“This Is Me…Now”
Jen loves Ben – for an entire album
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck married in July 2022. photo
© Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/dpa
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s relationship has fascinated the tabloid press for decades. On her new album, the Latina singer declares her love over 13 songs.
Ninth studio album: “This Is Me… Now”
But above all: How does the revived relationship with Hollywood star Ben Affleck work? Lopez is now providing answers to this question with new songs. “This Is Me … Now” is the name of Lopez’s ninth studio album with 13 songs that are almost exclusively about her love for the 51-year-old. Lopez delivers open, self-confident and sometimes a little boring confessions.
Already in the title track to pleading R&B beats: “I’ve taken my time, but I love who I became last. Take me as I am and I’ll take you as you are and we’ll get through this together Life. I’m ready.” It is not the translation that sometimes makes such statements sound banal.
Love instead of dance floor hits
Other tracks like “To Be Yours”, “Mad in Love” and the more summer-sounding song “Can’t Get Enough” also sound like they come from the standard songwriting book about love. There are no dance floor hits based on former super hits like “Waiting for Tonight”, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” or “Dance Again” on the new album, instead it’s about love for almost three quarters of an hour.
The album title refers to the third album “This Is Me … Then”, released in 2002, which included the hit “Jenny From the Block”. The fifth song was entitled “Dear Ben” and was already a declaration of love to Affleck, with whom Lopez had been together twenty years ago. After the separation in 2004, which was enjoyed by the tabloids, the two confirmed their renewed relationship in 2021 and married in Las Vegas in July 2022.
Continuation of a sung love letter
The new album now contains “Dear Ben pt. II”, a continuation of the love letter sung at the time, with lines like “And when I try to pull away, then you pull me closer. These are the things that I love most most love.”
It’s easy to make fun of Lopez with such platitudes, but on the other hand: why? The woman has been an absolute superstar since her breakthrough in the musician bio “Selena” in 1997. She has also delivered films that have convinced the critics with “Out Of Sight” and “Hustlers”, among others, for several years According to Forbes, there has never been a Latina in the entire entertainment industry who has earned more money worldwide.
Film: “This Is Me … now: a Love Story”
Lopez certainly doesn’t have to answer to anyone, and if she wants to sincerely express her love for an album, then so be it. And it would be nice if she wanted to accompany the work with a one-hour film, “This Is Me … now: a Love Story,” about which the streaming provider Amazon writes that it shows “her journey to… Love from their own eyes.”
There is no second “Jenny from the Block” on the continued album version – but we hear a woman for whom it is enough to confidently and proudly tell the world about her love with relaxed beats.