Jennifer Lopez Was Supposed to Perform With Madonna and Britney Spears at the 2003 VMAs—Here’s Why She Didn’t
That famous 2003 MTV Video Music Awards performance featuring Madonna, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera originally looked different. In what way? Jennifer Lopez was slated to be part of the trio and not Aguilera. Ahead, what Lopez said about not being able to perform at the 2003 VMAs. Plus, when she later took the VMA stage by storm and how Aguilera felt following the now-iconic performance.
Filming kept Lopez from performing with Madonna and Spears at the VMAs
20 years after Spears, Aguilera, and Madonna sang a medley of “Like a Virgin” and “Hollywood” and famously kissed onstage at the 2003 VMAs, Lopez told E! News that she was originally slated to be there.
Filming for a movie, however, dominated her schedule at the time. (It also aligned with a rocky personal chapter as she and her now-estranged husband, Ben Affleck, had already called off their 2003 nuptials.)
“I was filming a movie in Canada, and we had met—me, her [Madonna], and Britney—to do it at her home,” Lopez recalled. “And then I just couldn’t get off the film. So, we couldn’t do it.”
As a result, Aguilera joined her fellow pop stars onstage at the VMAs while J.Lo “didn’t wind up doing it.” However, the now-55-year-old’s love for the Queen of Pop remains. “I love Madonna. I’m a huge fan. I always have been,” Lopez said, adding that “Like A Virgin” is her go-to karaoke song.
Lopez performed at the VMAs in 2018
After missing out on performing alongside Madonna and Spears at the 2003 VMAs, Lopez went on to take the stage at the annual awards show in 2018, where she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
She performed a 10-minute medley featuring an elaborate set, gold costuming, and backup dancers. And, of course, many of her hit songs, such as “Get Right” and “My Love Don’t a Thing.”
J. Lo’s VMAs performance also included surprise guests Ja Rule, who joined her for “I’m Real,” as well as DJ Khaled.
“I grew up on MTV, and this is really like a tremendous honor for me,” Lopez said while accepting the Vanguard Award. “It has been an incredible journey of dreaming my wildest dreams and then kind of watching them come true.”
Christina Aguilera felt ‘left out’ of headlines following the 2003 VMAs performance
Aguilera’s feelings about her 2003 VMAs performance alongside Madonna and Spears were revealed in 2018 on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy. She said the media’s focus on the latter’s kiss “was weird” because she’d also shared a liplock with Madonna onstage.
“And you know why they cut it? They cut away to get Justin’s reaction,” she said in reference to singer Justin Timberlake, Spears’ ex who was sitting in the audience. “I saw the newspaper the next day, and it was like, ‘Oh—well I guess I got left out of that one.’”
Ultimately, though, the “whirlwind” aftermath didn’t bother the “Beautiful” songstress. “I had my own performance that night. It was ‘Fighter’ and it was with Dave Navarro. It was a kicka** performance. So I was OK with that.”
The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards begin on Sept. 11, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.
