"Jennifer, you are fabulous," a supportive gal pal tells Mizz Hudson in the intro to Jennifer's first video. But to be honest, I haven't been too thrilled with Jennifer's less-than-fabulous career since she won her Oscar last year.
Really now, the girl almost completely fell off the radar amid nasty, possibly Clive Davis-genetated rumors that she was incapable of finishing a full album. (She reportedly made it halfway through her debut album's recording...before the project was shelved by Clive and she was forced to start over from scratch.)
Then, when Jennifer at long last returned to the big screen, it wasn't in the feisty leading-lady part she deserved, but as a plucky, happy-go-lucky Carrie Bradshaw sidekick in Sex & The City--a one-dimensional personal-assistant role that required her to do little more than fawn over designer handbags and cheerily, thanklessly reorganize Carrie's inbox before (SATC spoiler alert!) conveniently accepting her high school sweetheart's marriage proposal and hightailing back to the Midwest. Yawn. Hardly a meaty, Effie-esque role this massive talent could truly sink her pearly whites and acrylic claws into, huh?
But huzzah! Finally Jennifer is back in the spotlight with (wait for it) "Spotlight," her long-awaited and long-overdue first single. And she's looking good in the video (the on-set stylist wisely refrained from outfitting her in metallic gold bolero jackets) and sounding even better. And the song's theme--about no longer wanting to be overshadowed by someone else--taps into that deep well of post-AmIdol-rejection emotion from which Jen so successfully drew for her breakout Dreamgirls role.
Check out the video below...
And yes, Jennifer...you are fabulous.