Jennifer Lopez wants to be rich and isn't afraid to say it — and she's not the only one
Jennifer Lopez debuted her new song, “Dinero” with Cardi B and DJ Khaled, at the Billboard Music Awards, and her unapologetic demand for financial freedom has set the internet afire.
On Sunday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, sporting a cash-inspired manicure, Lopez delivered an explosive song-and-dance routine, singing, “Yo quiero, yo quiero dinero, ay/I just want the green, want the money, want the cash flow” and “In love with the money so no need to mingle…”
Lopez wore a white, three-piece power suit that appeared to be a tribute to Michael Jackson but was likely a nod to his sister Janet Jackson, who accepted the Icon Award Sunday and, as Vogue pointed out, wore a striped suit in the music video for her 1989 hit “Alright.”
On Twitter, Lopez drew comparisons to Rihanna and her 2015 song “B***h Better Have My Money,” which was rumored to detail the singer’s legal battles with a male accountant who mismanaged her finances in 2009, leaving her “effectively bankrupt.” And many praised the collaboration between Lopez and Cardi B, whose hit song “Bodak Yellow” includes the lyric “I make money moves” and who has been open about her love of Yves Saint Laurent and Manolo Blahnik goods.
Musicians aren’t the only ones making bold and public proclamations about desiring riches. In January, Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo, the highest-paid actress on a primetime drama, told the Hollywood Reporter that her $20 million-a-year contract was a result of her realization at age 48 that “I’ve finally gotten to the place where I’m OK asking for what I deserve.”
And author Jessica Knoll recently wrote an op-ed for the New York Times titled “I Want to Be Rich and I’m Not Sorry,” explaining: “Success, for me, is synonymous with making money. I want to write books, but I really want to sell books. I want advances that make my husband gasp and fat royalty checks twice a year. I want movie studios to pay me for option rights and I want the screenwriting comp to boot.”
Knoll’s new book, The Favorite Sister, is about two female contestants on a reality show called “Goal Diggers” who are “not supported by men at all.”
A cultural awakening has occurred over the past several years that might explain why women are becoming more emboldened about money, according to Chandra Childers, a senior research scientist at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).
“Women may be subconsciously responding to misogynistic themes in popular music that portray them as gold diggers,” Childers tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “For example, just listen to any Beyoncé song for messages of empowerment, which affects how women view themselves.”
The #MeToo movement has also made an impact, she adds, with women stepping forward in the face of injustice and male control. In that regard, the wage gap is undeniable: Women make 80.5 cents for every male dollar earned, with a more dramatic gap for women of color, according to 2016 figures from the IWPR. “We’re now seeing more women advocate for raises, take negotiation workshops, and draw a line between earning an income and acquiring genuine wealth,” says Childers.
To Childers’s point, a survey of 70,000 people conducted by LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co. found that while women are generally promoted less often than men, they’re just as eager to succeed and ask for promotions at similar rates. The results showed that women of color, despite experiencing more career roadblocks than their white co-workers, have higher ambitions to reach executive levels and are more entrepreneurial.
Driving this movement, says Childers, is a sense of injustice. “Many women who experience the gender wage gap are angry about it. They’re now asking for what they deserve.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Jennifer Lopez’s Next-Level “Dinero” Manicure Is Worth a Double-Take at the Billboard Music Awards
How the royal wedding gave subtle nods to Meghan’s feminist values
Judge Judy on her $47 million salary win in real-life court: ‘We never question what guys earn’
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