Tonight (December 9), with the sad news that singer Jenni Rivera is believed to have died in a plane crash in Mexico, we look back to a candid Billboard video interview from April in which the Mexican-American artist talked about her multi-faceted success, her reality show “I Love Jenni,” and more.
Jenni Rivera, 1969-2012: See All Our Coverage
“I’m happy for the success that I’ve had, but I’ve worked so hard at it,” Rivera said in the interview, which took place at the Billboard Latin Music Conference in April, 2012. “It’s not that I feel that I deserve it. You work hard and you have expectations. So I’m living my expectations right now. . . Being a recording artist, selling music, selling concerts out, having a reality show, starting film; it’s great, it’s beautiful.”
Besides having ruled a number of Latin charts — including Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums and more — Rivera was a star of her own reality show, “I Love Jenni,” on mun2, and had recently signed a deal with ABC to star in her own comedy series, “Jenni.” She was also a coach on “The Voice Mexico.”
Rivera expressed surprise at how big of an audience “I Love Jenni” has found. “I’m just being myself. To me, that people are interested in Jenni, not necessarily the artist, but the woman. . . it amazes me still.”