted, I needed to conserve my phone’s battery anyway. I needed to take photos and videos of the night’s final performance: the headlining performance.
Speaking of the headlining performance, now comes the time when I must prepare, brew, pour, and spill all the tea on that. I give it its own section, because the show was too special for it to not have one. I mentioned towards the beginning of this article that I’m bound to break into a rhapsody of J.Lo praise. And did you think I was joking? Oh honey, I’m absolutely not!
As a massive JLover (i.e., J.Lo stan), I’m not holding back on how much I adored her performance and HER in general. Again, she’s the only reason I attended the World Pride Music Festival at all. You best believe that I showed up ready to get loud and live it up on the floor! HA! I just referenced three J.Lo songs—“Let’s Get Loud,” “Live It Up,” and “On The Floor.” Clear sign that I’ve prefaced enough info about the next section and should just dive right into it.
J.Lo’s World Pride Performance
Leading up to World Pride, I thought I was going to pass out, blackout, or go into cardiac arrest as soon as J.Lo hit the stage. I said that multiple times to my mother, who said, “you better not pass out, or you’ll miss the whole show.” It’s funny, because on a J.Lo fan site, I imposed the “Don’t Pass Out” challenge on myself. Somebody on there started cracking jokes during and after the show, asking if I was okay or if I got CPR. They even flat out said, “y’all left her passed out on the field.”
So I have good news and then even better news. The good news is that I didn’t pass out, blackout, or have any heart problems at any point during the show. Which was shocking to me, because I expected that to happen and was mentally prepared for that possibility. (Ha! How funny I learned on a Friday night that the human body is more resilient than I thought?)
Though the even better news is that because my physical health remained intact, I can tell you in great detail my POV regarding J.Lo’s entire 1-hour concert. Something I wouldn’t have been able to do if I had fainted. Although, my mother did say that she would’ve written a letter to J.Lo asking for an autograph if I had.
All that goes to say, I still absolutely LOST IT as soon as she hit the stage. How could I not? I’ve idolized the woman for over a decade, and it was my first time ever seeing her in person after years of only seeing her through LCD screens. I have a nearly 3-minute clip of the opening montage on my phone, but I only have room here to share the part where I went apes**t. Warning: there are flashing lights in it.
At that part, what I really wanted to scream was:
But I stopped myself in order to keep this content PG.
Anyways, the first song she sang was ‘Get Right.” I love that song, and it was followed by medleys of “Booty” and “Ain’t Your Mama.” Also, that silver stage outfit was FIRE!
There was an Entertainment Tonight interview she did following the American Music Awards where she teased the possibility of performing new music at World Pride. When she said that, I felt my mind blackout a bit. LOL, that plays into what I said earlier about my belief of blacking out as soon as she hit the stage! Ultimately, she debuted two new songs during her concert: “Save Me Tonight” and “Free.”
“Save Me Tonight” is a song on which she collaborated with David Guetta, a famous DJ. She performed it around 10 minutes into her show, and then she performed “Free” as the final song on the set list. I had to revisit those parts of the concert to remember what they sounded like, but as soon as I did, I was reminded of how much I really want those songs to be released. They haven’t been officially released yet, but I predict that they’ll be released during her Up All Night tour that takes place in July and August.
If you click the links on both songs, I clipped them on YouTube so you could hear what they sound like. “Save Me Tonight” reminds me of a different song David Guetta did with Sia called “She Wolf (Falling To Pieces),” which the 11-year-old me frequently played on Just Dance 2014. “Free” sounds like a more upbeat version of “On My Way,” a J.Lo song from the Marry Me movie soundtrack. HA, those two tracks could be siblings: “on my way” to being “free!”
During the next segment, she performed several more of her famous hits: “Jenny From The Block”, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” the Murder Remix versions of “I’m Real” and “Ain’t It Funny.” I was getting my life together throughout the hour she performed! I knew all the songs, I’ve listened to all her albums, and if you were to meet me in person, you’d notice that I’m one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, J.Lo stan you’ll ever meet. More on that later.
She also performed a song called “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which is from the eponymous musical film she’s starring in. To be released on October 10th, J.Lo plays three different characters in Kiss of the Spider Woman: Ingrid Luna, Aurora, and the Spider Woman. To say that I’m excited for that film is a severe understatement—she KILLED IT in the teaser trailer, from the outfits to the vocals! I’ve rewatched it multiple times and know for a fact that 1) I’m seated and 2) I need to take a Life Alert to the movies come October 10th. The slayage is going to make me pass out and fall out on the floor, especially with how her singing voice has improved immensely over time. That + the out of this world costumes =
If I were a college graduate and had an actual career, I would’ve flown to Park City, Utah to watch it at the Sundance Film Festival back in January. For your entertainment, I BEG YOU to do yourself a favor and watch the teaser trailer!
One of the things I had wished for ahead of J.Lo’s performance was a rainbow stage outfit, particularly a rainbow leotard. What she came out with wasn’t what I had imagined. I was expecting more of an outwardly rainbow jumpsuit, similar to the color scheme that Paris Hilton had with her rainbow butterfly outfit. But what J.Lo wore was both in her style and still fitting with the theme—she came out in a gorgeous gold bodysuit with rainbow rhinestones to make it pop!
In that outfit she went on to perform “Waiting For Tonight,” “Dance Again,” “On The Floor,” and “Let’s Get Loud.” She brought out some fabulous gold feathers for “Let’s Get Loud,” which I lived for but ‘twas hard to see with me standing by the catwalk. And the “Dance Again” DANCE BREAK she did?! That tune has been my cellular ringtone for the past several months. Although for several years I’ve thought about how I could watch her perform that “Dance Again” dance break live on an infinite loop—it’s more beautiful than the Mona Lisa! She doesn’t perform it in her shows all the time, so I was overjoyed to see her do so at World Pride!
The most iconic thing about her performance is that she brought out the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington! Back in February, their Pride concert at the Kennedy Center somehow got cancelled (read more about that here). For her to invite them on stage with her after that unfortunate situation was literal queen s**t. Together, they sang a cover of “Freedom! ‘90” by George Michael before she closed her concert by debuting “Free.” I was very happy for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington having the opportunity to share the stage with one of the most amazing and alluring performers alive—they were a wonderful addition to her show!
Speaking of alluring, I’ll just go ahead and say it: J.LO IS NOT REAL! Okay? J.Lo. Is. NOT. REAL! Like, if you scroll through pictures of her on Google or Getty Images, her stunningness shines through. But in person, *whew* she’s ANOTHER LEVEL OF STUNNING! People who’ve had encounters with her commonly say that she’s just as beautiful in real life as in the photos, and I cosign that! Except, seeing her in real life adds additional disbelief that she’s a real person. The morning after her performance, I thought back to those stage lights shining on her face and was like, is she real? No way. No way she’s real. Also, she’s always had a breathtaking smile. In person, however, it’s infinitely more breathtaking and beautiful! My eyes twinkled SO MUCH seeing her smile on stage, because her smile literally shines brighter than all the stars in the sky!
About That Concert Sign…
Didn’t I tell you that my article would contain lots of J.Lo praise? Yeah, it’s quite the rhapsody. But I’m still not done—my article wouldn’t be complete without talking about the JLover pride I showed at World Pride, most famously with my glamorous rainbow sign!
Yes, I know that concert signs are largely prohibited nowadays at different venues. You may groan at the fact that I carried one to begin with, but they were explicitly allowed at the festival and at RFK Festival Grounds. Plus, my sign also only measured 24 in x 18 in. That’s how big it needed to be, especially so I wouldn’t block anyone’s views.
Now, here’s the creative process behind my sign:
For a Pride event, I obviously had to make a rainbow sign. Going based on that theme, I brainstormed the idea of having several images of J.Lo wearing the colors of the rainbow with the sign saying,
“my pride is what I had, oh my girl you’re what I have.”
It’s play on a song lyric from “All I Have,” with its original line being,
“your pride is what you had, baby girl I’m what you have.”
For the sign, I changed the pronouns and also changed “baby girl” to “oh my girl.” Reason being is that I don’t think it’s appropriate for me, a 22-year old young woman, to call a 55-year old woman “baby girl.” I mean, my mother is slightly younger than J.Lo and I wouldn’t call her “baby girl,” so changing that wording just felt right to me. Not to mention, I’m only five years older than J.Lo’s twins.
There are additional credits I have to give for the artistic concepts, particularly the J.Lo fan accounts on Instagram. Back when I had a personal IG account (I no longer do), I saw a few rainbow collages of J.Lo wearing different colors of the rainbow. Some fan accounts created them to commemorate Pride Month, and I thought that was really sweet and cool! Remembering those collages, I thought it would be genius to do the same thing on posterboard.
The images in my sign all reflect the multiple facets and occupations of J.Lo. My rule was to only pick photos from the past 5 years, because again, that just felt right. And I’m very happy with the selections I made! The red and green photos are of product promo, with the red one being for Virgin Voyages (2023) and the green one being from a gorgeous photoshoot for Delola (2024). The orange photo is a scene from her movie This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, which was released in 2024 but filmed in 2023. The yellow photo is of her performing at the Global Citizen VAX live concert in 2021. The blue photo is of her at a special screening for Unstoppable in December of last year (which I wrote a review on if you want to check that out; access it here). And the purple photo is of her attending the Palm Springs International Film Festival at the start of this year, where she received the Legend and Groundbreaker Award from Variety.
Believe it or not, I actually made the sign on Canva and ordered it through there once I finished the design. I thought about making it by hand. I could’ve done a solid job doing so, but it wouldn’t have turned out quite as neat, especially since I planned on writing the words in calligraphy. So, I thought it was more time-saving and cost-effective to create it digitally. Plus, I knew for sure that my sign would turn out neat that way. The only thing I did by hand was add gems and heart stickers.
Something that’s super funny is when I shared the sign on a J.Lo fan site, a couple of stans worried about how I was going to manage being at the front with my sign and without blocking anyone’s view. Thing is, I already knew that I needed to practice proper etiquette and not block anyone’s views by holding it over my head or the like. That was literally mentioned in the festival grounds’ rules. Although since my sign wasn’t that big, there was really no need to hold it above my head regardless.
Now I know some reader out there is like, “Okay, well if it wasn’t that big, why did you carry one then? It’s not like J.Lo was going to see it from the stage anyway.” And to that thought, I call BS. Because aside from my plan to be at the very first row, there was another reason why I made the sign: it was low-risk, high-reward to do so. And high rewards I gained!
For one thing, the sign’s reception turned out to be MUCH greater than I had even anticipated. Throughout the whole event, I received MANY compliments on my fan sign! The momentum started at the entry gates, when one of the workers shouted that they loved my sign. At least two other workers also looked in admiration and I yelled, “somebody’s gotta rep for her!”
From there, the compliments kept coming. Fellow JLovers really loved my sign—several of them even posed for photos with it, which was something I didn’t expect. Nevertheless, I fully embraced it and granted anyone who wanted photos of my sign full permission to do so. The workers at the J.Lo Beauty Bar, which I mention in the first paragraph in the first section, loved the sign so much they also got their own picture of it! That was so sweet, and then the same thing occurred at one of the food stands! While ordering a shrimp hibachi bowl, one of the workers snapped a picture of me with the sign and posted it on their Instagram page. Another worker right beside them also said, “I’m excited to see her perform tonight!” Again, I don’t have a personal IG page, but I consent to being posted on social media platforms as long as I’m not framed in a negative, derogatory manner.
On a related note, there’s something else worth mentioning: if there’s a type of attendee that music festival organizers love, it’s superfans, especially superfans of the headlining artist. Quickly after I met up with a few JLovers at the front of the Dreamland stage, a photographer got a picture of me posing with the sign and the “Let’s Get Loud” fan I had just bought at the merch stand. The photo they took ended up on World Pride’s official IG page. The post doesn’t properly embed itself for some reason, but here’s the link and a screenshot of me on the 4th slide.
Throughout the day, several press photographers got photos of me as well! In the break between MARINA’s and Tinashe’s performances, I was briefly spotlighted on the big jumbotron holding my fan sign. I don’t know if J.Lo or anyone from her team saw that, but my love for her was on display for tens of thousands of people at that moment. Someone standing next to me managed to get a small clip, so I have that available to share with you here.
My heart swelled with joy, pride, and happiness at my sign being so well received! When I made that sign, I did so out of pleasure, love, and to send the message to J.Lo that she is adored, which was further amplified by people taking photos of it. Seems like J.Lo got the message, because I made an appearance in her IG stories! Literally exposing me to a potential audience of around 250 million. Mind you, she’s one of the most followed women (and people in general) on social media.
How did I manage to get featured on there? Someone with connections to her team shared the image with her social media manager, which led to my appearance on the J.Lo-affiliated IG page On The JLo. That was quickly followed up by a repost on J.Lo’s own IG stories, and while her social media manager probably posted it on her behalf, I’m 99.9999% sure that J.Lo saw it. It’s stuff she would want to know and deserves to know, so I’m certain that the photos were shared with her before their posting. I imagine her looking at the photos with immense awe and gratitude, and with an emotional, delighted look on her face.
So, I SCREAMED and really got emotional after learning about that! My mind ran wild in disbelief that the woman I had idolized for 10 years finally knew of my existence. And you wanna know the funniest thing of all? The fact that J.Lo looked at me in my Dollar Tree flower crown while probably wearing something like a Versace robe or a shirt from Valentino, Chanel, or Dolce and Gabbana. Like, that flower crown was $1.25 and there went a centimillionaire (someone with at least $100 million) looking at it while wearing something that could probably buy my entire existence. Me getting that kind of attention from someone who’s both a centimillionaire AND one of the most followed women on social media? HELP MEEEEE!
Lol, I love the fact that I got that kind of attention! I just yelled “HELP MEEEEE” as another form of laughter, because it’s truly unbelievable that I managed to accomplish such a feat. And at only 22 years old. For context, there are JLovers who’ve idolized J.Lo longer than I’ve been alive. I started following her in 2014 after she returned to the American Idol judging table. I was 11 years old at the time, and I officially declared her my idol at 12 years old. Throughout my adolescence, I’ve admired her for everything under the sun. Not just for her god-tier beauty, but also for her talent, perseverance, charm, humor, spontaneity, gallantry, willingness to challenge herself, and so much more! So although I’m one of her younger stans, I can give you an extensive rundown about J.Lo’s career and even tell you some obscure fun facts about her!
After Day 1 of the festival ended, I started processing the happenings of that day back in the hotel room. As I was processing everything, I thought back to the IG story and was like, that woman? That same woman whose filmography I’ve watched almost in its entirety? That same woman whose albums I associate with happy memories of me playing Mario Kart Wii? That same woman who just killed it as the AMAs host and put on a spectacular show while there? (BTW as a lesbian, I LIVED for how she kissed a woman on stage.) That same woman who killed it at the AMAs as a host and performer a decade prior? That same woman who I just saw absolutely kill it in the Kiss of the Spider Woman teaser trailer? That woman? She saw an image of me and my sign and loved it? AAAGH, my brain’s been getting rewired ever since!
Also, J.Lo left this comment under the On The JLo post. Everytime I read it I want to make the world’s biggest cute face, UWU.
What’s also absolutely wild is that one of her twin children, Emme, was around two feet away from me at one point. TWO FEET! (Note: Emme’s pronouns are they/them, so I will be using those pronouns when referring to Emme.) If you watched the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime show and saw the segment of kids in cages, they were the lead singer during that part! Here’s the part time-stamped below.
I first noticed their presence at the festival when someone at the front shouted, “Emme, can I get a picture with you?” And they said in response, “you want a picture with me?” As soon as I saw them, my eyes couldn’t believe it. I started pulling out my phone, thinking about asking Emme for a selfie too, but I didn’t have the guts. Even though they obliged to that audience member’s request and took the selfie, I figured that Emme didn’t want to do the same with other random strangers like me. And they weren’t obligated to, either. Nevertheless, I was super stoked about seeing them at World Pride!
Not long before, I saw Emme in pictures where they were spending time with their mother. Now, I was seeing them in close proximity, which I NEVER thought would happen at any point in my life. They stood close by as they watched their mother take the stage. And what’s funny is that at one point, I was starting to yell “MOTHER!” as J.Lo was performing. I was going to yell it as a response to her owning the stage, if you get what I mean. But then I stopped myself once I realized, “oh. I shouldn’t yell that when her actual kid is close by.” And I must add: I didn’t see J.Lo’s other twin child, Max, at the festival. I suppose he didn’t attend, but I did recognize someone else who looked like Emme’s close friend. That close friend was also standing nearby.
So, how amazing is it that I fulfilled one of my life’s wishes of watching J.Lo perform from the very first row? My God, she’s an incredible performer who doesn’t get enough credit for her dancing, earworms, and A+ stage presence! Her World Pride performance only lasted an hour, but that hour went by so fast! I actually wanted her to perform longer and outlandishly hoped that she would be granted another 30 minutes-1 hour on the spot. Obviously, that wasn’t happening, but I could watch her perform forever and never get tired of her. I have no choice but TO STAN.
I’m so proud of J.Lo for everything she’s accomplished and everything she’s weathered through! Despite the industry-sponsored smear campaign that sought to bring her down last year (which I’ve even written about—read my theories here), they will NEVER make me hate her! I’m very happy to have repped for her at the World Pride Music Festival, and if she headlines another festival where handmade signs are allowed, I’ll do it again! In the words of this famous Internet copypasta, if J.Lo has no stans, I’m dead.
kristasoyyo.com 
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