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- Jennifer Lopez will release her ninth studio album, This Is Me…Now.
- The album references her rekindled love with Ben Affleck and contains a song called “Dear Ben Pt. II”
- In June 2023, J.Lo said she was dropping off the album, meaning it was on its way.
Fans have been waiting for new music from Jennifer Lopez for nearly a decade and won’t have to wait much longer. J.Lo, 53, revealed that her ninth studio album – her first since 2014’s A.K.A. – is in the hands of the label. “Album deliver day,” Jennifer captioned a photo she posted to her Instagram on June 29. In the picture, J.Lo smiled while dressed in an all-white outfit as she sat in front of a screen bearing the name of her new album: This Is Me…Now.
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The news comes more than six months after J.Lo announced the companion album to 2002’s This Is Me…Then. Both albums were inspired by her love and relationship with Ben Affleck. Ben and Jen reconnected in 2021, twenty years after they first met (and almost two decades after they split in 2004). In 2022, they announced their second engagement before marrying in a Vegas ceremony in July of that year. Later that year, they held a formal ceremony at Affleck’s home in Georgia.
With This Is Me…Now arriving after Jennifer got her “Happily Ever After” with Ben, here’s what we know about her new album.
What Is Jennifer Lopez’s New Album Called?
J.Lo announced in November 2022 that she would be releasing her ninth studio album and that it would be called This Is Me…Now. The album’s title and subject matter reference her 2002 album, This Is Me…Then (and the announcement video included the J.Lo appearing in the 2002 artwork before morphing into the 2023 album cover.)
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“Heralding a new era of music for Jennifer Lopez, ‘This Is Me…Now’ chronicles the emotional, spiritual, and psychological journey that she has taken over the past two decades. An emotionally raw and honest project unlike any she has produced before, she writes and sings about her life and experiences that will resonate with us all. In addition, these autobiographical stories informed by the album will result in other very personal projects that will be released next year…more to come on that.”
When speaking to Vogue about the album in December 2022, she said it’s “kind of a culmination of who I am as a person and an artist. People think they know things about what happened to me along the way, the men I was with—but they really have no idea, and a lot of times, they get it so wrong. There’s a part of me that was hiding a side of myself from everyone. And I feel like I’m at a place in my life, finally, where I have something to say about it.”
When Does Jennifer Lopez’s New Album Come Out?
J.Lo announced that the album would arrive in 2023. On June 29, 2023, she posted a black-and-white Instagram of her dressed in all white. “Album delivery day,” she captioned the picture.
In March 2023, she appeared at Spotify’s Stream On event. She said her album is coming out “this summer,” per Billboard. She spoke about Spotify’s new Countdown Pages. “Yes, you heard it here first. I’m super excited. Spotify is beginning to roll these pages out to more artists around the world, letting them bring their own personalized strategy to each and every album.”
What Songs Are On Jennifer Lopez’s New Album?
When J.Lo announced This Is Me…Now, she also shared a tracklist.
It’s unclear whether or not exclusive editions will contain bonus tracks or if this will be the final tracklist when the album arrives.
The most noteworthy song title was “Dear Ben pt. II,” referring to the “Dear Ben” song on This Is Me…Then. The original song was an ode to J.Lo’s love for Affleck. “I think God made you for me,” she sings in the song, per Genius. “A mix of passionate fidelities / Baby, you’re so complete / I write this song to let you know / That you will always be to me / My lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend, and my king.”
What Does Jennifer Lopez’s New Album Sound Like?
Judging by the tracklist, this album might sound happy, joyous, and full of love songs. At the same time that J.Lo announced the album, Zane Lowe of Apple Music 1 published an interview with her, in which she said the new LP was inspired by her reconnecting with the “love of my life,” Ben Affleck.
“We captured me at this moment in time when I was reunited with the love of my life, and we decided we were going to be together forever. The whole message of the album then is this love exists,” she said, per Rolling Stone. “This is a real love. Now I think what the message of the album is very much if you were wondering if you have, like me at times, lost hope, almost given up, don’t. Because true love does exist and some things do last forever and that’s real.”
“I want to put that message out into the world, and that does take a lot of vulnerability. But I couldn’t stop myself and some parts of it scare me,” she added. “And I think parts of it scare Ben, too. He’s like, ‘Oh, do you really want to say all this stuff?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know how else to do it, baby.’”
During the interview, Jennifer spoke about the new album is the companion to This Is Me…Then, which was inspired by her relationship with Ben at the time. After they split, she said she couldn’t perform any of the old songs. “It was so painful after we broke up,” she said. “Once we called off that wedding 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life, and I honestly felt like I was going to die,” she said.
“It sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn’t get it right. Couldn’t get it right. But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending,” she told Lowe. “It has the most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending. ‘That would never happen. We’re not going to write that because nobody would believe it’ ending.” She also said that her husband “loves” This Is Me…Then.
“He loves that music. He knows all of the words,” she said. “He also was with me while I was creating it… He’s my biggest fan, which is awesome.”
Who Is Featured On Jennifer Lopez’s New Album?
When J.Lo shared the tracklist in 2022, it didn’t mention any featured performers. It’s possible that she may not have any guests on the album. When speaking with Vogue in December 2022, she said she wanted to create a musical odyssey, a concept album akin to Pink Floyd’s The Wall but focusing on hope and love.
“I’ve always felt like an outsider, in the fashion world, the music world, the movie world,” she told Vogue. “I feel like everybody knows each other, and all the artists talk, and you go to the Met ball, and all the girls are hanging out together, and I’m not in that group. Maybe that’s just insecurity. It’s not because I’m antisocial or I don’t want to make friends. I’ve always been kind of a march-to-the-beat-of-my-own-drum, loner-type person. I’m like, I’ll just stay focused on my thing. I’ve always kind of felt like that. I still do.”
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West Hollywood, CA – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck exit Craig's after enjoying a dinner date. Pictured: Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck BACKGRID USA 12 AUGUST 2021 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / [email protected] UK: +44 208 344 2007 / [email protected] *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez share a kiss as they shop in Los Angeles. 20 May 2023 Pictured: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Photo credit: Thecelebrityfinder/MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA984345_038.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]
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