According to Entertainment Weekly, rumors were flying in late 2016 that Drake, just about the hottest thing in music in the 2010s, and perennially popular multi-hyphenate Jennifer Lopez, were a romantic item. Drake was seen at two Lopez concerts in Las Vegas, and a source told People that they were just friends. People’s insider said that the relationship was all business and that they were literally just working on music stuff, but that did not quell the rumor mill. In January 2017, a source told Us Weekly that the two were “the real deal” and had “gotten very close fast,” especially after Drake, learning that Lopez didn’t go to her high school prom, arranged a winter-themed dance for her at a Los Angeles church, and had her crowned prom queen. Adding fuel to the fire? All of the oh-so-cozy Instagram photos the two took together.
In February 2017, Us Weekly reported that things apparently fizzled for the two. And when Lopez appeared on “The Daily Show” that March (via HollywoodLife), she addressed where things stood: “Let me clear this up. I am not with Drake.”
Drake alluded to the rumored romance on 2017 track “Free Smoke,” where he raps, “I drunk text J-Lo / Old number, so it bounce back.” He name-checked Lopez again on “Diplomatic Immunity”: “2010 was when I lost my halo / 2017 I lost a J. Lo.”