This is Me¿Now [Cloud Galaxy Vinyl] [Barnes & Noble Exclusive] in Bloomington, MN

A sequel two decades in the making,
This Is Me¿Now
finds
Jennifer Lopez
returning to the territory she first explored on
This Is Me¿Then
: namely, grappling with the strong emotions generated by her relationship with
Ben Affleck
.
Lopez
wrote and recorded
while in the throes of her romance with the actor, releasing the album in November 2002 at what turned out to be roughly the midpoint of their initial union. By early 2004, their engagement was severed. The next two decades were filled with high-profile love affairs by both parties -- they each started families with subsequent spouses -- but the pair reconnected in 2021, leading to marriage in July 2022.
chronicles this rekindling, and in no small way: the record is accompanied by a full-length film featuring a music video for each of the album's 13 songs, plus there's a documentary called "The Greatest Love Story Never Told," which borrows its name from a series of love letters written by
Affleck
to
.
Separating the album
from its two interlocking films isn't quite as difficult as it seems. Where the visual components are rife with celebrity cameos --
Jane Fonda
appears in both, while the film finds space for
Post Malone
,
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Trevor Noah
, and
Sofia Vergara
, among others -- the album is relatively streamlined and sleek, containing no guest appearances and showing no overt attempts at chasing trends. While she enlists collaborators with impressive contemporary credits --
Roget Chahayed
executive-produced
Jack Harlow
's
Come Home the Kids Miss You
and produced
Doja Cat
's "Vegas" -- she's intent on having
be an answer record to
, so it's filled with callbacks to glitzy Y2K pop: "Hearts and Flowers" goes so far as to interpolate "Jenny from the Block," the signature hit from
Then
may be looking back but she's not attempting to re-create the past so much as strengthen the bond between two periods of her life that clearly mirror each other; she underscores the connection by delivering "Dear Ben, Pt. 2," an explicit response to an album cut 20 years prior. Occasionally,
lets herself show signs of vocal wear -- she lets her voice crack on the austere ballad "Broken Like Me" -- but her maturation is evident in how she keeps returning to self-help empowerment throughout the album. Almost all of these words are directed to herself and
-- on "Hummingbird," she proclaims, "'Cause you help me be the best version of me/And all I wanna do is help you be the best version of you," while "This Time Around" declares "We're gonna put the house in both our names" -- with a frankness that's simultaneously admirable and slightly alienating.
is so intent on preserving the moment that her love for
reignited that she ended up finding no space for ambiguity or interpretation, a decision that can make
seem slightly cloistered. In its unapologetic candor, however, it stands as something of a definitive document of celebrity culture in the 21st century. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine