Cartman_2k's Full Review: This Is Me... Then by Jennifer Lopez
Last time we heard anything from Ms. Lopez was a few months ago with her single I’m Gonna Be Alright, annoying many people including me with a gawd awful remix of the song. I was expecting more horrid remixes of her songs, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I was positively surprised when she released the single Jenny From The Block, a funky song with a cool hip-hop beat to it. Had Jennifer finally realized that remixing songs wasn’t a good idea, and decided to come up with something creative? Had I finally gotten back the Jennifer I wanted? (Jennifer à la If You Had My Love, Waiting for Tonight and Let’s Get Loud) Of course I was very curious to find out, so investing a few bucks in her new album This Is Me… Then seemed like a good idea.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Jennifer Lopez soon-to-be-if-he-hasn’t-been-messing-around-with-Britney Affleck Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born in the Bronx in 1970. When she was 16 she debuted in a movie called My Little Girl, and in 1993 she was a fly girl in In Living Color starring Jim Carrey. She got her big breakthrough in Money Train, and everything just went uphill from there. It was when she played deceased Latina star Selena Quintanilla in the movie Selena she became interested in making her own music. And of course, as a successful Hollywood star, her wish was granted. In 1999 she released her smash debut single If You Had My Love and an album called On The 6 with many more hits. She sold millions of copies of this album, as well as her next album J. Lo and her remix album J to Tha Lo! In November 2002 she released her fourth album This Is Me…Then
So.. This Is Jennifer... Then
Still is the first track on the album. The entire song sounds like it’s taken straight out of the 80’s. Jennifer probably has a 2 octave singing range, and in this song it shows. She tries to sing in a pitch that is way too high for her, and it just sounds awful. The song could have been a decent retro 80’s song, but instead it just sounds like a song filled with inharmonious mess and sophomoric lyrics.
Loving You has an airy sound to it. It’s not a very bad song, I like music arrangement, the sampling (Never Give Up On A Good Thing and Juicy Fruit) works out fine, and Jennifer doesn’t sound completely horrendous. Still, it isn’t catchy at all, and the background singer drowns Jennifer’s voice in the chorus. Now why didn’t she get a record deal instead of Jenny?!
The One is the most boring song on the entire album. It’s off to a nice start (that resembles Nelly and Kelly’s Dilemma) it’s just downhill from there. It’s dreadfully monotonous and Jennifer doesn’t help to make it any better. Her voice is so thin it’s embarrassing. It’s almost impossible to tell the verses from the chorus, and after a minute into the song, you’ll want to hit the FF button.
Dear Ben is a song I have to admit that I’ve grown to like a little bit. Even though Jennifer’s managed to tuck every possible cliché into this song, it’s far from bad. Jennifer doesn’t sound incompetent at all in this song, in fact her voice sounds quite nice. The song is catchy and pretty easy to learn, and once you’ve heard it a couple of times you’re going to join in.
I love you, you're perfect
a manifestation of my dreams
you make my body feel
about a million different things
All I have featuring LL Cool J is a mediocre song at best. Jennifer tries so bad to make I’m Real all over again, but somehow it doesn’t have the same spunk, and LL Cool J isn’t as energetic or have a distinctive voice like Ja Rule. I do like the chorus a little bit, but the verses are so bad and on these Jennifer’s voice sounds nauseating at times. I think that the song would have been a little bit better if it were upbeat, the song is average the way it is now.
Jenny from The Block is a nice song. What I like about the song is that it has the same formula as many of her old songs, only with a new fresh vibe to it. A catchy chorus and a few state-of-the-art rappers mixed together can’t go wrong. Jennifer sounds pretty nice and although the song falls short of being great because of a lack of inventiveness (what about a bridge Jennifer? You don’t HAVE to repeat that you’re Jenny from the block 50 times. We heard you after the first 20 times!) it’s a decent song nevertheless. The lyrics are the huge downside to the song though, singing about the fact that she’s so rich and famous but still she’s good ole Jenny from the block. Yeah right, and that comes from the most infamous diva in the entire world? Blaaah.
Baby I Love U is a song I think should be released as a third single (All I Have is already confirmed as the second single) It’s one of the few upbeat songs on the album, and definitely not Jennifer’s best work, it’s the only other upbeat song on the album that isn’t too shabby. The problem about this song though, is that the chorus is really uninventive and repetitive, which probably will keep this song from reaching the top 10 even if it is released.
Baby I love you
Love You
Baby I need you
Need You
I gotta have you
I gotta have you baby
Can't be without you
Be without you
The highlight of this album is Again. The arrangement is so incredibly cheesy that’s it’s not even funny, but Jennifer just sounds so incredibly sexy and attractive that it kind of makes up for it. The lyrics are of course, it should come as no surprise, childish and superficial, but somehow that doesn’t seem to matter. Jennifer sings them with such emotion that it sounds very good nonetheless. I especially love the chorus, it’s so melodic and diverse (whoa??!! Jennifer diverse and melodic? I’ve even managed to shock myself)
Track Listing
01. Still (**)
02. Loving You (***)
03. I’m Glad (**)
04. The One (*)
05. Dear Ben (****)
06. All I Have Feat. LL Cool J (***)
07. Jenny from the Block (***½)
08. Again (****)
09. You Belong To Me (**)
10. I’ve Been Thinkin’ (**)
11. Baby I Love U! (***)
12. The One – Bonus Track (**)
That’s Jennifer... Then?! ... That Doesn’t Sound Very Interesting?!
It’s not. I was surprised that I let myself be fooled by the first single off of the album. It was completely misleading to the stuff that it on the album. There are a few good songs on this album, but most of it is, honestly speaking, crap. I know that I should admire the part that Jennifer has matured and she’s now writing her own lyrics and producing yada yada yada. Sorry, but I don’t admire that one bit. Her lyrics are sophomoric and stupid, the production is plain and at times wretched. She uses samples on almost every song, which shows even more lack of imagination. Her voice is as thin as ever, and while the other albums had a decent production to hide it, this shows us Jennifer’s voice as it really is. As far as I see it this album is not an improvement at all for Jennifer, Jennifer has taken two steps back and seems like she’s going to stay there.
I’m Guessing I Shouldn’t Buy This Album?
Yep. You’re absolutely right. You have absolutely no good reason for buying this album. This is definitely the worst album I’ve heard this year, and this year’s most negative surprise. Even if you like pop and liked Jenny From The Block, I think that you will be greatly disappointed if you buy this album. I know that Jennifer looks very tempting and sexy on the cover, but don’t let that fool you. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this album!
With all that said, a few months ago I said I would let Jennifer be my girlfriend any day even though she can’t sing. If this album is supposed to show us who Jennifer really is, I wouldn’t want her to be my girlfriend anymore. I don’t want a superficial, cold-hearted diva as my girlfriend. Sorry Jennifer, move over, Alicia Keys is now my dream girl.
Product DetailsOriginal Title:This Is Me...ThenCondition: NEWFormat: CDArtist: Jennifer LopezLanguage: EnglishGenre: R&BTrack Listings: "1. Still List...More at iNetVideo.com
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