Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez attend Jennifer Lopez’s MTV VMA’s Vanguard Award Celebration at Beauty & Essex on August 21, 2018 in New York City.

NEW YORK CITY: After she collected her Michael Jackson Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall, Jennifer Lopez grabbed her man, Yankee’s retiree Alex Rodriguez and her best friend and fellow Bronx alum Cardi B and headed downtown in New York.

Aptly, the performer opened her VMA medley performance with her mega track Waiting For Tonight – and it really could be said that the 49-year-old had been dreaming of this for so long. Flanked by her friends like Olivia Munn, Liam Payne and Tiffany Haddish, Lopez’s long-time manager Benny Medina (whom she thanked in her Vanguard acceptance speech), toasted her incredible 20-year career in the music industry.

The location was Beauty & Essex on New York’s Lower East Side. On any given night, a huge, two-storey chandelier greets guests as they walk upstairs and into the early-sixties glam, peacock-themed grand dining room. Inside this space Lopez’s team had decorated it as a mini museum with pieces of the singer’s career; chart-topping records, magazine covers, bejewelled microphones and costumes from her shows. A huge moon man-shaped cake was brought out before the woman who-barely-drinks-but-can-definitely-dance tore up the dancefloor with her friends.

(Editor’s note: While a round of three spirits at Beauty & Essex will set you back a cool AUD $85 (take it from somebody who knows this well), you are better off opting for one of the strong and inventive cocktails a la the spicy Smoked Opal Martini.)

Lopez this week told MTV the key to success is never actually feeling like you’ve arrived. She says she’s constantly evolving to ensure she never stays stagnant or stale and will always work harder than anybody else.

 

Winnie Harlow/Getty Images
Winnie Harlow and Liam Payne
Tiffany Haddish
Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Azalea

View of the dance floor
The chandelier when you walk in.
View of the storefront

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez reminisce over time pieces from her career