We’re in for another skinny margarita summer if Jennifer Lopez has anything to say about it!
As the superstar preps to spend the warm months on the road for her This Is Me … Live tour, she is also launching a brand-new cocktail from her brand Delola: a light margarita! The ultimate hostess doesn’t drink much, but she does love to throw a good party—whether she’s at home with husband Ben Affleck and their friends, or in her luxe trailer with her team during a world tour.
In honor of her cocktail launch, Lopez sat down for a chat with Harper’s Bazaar to discuss the new cocktail, her hosting hacks, her go-to comfort food, and that orange deli drink she’s gone viral for.
I’m so excited you’re launching a margarita—that’s one of my favorite cocktails. Why did you decide to do it?
For me, it was the perfect addition because of what you just said: It’s the most popular cocktail in the United States. People love a margarita. We all love an occasional margarita. And we wanted to create a ready-to-enjoy option, since we all know that making a margarita from scratch takes a little bit of effort and it’s a little bit of a mess.
It was just the perfect fit for our our brand. It’s easy, it has great flavor, it’s low in sugar. So, it’s a healthier option. It only has like 125 calories per serving.
Are there foods you’re excited to pair it with?
I mean, chips and salsa for sure.
What about any other Latin foods that you like? Tostones? Guacamole?
Absolutely. The first thing that comes to my mind is arroz con gandules y pernil (a Puerto Rican rice dish), for some reason, but it could be anything, to be quite honest. I mean, just all different types of Latin cuisine. I do think of Mexico; I think of Cinco de Mayo.
Do you cook at home, or do any of your kids like to cook?
I love to cook. My kids love to bake. I love hosting at home, family and friends, especially now that the weather is warmer. I like to have people over. I don’t like to go out a bunch.
And also I’m gonna be going on tour this summer, so for sure we’ll have Delola at the venues, and I’m just excited for more people to be exposed to it and try it.
Yes, I was gonna say, I know you don’t drink much. Why did launching this cocktail brand feel like the right step for you?
For me, it’s the drink that was missing for somebody who’s a light drinker. Cocktails always seemed so heavy to me—it seemed like so much alcohol content, so much sugar, so many calories, you know? It just wasn’t right for me. And that’s why I decided to create something that felt right for me, and that I think a lot of other people will appreciate.
I’m also very busy. I don’t want to be spending time making cocktails. When my friends come over, it’s like: Pour it over ice in a wine glass and we’re done, you know?
We love an easy drink. Do you have any other hosting hacks? What do you do when you throw a party?
You know, for me, it’s really like the aesthetic of things. Because I’m an artist, I guess, I love making art out of everything. So like, the table-scape is art. The way the food is on the plate is art. The ice cubes and the drink are art. It’s about which glasses you pick, which napkins, the music that’s playing.
There’s always a whole mood that I love to set when I’m thinking about entertaining and having friends over for drinks and to relax.
Sometimes it’s a brunch or an afternoon by the pool, or a nice small dinner with a few friends. Even just an everyday kind of like—a friend coming over and sitting down by the fire. It’s all those things that to me are the artful moments of your life. It’s like creating the most beautiful life you can for yourself, and creating these moments that are unforgettable for you and your family and friends. To me, that’s really what the Delola lifestyle is about: creating beautiful moments.
I love that, and I mean, people—including myself—also love to have a cocktail while getting ready for an event or a night out. Is that something that you do?
I have done it, yeah. I’m so fortunate at times to be going to these really dreamy events—whether it’s a big awards show or a premiere or something. And so, we’re always trying to not just make it feel like work all the time, and instead make it feel like a special occasion. So we have fun with it, and have a little cocktail right before we leave, and stuff like that—especially when the glam squad is over!
As a fellow New Yorker, I just really want to ask what your viral orange deli drink is, because we've all been trying to figure it out.
Haha, I know that there was a lot of talk about it. But the orange drink was basically … it’s just a plain orange drink. It came in a little plastic container with a little bit of aluminum foil over it. And it wasn’t called anything except orange drink or grape drink or whatever.
There was orange, a grape, and a fruit punch. And that’s why I said, “If you know you know,” because you bought it in the bodega and I used to go after school and get that for like … I mean, this is many, many years ago, it was worth 25 cents, and I got it with a bag of potato chips. And that was like my after-school treat for myself.
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.
