Her ninth studio album and first solo album in nearly a decade, Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me… Now mesmerizes listeners. Thematically, the album is a sequel to one of her first albums, This Is Me… Then, released in 2002. This Is Me… Now is a romantically lyricized fusion of R&B, hip-hop and pop, creating a seamlessly beautiful sound that will allure all music fans.
Lopez’s dreamy and sultry voice pulls listeners in from the very first song. Her suave rhythm and delivery of lyrics, paired with a mystical flute and harp instrumentals, match up perfectly to produce a beat that smoothly glides through your headphones.
Featuring a hip-hop-esque rhythm, the fourth track on the album, “Can’t Get Enough,” celebrates the passion of being in a dedicated relationship and the devotion that comes with it. The track shows the desperation in a relationship, and how intensely two people can become inexplicably intertwined through love.
“Dear Ben, Pt. II,” a sequel track mirroring “Dear Ben” from her 2002 album, This Is Me… Then, is a deep song that explores Lopez’s complex relationship with her husband, Ben Affleck. The sense of desperation in both Lopez’s voice and the lyrics draws sympathy from listeners. Lopez’s persistent love for her partner is shown in this track as she describes her conflicting emotions towards both her partner and their relationship.
The tragic imagery sung in “Broken Like Me” strikes deep within listeners’ hearts and sends chills down their spines as the haunting sound of acoustic guitar backs deeply emotional lyrics. Lopez’s vocal performance in this track outdoes nearly all of the previous songs of this album, the pain in her voice portraying a sense of raw emotion. The vulnerability displayed in this song shows listeners a side of Lopez that isn’t often shown to the public. It opens up her image to remind listeners that she is human as well, and is capable of producing more than facile pop tracks.
“This Time Around” features an energy-boosting sound that one can’t help but dance to. The track features a message of confidence and blocking out judgements from the media. Lopez highlights her ceaseless love for her partner once again, while celebrating their love and happiness for each other.
The penultimate track on the record, “Midnight Trip to Vegas,” shines a youthful light on Lopez’s long relationship with her partner, placing an emphasis on the passion and spontaneity of their relationship. The fervent love shown in the lyrics paints a picture of the joys of simplistic love. Through vivid lyrics, she portrays how she believes that the love in her relationship is true enough and that her partner and her do not need a large celebration of it to know what they have is real and genuine.
Although all of these tracks bring a special and unique perspective of love to Lopez’s album, the gleaming star of this record is the closing track, “Greatest Love Story Never Told.” This track features beautiful instrumental and sensual lyrics that display Lopez’s passion-filled relationship that spanned over two decades. The mixture of endless love and tragedy laid over a melodic guitar paints an elaborate picture of the narrative of Lopez’s love story. This track is one of those that you could play on repeat for hours, and somehow, never grow tired of it.
Overall, this record has the potential to be one of Lopez’s best, featuring emotional, sultry and exhilarating tracks alike. This is a masterfully crafted album that comprises the entirety of Lopez’s intricate relationship all into 13 tracks, telling the complex story of Lopez and Affleck’s life together.
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