“This is Me..Now” by Jennifer Lopez The origins of it can be traced back to a romantic comedy narrative, possibly starring Lopez herself. This is Me (2002), the pop-R&B opus’s spiritual precursor, is linked to it. Secondly, it was somewhat influenced by her developing connection with Ben Affleck, and similarly, this current one is influenced by, well, the same thing. Sort of. In keeping with the new record, Lopez went back over a series of correspondences that Affleck sent her after they first started dating. In retrospect, it’s kind of lovely that he kept them after their breakup, which must have frightened Jennifer Garner, his ex-wife. Affleck sent her the notes when they resumed their romance in 2021.
This is Me… Now is infused with love, romance, and history. This charming narrative of long-lost lovers finding each other again shows how much their thoughts continued to cross each other’s paths as their lives developed, changed, and became richer. But here’s the thing: this is frequently the album’s most intriguing section. Simply put, this is who I am economically. Now and the accompanying movie are inextricably linked. The $20 million project was fully supported by the sponsor. Lopez stated, “Everyone thought I was crazy… and by the way, I thought I was crazy,” in a Vanity Fair interview cover story on the project and her substantial financial involvement. Naturally, a celebrity of Lopez’s caliber defines things in terms of legacy rather than money. “Now that Ben and I have rediscovered each other—and now that we’re married—I feel like I have something to offer,” she continued. This is the pivotal work that will allow me to close that chapter and on to the next phase of my life. She seems to be making big gestures when she talks about how important this project is to her and how it captures the years of romantic wilderness she and Ben had to travel through before they could find each other again.
There are a ton of great ideas on this record, as with any that features a large number of songwriters, A&Rs, and producers. However, the majority of them sound as though anyone could sing them. The piano chords in a major key and a scratchy vocal sample can be heard in “To Be Yours.” A combination of DJ scratches and MIDI plug-in synth stabs transports listeners back to the year 2002, when Ben and Jenn fell in love. The opening verse establishes the mood with a deft use of sound to denote era. Lopez on This is Me… Now can’t stop comparing her love to the afterlife. The album doesn’t quite stand up when you start to go past the narrative of reconciliation and consider the real thoughts throughout the production. “Not this time ’cause this is how it feels if Heaven is a place, came back into my life, you opened the gates, With you, it’s paradise and it was worth the wait,” she sings in the song “Mad in Love.” Ben Affleck is like heaven and paradise in addition to heaven. Ironically, Lopez sounds her finest when she talks about her darkest moments. In “Broken Like Me,” she sings of their split over melancholic plucked guitar chords. One of the record’s few really moving scenes features J. Lo attempting to accept how ruined this relationship’s breakdown has left her. You’re broken like me, yet you attempted to believe that I could fix you, she sings. Instead of merely stating that they did on “Dear Ben, Pt. II,” which does a great job of expanding on the plot of its 2002 predecessor, Lopez goes quite close to outlining how each of them worked on themselves. She still won’t provide any background information beyond vacuous claims about Ben’s magnificence.
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