Edging toward the dusty cliff of Angels Point in Elysian Park, the music video crew sets up its last scene at the picturesque overlook of sprawling Los Angeles, cueing the twinkling song about renewed tenderness, “Otro Capitulo,” once again.
Becky G shifts her feet in a one-two-and-three-step motion while an artificial gust powered by leaf blowers turns the scene into a hazy fog, all while she rotates to embrace the city that raised her with open arms.
I meet the Mexican American singer, whose real name is Rebecca Marie Gomez, in her trailer up Elysian Park’s main road. She’s switched out her silky bandanna top for a more comfortably fitted baby pink tee. Still tethered around her neck is a dainty gold chain with the name of her fourth studio album, “Encuentros,” released Oct. 10.
Becky G poses for a portrait on the set of her music video “Otro Capitulo,” being filmed in Elysian Park on Sept. 23.
(Jill Connelly / For De Los)
Advertisement
Still catching her breath following the serotonin-exuding shoot, Becky reveals she is happy and ready for a new chapter in her life, hence the title of “Otro Capítulo,” the only cumbia track on her new LP.
“The song embodies something that I’ve been feeling for a really long time, which is the turning of the new leaf,” she said. “I feel like I’ve just shed so much skin.”
The earworm of cosmic bliss and new beginnings is also the name behind her sophomore headlining tour, Casa Gomez: Otro Capítulo, which kicked off Oct. 11 at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom.
The song is situated in a larger collection of conflicting emotions, a varying negotiation of personal values amid heartache.
Advertisement
“‘Encuentros’ was like really this place of embodying,’No, no, we’re angry. No, no, we’re terrified. No, no, we’re confused. No, no, we’re joyful,’” Becky said, becoming alive with every emotion as she said it.
In March 2023, infidelity rumors regarding longtime partner Sebastian Lletget began to swirl on the internet, prompting a public statement by the FC Dallas midfielder where he apologized to Becky and announced that he was committing himself to a mental wellness program. Becky did not publicly address the flurry of gossip that ensued on social media.
“I think there was a moment where my silence was confused for weakness, and it was a choice and it’s important for me to honor that,” she said.
A couple of years ago, the 27-year-old believed she knew all there was to know about life, an understandable dose of faith for someone who has spent most of her teens and early adulthood in the public eye.
Advertisement
“More of my life has taken place on the internet now than it ever did before, which is so strange to think about,” she said.
By age 14, Becky G had reached a record deal with Kemosabe/RCA Records after uploading a zealous rap freestyle over Jay Z and Kanye West’s “Otis” beat on YouTube. She professed her desire to hustle beyond her short-lived stint in G.L.A.M., a pop girl group. “Wrong label, wrong time,” she rapped.
It wouldn’t be long before she itemized her career aspirations in her 2013 JLo-inspired freestyle, “Becky From the Block,” asserting “I won’t stop till I get to the top.” Then came “Shower,” her 2014 feel-good pop wonder about a persistent crush that propelled her debut on the Billboard Hot 100.
“The song embodies something that I’ve been feeling for a really long time, which is the turning of the new leaf. I feel like I’ve just shed so much skin,” Becky G said of “Otro Capitulo,” a track off of her latest album, “Encuentros.”
(Jill Connelly / For De Los)
Advertisement
“I felt like a mujercita already, I thought I knew everything,” said Becky. “The older I get, the more I recognize that I know nothing at all. That’s so exciting for me.”
Though her first album, “Mala Santa,” wouldn’t be released until 2019, Becky G quickly found her lane in collaborating with top industry artists like Pitbull, Banda MS, Daddy Yankee, Snoop Dogg and Bad Bunny. She’d often flex her linguistic skills in both English and Spanish and across genres like pop, trap and reggaeton, opening for main acts like J Balvin, Katy Perry and Demi Lovato.
“The music I’ve made throughout all of my career really reflects my playlists growing up,” said the Inglewood-raised artist. “It was a genre-less playlist from salsa, merengue, rancheras, pop/rock en español, to hip-hop, R&B and pop music.”
Last year, she ventured into a new realm with the release of her first música Mexicana album, “Esquinas,” which honored her Mexican roots in covers of drunken-sung ballads like “Un Puño de Tierra,” “Cruz de Olvido” and “Por Un Amor.” She also paid tribute to her late grandfather, the catalyst of her dreams, in the tear-jerking elegy “Querido Abuelo.”
“It represented culture, community, connection to the things that raised me. From my abuelitos to my siblings, to the two flags and languages that I identified with growing up,” she said. “I had to go deeper to this place of acceptance as well that I’ll never be a baby in my dad’s arms while he listens to Chalino and Ramon Ayala.”
Advertisement
The “Sin Pijama” singer teased her transition to the genre during her 2023 Coachella set, donning a cerulean tejana hat and a rhinestone bralette. The stage opened the door to what she considers to be “Casa Gomez,” the familial energy one feels when attending a carne asada cookout. She brought out special guests Marca MP for their lento 2022 remix of “Ya Acabó” and Fuerza Regida frontman Jesus Ortiz Paz (also known as JOP) for a raw rendition of their 2023 “Te Quiero Besar.”
Then out came a nascent Peso Pluma for their duet “Chanel,” the leading single for “Esquinas” that debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 55. The raspy Mexican vocalist would go on to perform at Coachella in 2024, this time bringing Becky G as a special guest to the desert stage.
“More of my life has taken place on the internet now than it ever did before, which is so strange to think about,” said Becky G, who has spent more than a decade in the limelight.
(Jill Connelly / For De Los)
“She was the first woman who lent me a hand in this industry,” announced Peso Pluma to the crowd of thousands.
Advertisement
But Becky G’s venture into música Mexicana has also come with pushback from outsiders who claim she is only Mexican when it’s convenient.
“I laugh because I’m like, con el nopal en la frente,” she said, lightly slapping her forehead after uttering a colloquialism often used to emphasize someone’s evident Mexican roots via their appearance. “It couldn’t be more obvious that I’ve been proud of my roots since day one.”
Negative comments fuel her to keep going, especially as she’s witnessed— and helped — other Southern California contemporaries popularize the genre.
“I had a conversation with Ivan Cornejo about this, same thing with JOP. We are having a whole conversation in English, and singing in Spanish,” she said, halfway laughing. “We feel like we have this thing to prove.”
“She inspired me to have a voice,” said Cornejo, the Riverside-born singer who collaborated with Becky on the sad sierreño duet “2ndo Chance.”
Advertisement
“Coming into the music industry, I was a bit nervous, because I’m [both Mexican and American] and she helped me embrace [it],” he added.
Becky G also sought a collaboration with Delilah Cabrera, the budding 16-year-old singer signed to Los CT, the record label launched by corridos tumbados pioneer Natanael Cano.
“I think that she is very inspiring to all the Mexican Americans,” said the Wenatchee, Wash., teen. “I see her as a big sister.”
The two belt heartfelt lyrics on the tender-strum ballad “Todo,” which details a cautious approach to a new love.
“Brick by brick, we’re continuing to build this bridge that artists like Selena Quintanilla started and couldn’t finish,” said Becky. “I hope that we can help kids who grew up like us feel more OK to be themselves.”
Advertisement
(Jill Connelly / For De Los)
“Encuentros” is a vulnerable, unrelenting and unfiltered compilation at the crux of heartache and healing that Becky G has experienced this past year. She opens the album with the brash “Xlas Nubes,” a corrido tumbado fleshed with the distressing tolls of agony. She then carries her grief through “Desierto,” a banda ballad that hexes a past love to an eternity of dreary karmic payback. The LP’s lead single, “Como Diablos,” is a formal reminder to an ex that from one to 10, she’s “a f— hundred.”
Songwriter and producer Hector Guerrero, who has composed for regional giants like T3R Elemento, Grupo Firme and Los Tigres del Norte, helped Becky craft the hard-hitting corrido tumbado beats of “Encuentros.” Most notable on the charts is the album’s lead single “Mercedes,” featuring Mexicali’s Oscar Maydon, which raced to the top spot on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay shortly after its release.
“Becky explained what she has gone through, which was very emotional. She injected us with those ideas when she would leave the studio,” said Guerrero. “What she has lived through is what is reflected in this album.”
But the rage, breakup-esque tunes are also paired with glimmering tracks of hope like “Muchas Gracias,” which includes an angelic interlude that poses the eternal question: How does one heal a broken heart? “Robando mas corazones? Quebrando más corazones? O sanando mi propio corazón?” (Stealing more hearts? Breaking more hearts? Or healing my own heart?).
Advertisement
And then there’s the bubbly techno tune, the one that was caught in an infinite loop the day of the interview, “Otro Capitúlo.” It is the nucleus of “Encuentros,” packed with a killer electric guitar solo, a nod to La Factoria’s 2006 reggaeton hit “Perdóname,” and sprinkled zest of the late Tejana singer Selena Quintanilla. “Lo que pasó, baby, ya pasó, Vamo’ a empezar otro capítulo” (What happened, happened baby, let’s start a new chapter).
The song also foreshadows what’s to come in Becky’s life.
“I’m ready to open my heart up again, I think you have to as an artist. We’re such lovers. We love love,” she confessed with a glimmering smile. “I think if you go through life so guarded with your walls up, it’s not really a life worth living.”
Now in the makeup room, re-touching her face for the second time in the day, Becky brings up the significance of possibly winning a Latin Grammy for her song “Por El Contrario,” a heartstrung ballad paired with the Aguilar siblings, Ángela and Leonardo, which is nominated for regional Mexican song. She started penning the composition in 2020 alongside songwriting juggernaut Édgar Barrera, winner of 21 Latin Grammys and best known for writing and producing songs for Shakira, Grupo Frontera, Maluma and more.
“Brick by brick, we’re continuing to build this bridge that artists like Selena Quintanilla started and couldn’t finish,” said Becky G. “I hope that we can help kids who grew up like us feel more OK to be themselves.”
(Jill Connelly / For De Los)
Advertisement
Admittedly, it would be sweet vindication for the Chicana singer born and raised in L.A., someone who is “always feeling like I wasn’t Mexican enough to win a Latin Grammy or to be nominated for a Latin Grammy.”
As the interview reaches its end, Becky takes a breath before quipping a cheeky take likely uttered in silence by every female celebrity whose romantic life becomes the subject of public discourse.
“I’m over here being a jefita chingona, busting my a— and that’s what people want to focus on?” she said, referring to her love life amid a decadelong career without scandals, five Latin Grammy nominations, four studio albums and two headlining tours.
“Please! Relax,” she added, cracking a puckered smile while she slapped away the wind with her hand, a charming attitude reminiscent of the young Becky from the Block who once dreamed of this life at the top.
Advertisement
The sun has set on Chavez Ravine, but the day isn’t over for Becky, who remained in the makeup room long after our interview concluded. There’s still a second part of the shoot, something involving a car. But after some time, she walks out of her dresser decked in a tan football shirt and a faux fur bucket hat, in her full prowess, ready to start anew.
When a once-successful director finds himself stranded in a wilderness of misguided projects and indifferent audience response, he may try to reignite inspiration by going back to the ingredients of an iconic hit. If he can replicate the perfect storm of elements that made the earlier film work, maybe the new movie will put him back on top.
This kind of thing happens often enough — examples range from William Friedkin shooting for a West Coast “French Connection” with “To Live and Die in L.A.” to John McTiernan making “Die Hard with a Vengeance.” But we’re in a far more degraded realm of return-to-glory-days syndrome when it’s Renny Harlin out to recapture the low-trash spark of “Deep Blue Sea,” his well-liked exploitation action thriller. Talk about a 1999 movie that wasn’t about the brave new movie future!
It was about killer sharks (with enhanced intelligence!) eating people, and about a scientific experiment — something to do with curing Alzheimer’s — that was there to fill up the space between chompings. But “Deep Blue Sea,” whose big star was Thomas Jane, went down as a summer sleeper (it bit its way to $73 million domestic), and the nostalgic fondness that a lot of people have for it surely fed into why we’re now getting “Deep Water” (opening May 1), Harlin’s most lavishly scaled production in quite some time.
In the 1970s, disaster films had titles that described exactly what they were. “The Towering Inferno” was about a towering inferno, “Earthquake” was about an earthquake, and then there were films like “Meteor” and “Avalanche” and “The Swarm” and “The Hindenburg” and “City on Fire.” In that spirit, “Deep Water,” which is very much a neo-’70s disaster film. should have been called “Airplane Crash into a Sea of Jaws.” As it stands, the word in the film’s generic title that echoes that earlier Harlin movie is more than a bit ironic, since “deep” is just the word to describe what Renny Harlin’s movies are not. They are shallow. They are dramatically flat. They do not have interesting characters even on a schlock B-movie level. As a director, he has a sixth sense for how to reduce actors to walking slabs of pulp.
Yet there’s no denying that Renny Harlin, in his utilitarian action-hack way, has some chops. “Deep Water” starts out by introducing the main players on an intercontinental flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai. Aaron Eckhart, with his likable downcast valor, is the First Officer, a stalwart fellow who’s a bit of a ne’er-do-well (that’s why he’s never become a captain); he’s suffering from an oblique family trauma we can kind of suss out. Ben Kingsley is the captain, a jaded overseer on the verge of retirement who is introduced singing “Fly Me to the Moon” in a karaoke bar, where he somehow imagines that his crooning is going to have a seductive effect on the flight attendants seated at a table. (The truth is that he looks rather frighting in his sand-brown goatee.)
Advertisement
We’re also introduced to the passengers, who are real Jane and Johnny one-notes, though we do take special notice of Dan (Angus Sampson), a long-haired slovenly bellicose chain smoker whose bulky red plastic suitcase the camera tracks onto the plane. For a while, we think it must have a bomb in it. It doesn’t, but it does contain something that randomly ignites, setting a fire in the cargo pod, which becomes an explosion, which ricochets into the cabin, at which point a hole gets blown in the side, one of the engines catches fire, and this thing is going down.
It doesn’t take excessive skill to make a plane crash scary, but Harlin executes this one with stylish flamboyance, as bodies get sucked out of the plane and flying wine bottles turn into shrapnel. Our heroes want to try landing at an airport in Guam, but that plan goes out the window, as they barely manage to ground the plane in the middle of the ocean.
There were 257 passengers aboard, all but about 30 of whom are now dead. The plane is in pieces, the main two chunks being the cockpit and the fuselage, both of which have been reduced to floating canisters with wires popping out of the sides. The plane’s pieces are now, in effect, life rafts (though there are some actual oversize yellow inflatable rafts aboard that will come into play). If the proper distress signal was set off (there’s some question about whether that happened), they should be rescued in a matter of hours. But until then…sharks!
They are mako sharks, which to my movie-trained eyes don’t look all that different from the great white shark in “Jaws,” as they flop their giant razor-toothed mouths aboard the rafts. “Jaws” was scary because it was about anticipation and sudden fear and the power of suggestion. “Deep Water,” on the other hand, has little in the way of suggestion, which is why it’s more gory than scary. Harlin stages the shark attacks in an overt here-ya-go way, with the one consistent suspense issue being whether the shark will consume a victim whole or bite off his or her limb or simply leave them with a nasty gash (which happens quite often).
Meanwhile, two bros (one American, one Chinese) start off as enemies but get over that, the scurrilous Dan continues to assert what a dick he is by smoking and snapping at everyone, and Eckhart’s character bonds with Cora (Molly Belle Wright), the now-orphaned young girl aboard, which triggers a reappraisal of his own domestic situation. Human drama! Not. (Or, at least, not very much.) Yet there’s a way in which it matters not, since even back in the ’70s the “human drama” of disaster films was just the frame on which to hang the sensationalist fantasy of death porn and survival. “Deep Water” isn’t terrible for what it is, but what it is is disaster product.
Jada Pinkett Smith is asking a judge to make Bilaal Salaam cover the $49,000 in legal fees she racked up fighting claims he made in a December lawsuit.
According to a motion filed April 20 and obtained by The Times, Pinkett Smith is asking that Salaam pay $49,181.23, consisting of “reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred” in connection with Pinkett Smith’s successful special motion to strike Salaam’s complaint, “plus further fees and costs associated with this motion.”
Salaam — Will Smith’s former best friend of 40 years who also goes by Brother Bilaal — filed a lawsuit against the “Bad Moms” actor in December, alleging emotional distress and seeking $3 million in damages.
Salaam claimed that in September 2021, he attended a private birthday party for Will Smith at the Regency Calabasas Commons. According to his lawsuit, he was in the lobby of the movie theater when Pinkett Smith approached him with about seven members of her entourage and threatened him. Salaam’s suit claims that Pinkett Smith told him he would “end up missing or catch a bullet” if he kept “telling her personal business.” She also allegedly pressured him to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
In November 2023, Salaam appeared on the “Unwine With Tasha K” podcast and alleged that he walked into Duane Martin’s dressing room and saw Will Smith having a sexual encounter with the “All of Us” actor. He also made claims about Pinkett Smith’s sexual habits.
Advertisement
Pinkett Smith swiftly responded during an appearance on “The Breakfast Club” and said that Salaam started the rumors as part of a broader “money shakedown” and that his claims were “ridiculous and nonsense.”
“It’s not true and we’re going to take care of it,” she said. “We’re about to take legal action.”
Salaam beat Pinkett Smith to the courthouse and sued her in December, but Pinkett Smith asked the judge to toss the case in February.
According to the motion filed this week, the former “Red Table Talk” host argues Salaam should pay her hefty legal bills because she “prevailed on her anti-SLAPP motion” and the court struck all allegations relating to media statements “that formed the basis for Plaintiff’s three causes of action, as well as additional allegations regarding a cease-and-desist letter.”
The following movie review does not contains direct spoilers for the film Michael, however general information in regards to the plot, characters, key climax points, biographical information and themes explored in the film will be heavily discussed. Please read at your own discretion, or after seeing the film in theaters.
There have been, so far, four films that aim to depict some portion of the beautifully tragic life of late pop music pioneer Michael Jackson, otherwise known to the world as The King Of Pop.
You’ve got The Jacksons: An American Dream, the near-perfect 1992 ABC miniseries that gave MJ, his brothers and verbally abusive father Joe Jackson equal screen time in order to make for a proper origin story. Then there’s Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, an abysmal 2004 VH1 TV movie that acts as a spiritual sequel yet truly should’ve never been made. Almost a decade ago we got Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland, the 2017 Lifetime Network attempt to cover his final years of life, told from the perspective of two bodyguards employed by him for merely two-and-a-half years.
Love TV & Film? Get more! Join the Black America Web Newsletter
We care about your data. See our privacy policy.
Today (April 24), the world finally gets to see Michael. The 2026 true-to-form biopic boasts the biggest budget compared to the previous three projects, distribution handled by the renowned Lionsgate Films, a director’s chair occupied by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn’s Finest) and MJ’s own nephew, Jaafar Jackson, starring in the titular role alongside a glowing supporting cast that includes Colman Domingo (Rustin), Nia Long (Love Jones), Miles Teller (Divergent) and Larenz Tate (Menace II Society) just to name a few. Not to mention, it’s got full backing from The Jacksons family and 100% musical clearance to assure his biggest hits are heard on the big screen.
Advertisement
With all that said, you might be expecting a masterpiece that borrows the best aspects from the original and rights the wrongs of the last two. Unfortunately, that’s not the case when it comes to Michael. Thankfully though, there’s so much more to love about this film in addition to a very strong potential for more.
Yes folks, we may very well be getting the first-ever sequel to a biopic sometime in the near future.
RELATED:You, Me & Tuscany Review – Sappy, Sweet, C+ Rom-Com
Before we get ahead of ourselves by discussing a potential sequel, let’s first start off with what you get out of Michael. The film covers Joe’s formation of The Jackson 5 in 1966 and ends with MJ’s iconic 1988 Wembley Stadium stop on the Bad Tour. The filler in-between covers their Chitlin’ Circuit days, the Motown era, run-ins with Gladys Knight and The Pips, finding his voice with Off The Wall, the epic creation of Thriller, the Motown 25 NBC special and the infamous Pepsi burning incident. Each of these scenes are done with great detail and a passion from all involved to get it as close to the real-life moments. However, what’s missing stands out like a sore thumb.
Both Rebbie and Janet are nowhere to be found — they each requested their likeness not be depicted — and neither is MJ’s longtime muse, Diana Ross. It was reported that actress Kat Graham was actually casted in the part, only to later have her scenes cut completely due to legalities. Off The Wall also gets painted as his solo debut of sorts, completely ignoring the four successful solo albums that preceded it when he was just a preteen. Also, while it’s perfectly clear who the movie is about based on the title, it does feel a bit off to see the closest people in his life demoted to barely-speaking supporting characters, save for Domingo’s powerful portrayal as mean ol’ Joe, Long as the ever-caring Mrs. Katherine and longtime bodyguard Bill Bray played by KeiLyn Durrel Jones.
Advertisement
On the positive side, Michael ultimately does more good than confusion. Jaafar is simply captivating when it comes to embodying his late superstar uncle, nailing everything from those easily-recognizable voice inflections to the classic dance moves. The film ends in 1988, right before MJ invests in Neverland Ranch, so don’t expect the heavy topic of his acquitted child sexual abuse allegations from 1993 and 2003 to be brought up either — well, yet anyway.
If in fact a “Jackson” sequel is in the works, we can only hope his full story is told with care, respect and most importantly the truth. Other important aspects we’d hope to see be depicted include an honest look at his vitiligo journey, the toll he suffered mentally as a result of the trials, the marriage, the kids, the dichotomy of balancing unprecedented riches against a substantial amount of debt and, yes, the prescription drug abuse that ultimately ended his life.
Overall, for everything Michael lacks there is something just as good to love about the film, and the potential for a sequel gives us hope that the best is still yet to come.
Watch the trailer for Michael below, and see for yourselves how The King Of Pop’s story began as his latest biopic hits theaters starting today:
