Jennifer Lopez - This Is Me...Then

Between her first and second albums, Jennifer Lopez moved from sharp hip-hop to a slicker sound that captured the sass and heat of the streets, thanks mainly to the production acumen of her erstwhile boyfriend Sean "Puffy" Combs. On her third album, This Is Me ... Then, Lopez shows she's just as facile as her ex in changing names as well as musical personas. She abandons the impish J-Lo moniker for a more benign, and less interesting, Jenny, who makes an appearance on "Jenny from the Block." Here, Lopez insists she is still the same down-to-earth girl who emerged from the Bronx a decade before mega-stardom hit: "I used to have a little/ Now I have a lot," she chirps before cautioning, "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got/ I'm still Jenny from the block." The claim stretches credibility given her well-documented status as a diva, but "Jenny" shows more pizzazz and humor on the album than anything else, except for her saucy duet with LL Cool J on "All I Have." Elsewhere, the album--which includes nine songs cowritten by Lopez--serves up a recycled paean to '70s soul, an anemic cover of Carly Simon's vituperative "You Belong to Me," and cloying ballads inspired by her new fiancé, actor Ben Affleck. Lopez dedicated the disc to the actor and includes a far-too-personal and gooey love song to him titled "Dear Ben." In it, she declares: "You'll always be my lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend and my king." There's plenty of love here, but what's missing is the verve and crackle of Lopez's earlier stuff. --Jaan Uhelszki Amazon.com

Great Album!

I don't consider myself a J-Lo fan. Every now and then she releases a good single, but I don't leap for joy when a new J-Lo record hits stores. I happened to over hear this record in a friends car and I liked most of what I heard, so I decided to buy the album for myself. For the most part, I was pleased with this record. This album is very urban. Jennifer samples from several hip-hop tracks and delivers great beats on a lot of the tracks. She strays away from her Latin roots a little and approaches a more R&B style in her music, which I love. I'm shocked at the number of bad reviews this album has gotten. It is a good solid record. Most of the songs have great beats and catchy melodies. There are also some great ballads. "Dear Ben" is a beautiful tribute to...well you know. And although the relationship failed, the song does not. J-Lo's soft voice is incredibly pure and captivating. This album pulls you in from start to finish. There are a couple of road bumps along the way. "You Belong to Me" and "I've Been Thinkin" are a little to dull for my liking. However the rest of the album is pure gold. Highly recommended. November 29, 2007

Better than Britney, Ashanti, etc, with a few catchy cuts, but still uses too many damn samples!

If Jennifer Lopez can be given recent credit for anything, it's staying married to the same guy for 3 1/2 years and adopting a lower, somewhat more respectable profile than she used to have. This album, which is from a time when she was still quite hate-worthy, has a couple of OK songs, but is still more of a marketing scheme than a bonafide artistic masterpiece. On top of that it does have a couple of downright atrocious songs. "Still" is pretty good, "Loving You" is half-decent as long as you've never heard of Mtume, "Baby I Love You" is a nice understated piece, and the hit "I'm Glad" is fun, though like any song, they could've gotten by without samples. On "All I Have" a very self righteous Jennifer rips into her boyfriend (or husband) accusing him of cheating on her, and is absolutely adamant about not giving him another chance, despite the fact that she alludes to nothing that absolutely proves that he's guilty. Even a guest spot by legendary rapper LL Cool J can't save this one. Even more atrocious is "Jenny From The Block" which uses at least 2 different samples and has Jennifer insisting that success hasn't gone to her head. It's almost like she's bragging, because anyone who was familiar with Jennifer Lopez in 2002 knows that she absolutely had allowed success to go to her head. October 23, 2007

AWESOME!!

This is her 2nd best english album after Brave being the first!
Love it October 14, 2007

"This Is Me...Then" is Jennifer Lopez's Best Musical Album

I am not a kid but an adult, however, because this site does not make it easy for me to write an adults' review form, I am using this kids' review form."This Is Me...Then" is Jennifer Lopez's best musical album. "I'm Glad" is a good and a beautiful song. "All I Have" is a great track. The video for that track only contributes to the fact that that track's quality is high,and proves that Lopez is a resourceful singer who can find any idea for a song and sing that song. "Again" is good though it is not strong due to that song's long beginning and an instance of a compressed line in that song."Baby I Love You" is Lopez's best track because it is filled with emotionality and because of the fact that its complexity is proof that Jennifer Lopez had worked hard on that song. Lopez is one of the best representatives of American entertainment. In my opinion, she will have to keep on being the wonderful artist that she is. April 28, 2007

Not Her Best.. Not Her Worst

There's no denying that Jennifer was not at her best on this album. Its too bland unlike the "J.Lo" album which I actually liked. It has Ben Affleck written all over it, and it gets corny after awhile. The first two singles released were pretty wack but it didn't matter cause the CD sold over 3 million copies. The album is definitely a filler album but the most decent tracks would be the first 2 tracks and "You Belong to Me". I don't recommend this album get J.Lo instead. February 27, 2007

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