StMore than eight years have passed since the release of his latest unreleased project AKA (if you don’t count the songs for the movie soundtrack Marry Me, released last February). Now Jennifer Lopez is truly ready to come back in style. Not only because it’s been too long since he hasn’t released an unreleased album (and the trepidation of the fans is making itself felt…). But also why what will be released in 2023 will be a project in which many things will realign. It is no coincidence that the title of the new album, This Is Me… Nowis a clear reference to the title of the album which in 2002 consecrated her as one of the queens of world pop: This Is Me…Then. And just around the time of the release of her third studio album, she had entered the gossip pages of the whole world by force thanks to her story with Ben Affleck. The same actor with whom the artist is now experiencing a nice flashback. Chatted just like at the beginning. But just as true and decisive. As J Lo got to tell in an interesting interview with Zane Lowe from Apple Music 1.
Jennifer Lopez on Ben Affleck: «Twenty years ago I fell in love with the love of my life»
When it came out in 2002 This Is Me…Then (disc which included, among others, also the super hit Jenny from the Block), there was great news in J Lo’s life. That he had a name and a surname: Ben Affleck. Between the two the passion was overwhelming right away. The two officially announced their engagement in 2002 while the pop star was still busy with divorce papers from her second husband, the dancer Cris Judd. The “Bennifers” broke up shortly before the wedding, after two years of relationship.
Now, after a flashback that thrilled all their fans around the globe, the two finally tied the knot in Las Vegas last July. A circle that has closed. As the artist herself said in an interview with Zane Lowe at Apple Music 1. “Twenty years ago I fell in love with the love of my life. I was working on a record called This Is Me…Then. It was about stopping that moment in time. And now, the most amazing and incredible thing that could have happened happened. Now I want to freeze this moment in time again. And now it’s even better than the first time».
There will be a second part of the song Dear Ben
In that period the same process of writing the songs that would later merge into This Is Me…Then hid moments of love. «I didn’t even realize what was happening then. It was just about going from set to studio every day and… being in love. He entered the studio, I edited the lyrics with him. Every single song we wrote there came at a special time.” Songs like Dear Ben which, in the new album arriving in 2023, will finally have a second part, with the song Dear Ben pt. II.
According to J Lo that record from twenty years ago was in some ways prophetic. «I didn’t realize that I was writing a part of our story that would later happen…», he explained to Apple Music. “I didn’t realize that record was so prophetic.”
Jennifer Lopez hosted by Zane Lowe on Apple Music. Credit: Apple Music
“Ben Affleck? He is my biggest fan »
Among all her fans now her husband Ben Affleck assumes a very important role. She already was from the time of This Is Me…Then, when the two shared the preparation of the record. «Love that album. He loves that music. He knows all the words. Do you understand what I mean? It’s crazy. He was with me as I created it. We listened to demos in the car. We listened to the mixes».
And he continued. “It was like that for two years, two and a half years, while we were together. “I wrote this today… What do you think?”, I said. He’s my biggest fan. When he came back into my life the exact same thing happened. I felt so inspired and so full of emotion that it all came out.”
Media attention destroyed their love
The two met on the set of a film. And – apparently – it was not love at first sight between the two. «I think it happened that, working together, we became very good friends. We only realized later that we were crazy about each other. I found myself thinking about him, even after the film ended. But I had to mind my business, because I was getting out of a relationship at the time.” And, on this, she concluded. «It wasn’t immediate because we weren’t allowed to».
But all the attention from newspapers and photographers didn’t give them moments of great relaxation. On the contrary. “It was new. And it destroyed us. Part of what destroyed us as a couple came precisely from the external energy that constantly rained down on us. We loved each other and it was difficult.”
And in the Zane Lowe interview, J Lo hinted that the overwhelming tabloid attention towards their couple contributed to their breakup. Although, perhaps, he pushed for their career. “He has gone on even stronger than before. And me too. But not together. We had to do it separately. He started directing, won an Oscar, won another. And me too. People said, “His music career is over.” I didn’t get movie offers. And I had to recover with my strength. I had to work hard».
A commitment that could have been demonstrated in several ways. «I said to myself: “Ok, I’m going to do a reality show, a TV show, a new single…”. And then I thought, “Okay, I’m going on tour for the first time”. And all with two children… Both Ben and I felt we needed to prove our worth again».
The importance of mistakes
The interview with Apple Music is the occasion, for J Lo, to delve into a topic he cares about a lot. It is that of the mistakes. “I need the mistakes. You have to fall to get up and go. For example When I got divorced I asked myself, “What am I doing wrong? I have two kids and I’m trying to make it work with all my soul. What am I doing wrong? What is wrong with me?”. And all of this made me look at myself».
And he confessed. “You have to learn to love yourself. I embarked on this journey to try to understand what it means to love yourself. I knew that I could not have true love in my life again until I figured this out. It’s the most important part. It took all these different things, and different practices and ideas, coaches, life coaches, therapists, books and anything that could help me. And then, all of a sudden, you find yourself creating a new person».
Jennifer Lopez’s reunion with Ben Affleck
Now, according to the singer and actress, it’s no longer time for rehearsals. “Ben and I don’t say now, ‘Let’s see how it goes.’ No. Now it’s, “It’s you and me. That’s all. Until the end””.
And, confiding in Zane Lowe, he said about the moment they met again. “We had our children and we had to proceed with caution. So they could come with us… We had to go through these separate paths and we did other beautiful things and we had these amazing kids… But once we became whole and whole enough and loved each other enough, we were able to stand on our own feet».
18 years later, the happy ending
Recalling the moment of separation from Ben Affleck in 2004, Jennifer Lopez let herself go to some important confessions. “It was so painful after we broke up. Once we called off our wedding twenty years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life. Honestly I felt like I was going to die. She sent me into a spiral for the next eighteen years.’
But now, after twenty years, the time has come for a happy ending. “And I, unlike so many others, I’m inspired to write songs when I’m in love».
The message of Jennifer Lopez’s upcoming unreleased album
And so here we are, announcing that J Lo did today, Monday 28 November, by publishing on his social channels the news that so many fans have been waiting for. But what’s behind this new record, This Is Me… Nowcoming out in 2023?
«The whole message of the album is that this love exists. True love exists and some things are meant to last forever. It’s true. I want to spread this message to the world and that requires a lot of vulnerability.”
And so continued J Lo. «I’m different from twenty years ago. I grew up. I learned some things. I’ve had some difficult times. And I went through a divorce. I’ve been through a lot of different difficult relationships at times… But I mean who am I now. I’m here today».
Like this the need to go back to the recording studio. “I had so much creative, loving energy that the recording studio was the best place to be… It was taking all the love I have in my heart for this person into my own hands and putting it into that room. Adding the music. It had been so long…”
And, concluding his interview, J Lo shot some good news. «I will do a tour. Either I go on tour or I’ll do a residency. But I will perform. I will create this show. It will be called Now and Then tours».
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