holidays

In 2023, Jennifer Lopez‘s new era will take flight with the release of her new album, This Is Me … Now. And in her latest newsletter, the 53-year-old singer-actress opened up about one of the songs she wrote for the set, and revealed how it inspired her and husband Ben Affleck’s blended-family Christmas celebrations.
“I wrote a song called ‘Hummingbird’ for my new album. To me, hummingbirds are messengers of love,” Lopez explained in her On The JLo newsletter. “They’re very agile — can fly forward, backward, and up and down. They’re also the fastest bird but they always have time to stop, eat something sweet and smell the roses.”

“I identify with them, but more than anything, whenever I see one, I feel like it’s a sign from God that everything is going to be OK,” she added.

The Marry Me star, who said she’d spent recent weeks “hunkering down at home” after wrapping up her newest movie Atlas, went on to say that she likes to create a different theme for each holiday she celebrates.

“I decided this year that the hummingbird would be a perfect theme,” she continued. “I wanted to have a tree in the house that was a hummingbird tree, reminding us that everything done in love and with love will always be OK.”

“We have blended families, doubled the people, doubled the fun, doubled the love, doubled the presents and tripled the chaos!!” added Lopez, whose household includes Affleck (whom she married in July), his three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner — 17-year-old Violet, 13-year-old Seraphina and 10-year-old Samuel — and Lopez’s two children with ex-husband Marc Anthony, 14-year-old twins Max and Emme.

One of the ways the “Let’s Get Loud” singer and the Oscar winner celebrated the holidays this year was by hosting a star-studded Christmas party in L.A., at which Lopez wore a Gucci dress with green and gold “hummingbird” colors, she pointed out in her newsletter.

This Is Me … Now is expected next year, though its exact release date has not yet been revealed. Lopez first announced the album — a follow-up to her 2002 record This Is Me … Then — in a late November Instagram post. She also at that time unveiled the tracklist, which lists “Hummingbird” at No. 8.

See the album announcement below:

Ariana Grande made certain that kids facing injuries or illnesses during Christmas this year still felt merry and bright. On Monday (Dec. 26), it was revealed that the 29-year-old pop star had sent presents to young patients at hospitals across Manchester, England, giving back to the city more than five years after it became the site of a horrific suicide bombing after one of her concerts.
“Thank you Ariana!” tweeted the official Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital charity account. “We were so excited to receive Christmas gifts for young patients across our hospitals from Ariana Grande.”

The foundation also shared photos of some of the gifts sent by Ariana Claus, each of them labeled with a tag reading “happy holidays! love ariana grande.” The presents were divided among “babies, children and teenagers” across Trafford Hospitals, Wythenshawe Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital and the RMCH.

At the time of publication, Grande has not posted about her donation on social media. Billboard has reached out to her rep for comment.

The Wicked star’s Christmas surprise is just the latest way she’s honored the English city since the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people and injured several hundred. The incident — later identified as a terrorist attack — took place as people were leaving the venue after Grande’s concert that night.

A couple weeks afterward, Grande and some of her famous friends organized One Love Manchester, a benefit concert for victims of the attack. In the years following, she’s gotten a tattoo of a bee (Manchester’s historic symbol) in remembrance, and released “Get Well Soon,” a song about her anxiety and PTSD struggles resulting from the bombing, with 40 seconds of silence added to the end of it, making its timestamp 5:22 — the date of the May 22 attack.

She’s also publicly spoken and posted on social media in honor of the victims several times over the years. “Manchester, my heart is with you today and always,” she wrote in a message on Instagram last year on the tragedy’s four-year anniversary.

“Although grief is ever-present and our relationship to it is constantly evolving and expressing itself in different ways every day, year round,” she also wrote. “I know that this anniversary will never be an easy one. Please know that I am thinking of you today.”