Ne-Yo Says Jennifer Lopez is the 'Happiest I've Seen Her' Following Engagement to Alex Rodriguez (Exclusive)
Hot on the heels of Jennifer Lopez’s adorable engagement to Alex Rodriguez, the singer’s pal and World of Dance colleague, Ne-Yo, is dishing on the way that he learned the happy news and sharing how the smitten star “lights up” every time Rodriguez walks into the studio.
“Anybody who’s ever seen the two of them together, it’s like, ‘They getting married. Yeah, they getting married. That’s going to happen,’” Ne-Yo said, while stopping by ET Live on Tuesday. “I found out the same way everyone else did. I looked on IG and saw and went, ‘Oh, it finally happened!’”
“Then I instantly sent her a text saying, ‘Congrats, congrats, congrats,’ and she said, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’” he continued. “And, I said, ‘OK, y’all are doing engaged stuff, you go do that.’”
The musician added that he’s thrilled for the “Jenny from the Block” singer, and credited former baseball star Rodriguez for bringing Lopez so much joy.
“I’m super happy for her. She’s over the moon,” he said. “She really is. You can totally tell. I won’t say it’s the happiest she’s ever been -- I don’t personally know -- but it’s the happiest I’ve seen her since I’ve known her, so that being said, good job A-Rod!”
Speaking of Rodriguez, Ne-Yo went on to describe how Lopez delightfully lights up whenever he comes to visit her at work on World of Dance.
“He comes on set from time-to-time,” said the R&B star, who also treated ET Live to an a capella snippet of his hit, “Miss Independent.” “He’s super fun. He’s her biggest fan, which is great, and she lights up. She already lights up a room when she walks in, because it's just J. Lo and that’s what she does, but when he comes around it’s like, ‘OK, [put on your] sunglasses. We get it -- you guys love each other and you’re happy. Alright, we understand.’ It’s a beautiful thing to observe.”
Ne-Yo, Lopez and their fellow judge, Derek Hough, along with new World of Dance host Scott Evans are a tight crew, so it’s only natural that they couldn’t be happier about the engagement.
“It really is a lot of fun, man. It genuinely, truly is,” Ne-Yo said about his relationship with his colleagues. “Your job is just that much easier when you enjoy the people you work with, and we did the initial getting to know each other thing. First season, once the show got finalized, we all went out to dinner to break the ice and get to know each other. There was no ice to break! We all sat down like we had known each other for years and Scott came on and it was pretty much the same energy.”
The crew have switched things up when it comes to the rules in the latest season of the NBC competitive dance series. Ne-Yo, 39, said it was important to evolve the show so that each season can continue to top the previous.
“At the end of the first season, I said to myself, ‘Man, I don’t know how the hell we gonna top this,’” he recalled. “Then, second season came along and blew the first season out of the water. So now we’re in the third season and I said at the top, ‘I don’t know how we gonna top this,’ and sure enough, every single time dancers come in and show us something new and something we’ve never seen before. And that’s because dance itself keeps evolving. It keeps getting better and turning into new and interesting things, so given that dance keeps evolving, we had to evolve right along with it.”
Away from the show, Ne-Yo confirmed that he is currently in the studio working on what will be eighth album, following last year’s Good Man record. However, he’s still exploring the type of music and message he wants to produce.
“It’s my eighth studio album, so I want to say something that’s going to mean something and I want to make music people are going to enjoy, so I’m torn,” he shared.
As for who would make his dream collaboration when it comes to future music, the singer didn’t hesitate to name Stevie Wonder as one of the “five kings” he looks up to artistically.
“I have five kings, who, if I could meld these artists into one man, that is the artist I aspire to be,” he explained. “We have Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr., Marvin Gaye. Only one of them is still living, so Mr. Wonder -- we need to make this happen!”
“We’ve discussed working together a few times,” he added. It’s mainly scheduling that stands in the way. We just got to get it in and make it happen.”
See more on Lopez’s engagement and the latest on Ne-Yo below.
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