Jennifer Lopez - This is Me...Now

by Zena Grieg

published: 8 / 3 / 2024

Label: BMG
Format: CD

First album in a decade from Jennifer Lopez released to accompany a new autobiographical film

Review

The first new album in ten years by singer, dancer and actor Jennifer Lopez has been released, her ninth studio album and an accompaniment to an autobiographical Prime Video film dramatizing 54 year-old Lopez’s romantic life. ‘This Is Me … Now’ is a sequel to her 2002 ‘This Is Me…Then’ and an amorous tribute to her partner Ben Affleck, who she split up from in 2004 before subsequently getting back together with him and marrying in 2022. Slickly produced, this new album is a mix of ballads and R&B numbers, laced with electronica and Latin overtones. There are baroque touches, with violins, harps and celestas interspersed between the beats, destiny and love the overriding themes. Songs to listen out for in this thirteen-track collection include: the opener, the title track with its romantic flute and harp instrumentation and defiant self-assurance: “I watched my mother miss out on her life/All those could-have-beens became her sacrifice/… I love who I am lately/This is me now”; energetic love song with its hip-hop beat ‘To Be Yours’; the horn-led lead single ‘Can’t Get Enough’ with its fun, self-parodying video; the catchy, pop ‘Rebound’; nostalgic ‘Hearts And Flowers’; the sombre heartbreak ballad ‘Broken Like Me’ with its expressive vocals, Spanish guitars and raw lyrics: “… tried to believe/That I could fix you, but you’re broken like me”; ‘This Time Around’ with its insinuating Latin vibe and in-your-face lines: ”This time around, we gon’ make it real/We don’t give a fuck ‘bout how they feel”; and the closer ‘Greatest Story Never Told’ with Lopez’s distinctive vocals counterpointed by acoustic guitar, piano and strings. An album which makes for easy listening, ‘This Is Me…Now’ is one to appeal to loyal fans.

Track Listing:-

1 This Is Me...Now
2 To Be Yours
3 Mad In Love
4 Can't Get Enough
5 Not.Going.Anywhere.
6 Rebound
7 Dear Ben, Pt. II
8 Hummingbird
9 Hearts And Flowers
10 Broken Like Me
11 This Time Around
12 Midnight Trip To Vegas
13 Greatest Love Story Never Told