For the past three decades, Jennifer Lopez has been one of the most popular and newsworthy artists. On “This is Me… Now,” Lopez creates a sequel to her 2002 album “This is Me… Then” and shows us what she has gone through the past two decades on her journey to love and how she found herself back to the one she was always meant to be with.
“This is Me… Now” is Lopez’s first solo studio album in a decade, though she was still releasing multiple singles a year and staying relevant and successful since her last album in 2014.
Since then, she has gone through many prolific relationships and break ups including ones with her backup dancer Casper Smart, former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and getting back together with her ex-husband, Ben Affleck. These three relationships are vital context when listening to the new album and watching the accompanying film.
A scene from the "Can't Get Enough" music video and "This is Me... Now." Photo courtesy of Nuyorican Productions
My favorite parts of the album are when Lopez is actually trying to tell a story about her real life. The songs where we are learning about a real experience that she went through are “Midnight Trip to Vegas” and “Greatest Love Story Never Told.”
The album is fully solo and on a good majority of the songs, there is a third verse that is rapped by Lopez. On some of the songs, I really enjoy her raps, but they got repetitive after a while.
The musical film gives more insight into Lopez’s relationships. Even though she said it is not an autobiographical film, she said there is definitely truth to it. Sonically, the album sounds similar to the R&B/pop sound that we all know her for and that she does so well.
She tries to emulate the sound from the “This is Me… Then” album and does it well, but there is nothing really interesting about the production on the album as it all stays in that same lane.
A wedding scene from "This is Me... Now." Photo courtesy of Nuyorican Productions
“Rebound,” “Mad in Love,” and “not.going.anywhere.” are fun J.Lo bops that could have been released as singles, but it is tracks like “Midnight Trip to Vegas” and “Greatest Love Story Never Told” that perfectly fit what this album is trying to say.
Even though it was a little bit muddy on the way there, we get to some real lyrical moments on those last two tracks of the album. Those two songs are my favorite because they feel the closest to what Lopez is really feeling and the most vulnerable.
She is so widely known that she has become some sort of an enigma. A beautiful versatile icon that so many look up to that no one can really touch or get to know because it might take away all that glamor and allure. I wish that there was more of this Lopez on the album, but I respect her for making another album when she really did not need to.
The musical film, in a lot of ways, feels like the mix of one long music video and a genuine romantic drama film. She wanted to create something to go along with the album and created something that is so insane it truly should be watched by everyone just for the insanity of it all.
A scene from the heart factory in "This Is Me... Now." Photo courtesy of Nuyorican Productions
The film touches on this journey of love for her not just being in the last decade, or two decades, it has been ever since she was a little girl. In the film, we see a young Lopez talk to a current Lopez, and the current Lopez has to console young Lopez.
In this moment you see both Lopez’s get healed and learn that they need to love themselves first, and that’s why their journey with love and relationships has been so trivial.
Jennifer Lopez for "This is Me... Now." Photo courtesy of Nuyorican Productions
Lopez really used every last bit of the $20 million budget on big blockbuster effects and computer-generated imagery that looks just as good or even better than some Marvel movies, and a wide range of cameos.
Using these cameos to represent all the zodiac signs was a smart and cute idea, and I never thought I would watch Jane Fonda, Post Malone and Neil deGrasse Tyson all act together in one room.
All that to say, only someone like her can get this wide variety of characters all in one room. Affleck, her husband and muse for a lot of the music on this album, has a cameo in the musical film in an unexpected role. It took me until I was halfway through the film to realize that this character was actually him.
This album and film is a lot of J.Lo all at once and she definitely gave every piece of this her all. Does it feel excessive and redundant some of the time? Yes, but if you are wanting to be entertained, Lopez definitely knows how to do it well.
