Still Loving This Album! (Jennifer Lopez Album #1)

1.) This Is Me…Then

(November 2002)

Perfection at its best!

The Set-Up

From pop, to Latin, to R&B, to dance, Jennifer has covered a wide range of music genres in her albums. While she’s had several #1 hit singles, dance tracks that invaded the clubs, or pop hits that got stuck in our heads, her 4^th album is the most memorable, the most underrated, and the most spectacular production quality from any of her albums.

The Play-by-Play

For once, we’re not treated to the first single as the opening track. Instead, we’re given “Still”. It was an honest confession about the mistakes she had made in the past with previous relationships, still feeling love for them all, wishing them nothing but the best. “Loving You” comes next, playing back to a little old school from B.I.G. (although technically, the sample is from Mtume’s “Juicy Fruit”). It’s a sweet little reminder of the pop perfection in Jennifer’s voice, as well as the catchy hook. “I’m Glad” comes afterwards, and turns out to be the least interesting as far as the lyrics as concerned. I get that she was head over heels in love with Ben Affleck at the time, but these lyrics sound like a 3^rd grader wrote them for her. Regardless, it gets back to the R&B throwback (and GOOD quality lyrics) with a great sample of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything” in “The One”. It’s the beginning of a very honest look into her relationship; very open and very out there! It’s a very big risk taking on a classic like “You Are Everything”, but with the songwriting from Jennifer and production from Cory Rooney, the end result is magical. “Dear Ben” is next up, with the most honest look into her relationship with Ben Affleck (after all, his name is in the title). It’s a beautiful ballad, very poetic, very loving, and very memorable. “All I Have” featuring LL Cool J comes out strong, bringing out the vulnerable side of Jennifer. It’s a bittersweet duet, with all of its catchiness and beauty, it’s easy to see why it shot up to #1. And who can hate on a verse from LL himself? Next up is the first single “Jenny From The Block” featuring Styles and Jadakiss. It’s a bit of stretch, trying too hard at times to prove how simple J.Lo still is with all of her rocks and money, but still keeping it real. It still does manage to get stuck in my head, becoming one of her signature songs. Things get back to very personal for Jennifer with “Again”, telling the world how lucky and blessed she has that she has found love again. Then comes a great re-make of Carly Simon’s “You Belong To Me”. It’s a fun little number that adds more to that 70’s sound the whole album has been embracing. “I’ve Been Thinkin’” is another winner on the album, taking us into her playful side, crushing on her new man, not wanting to get him off of her mind. The album closes on a high note, followed by an unnecessary one. First up is “Baby I Love U!”, the most underrated single in her collection. If only it hadn’t been used first to promote Gigli, then it might have had a little bit more success. It’s a pitch perfect song, confessing even more love for her man, but in a fun, upbeat way. Then comes “The One” (Version 2). It’s unnecessary because of the fact that they switch out the original chorus with the chorus from the sample itself “You Are Everything”. It’s one thing to sample it where the music concerned, but it doesn’t fit in my mind when it comes to this song, especially since the first version is so perfect by itself.

The Point

Yes, the whole Bennifer coverage was out of control. Yes, Gigli and Jersey Girl totally flopped, but like I said, this is the most underrated album in Jennifer’s repertoire. It was emotional, honest, very personal, and a great change from her typical dance, pop, Latin style. She embraced more R&B, all while encompassing a throwback to 1970’s music (after all, almost every song on this album contains a sample of another song). Let’s not call it an unoriginal album, but rather the most groundbreaking, real album in Jennifer’s career.

The Essentials

My all-time favorite of hers was never released as a single, “Still”.

But for a single of hers, “All I Have” is one of the best!

But who can forget the underrated one of the bunch, “Baby I Love U!”?