JLo has made millions from her singing career over the last 25 years. Several of her tracks have even topped the charts. But it turns out, the voice that’s heard in many of those songs doesn’t actually belong to her.
It’s not all that unusual for singers to use background vocals to enhance the overall sound quality of their songs. The Culture Crypt reported that several of JLo’s greatest hits were sung by other vocalists, like Ashanti and Christina Milian.
Instead of using her own voice for the majority of her tracks, JLo relied heavily on other artists’ vocals. Not only did she fail to give the singers credit, but she also passed off their vocals as her own.
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Throughout her music career, JLo has had four singles reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, according to Grazia UK, the artist who contributed most of the vocals for half of those songs is Ashanti.
Before Ashanti was signed to a record label, she demoed the “I’m Real” and “Ain’t It Funny” remixes for JLo. MEFeater magazine revealed that she also wrote both of the songs and recorded ad-libs for them as well. Even though she was credited for her ‘background vocals’ on the remix for “I’m Real,” she wasn’t listed as co-writer.
In the final versions of the songs, JLo didn’t even record her vocals throughout the entirety of the tracks. Instead, she kept Ashanti’s vocals from the demos in the final recordings of the songs. The chorus for the “I’m Real” remix is only Ashanti’s voice, just like in the hook in “Ain’t It Funny.”
JLo Was Accused of Being a Fraud
In many live performances of the tracks, as well as their music videos, JLo simply lip-synced the lyrics and pretended Ashanti’s voice was her own. She rose to the top of the charts with those singles, thanks to Ashanti’s talented vocals and songwriting ability.
Since JLo didn’t give Ashanti fair credit for her hard work, many people have accused her of being a fraud. In a 2014 interview with BlogXilla, Ashanti opened up about how she really felt about JLo taking over one of the songs she had recorded vocals for and written.
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Ashanti admitted that when Irv Gotti, the co-founder of the record label she would eventually be signed to, gave the “I’m Real” remix to JLo, she felt a mixture of emotions. She explained that it was bittersweet because, on one hand, she was excited that her song was going to JLo.
But on the other hand, Ashanti wasn’t happy. She was upset at Irv for giving JLo the track because he knew how badly she wanted to keep it. However, she stayed quiet about JLo essentially taking credit for both of the remixed songs for a very long time.
Ashanti Deserved to Be Credited
Two years ago, Ashanti finally spoke out about the importance of giving credit when it’s due. It had been a little over 20 years since the remixes of “I’m Real” and “Ain’t It Funny” were released. But many people had only learned about her role in creating two of JLo’s greatest hits in January 2021, when Ashanti talked about it during her VERZUZ episode.
During an interview with Metro UK in April 2022, Ashanti explained that she was thankful that more people were starting to realize how much she had really contributed to JLo’s songs. She also confessed that for quite a while, she was pretty irritated about the situation.
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Ashanti claimed that “not being properly labeled,” and not being given fair credit for the work she had put into the tracks resulted in her feeling frustrated. So when people started admiring her for those songs years later, it felt a little strange at first. But ultimately, Ashanti was grateful that she was finally being given credit.
According to the website Wealthy Genius, JLo’s estimated net worth is around $400 million. Apparently, she’s made at least $95 million just from her singing career, despite the fact that many of her songs have used more vocals from other singers than her own voice.
Considering how much money and fame JLo has received from her singing career, which was created from stealing other artists’ vocals, it’s easy to see why Ashanti was so frustrated. It didn’t matter whether or not she would’ve earned much in royalties from being officially credited for what she contributed to the remixed tracks. She still deserved to be recognized for her work.
