LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Remember when Jennifer Lopez sang she's still Jenny from the block?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JENNY FROM THE BLOCK")
JENNIFER LOPEZ: (Singing) Used to have a little, now I have a lot. No matter where I go, I know where I came from, from the Bronx.
FADEL: I definitely remember. The song was from her 2002 album "This Is Me...Then." Today, more than two decades later, Jennifer Lopez has a new album, "This Is Me...Now." So what's changed? In one regard, not much. Then she wrote songs about her new love, Ben Affleck. The couple broke up a few years later. Now they're reunited and married and J.Lo is singing about her old love turned new again, Ben Affleck.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MIDNIGHT TRIP TO VEGAS")
LOPEZ: (Singing) We could be driving right now, 20 miles into the desert by now. Your hand on my thigh, laughing till we cry. Didn't tell a soul about how it's going down tonight.
There was an inciting incident both times, and I was - that I fell in love. The first time I wrote this album called "This Is Me...Then," it was inspired by that time in my life. And 20 years later, when we reunited, the kind of same thing happened to me where I was like, I want to get back in the studio. I want to make music again. And I know some artists make music when they're tortured and heartbroken, but not me (laughter). I'm the opposite.
FADEL: I love that.
LOPEZ: And when I was done with the album, I thought to myself, OK, this is not the whole story.
FADEL: The whole story could only be told in a new film. That's right, she's releasing both an album and a film today. "This Is Me...Now: A Love Story" is sort of an extended music video in which she performs the songs with the dance moves that first made her famous. The dance sequences, the music, the dialogue tell a love story that mirrors a lot of what we know about Jennifer Lopez's life.
LOPEZ: It's very meta, right? Like, it's not exactly an autobiography about my life, but it's definitely about a hopeless romantic who's on a journey to love. And I do get very vulnerable in it, in that I do use experiences from my own life and let that inspire the story. So yeah, for sure, it's the most personal project I've ever done in a lot of ways.
FADEL: Is that hard, to do such a personal project and share, you know, the ups and downs...
LOPEZ: Yeah.
FADEL: ...Of what it is to search for love?
LOPEZ: I think there is a kind of a PTSD that I have from people, you know, beating you up and stuff in the media and things like that from before. But I think I'm at a point in my life where I'm just too grown. And I have to kind of follow my own instincts, in that doing anything other than that usually turns out very badly (laughter). And so I felt a very strong artistic impulse to create this. And even though there were a lot of voices in my head and a lot of fears and a lot of people thinking, oh, don't spend, you know, because I wound up kind of financing it myself. But at the end of the day, you kind of have to really follow the only voice that matters, which is your own.
FADEL: What an incredible place to be, too, to be able to fund your own project in this way. I mean, that wasn't probably an option for you 20, 30 years ago.
LOPEZ: (Laughter) No, no, it wasn't. And it was still a big risk for me now.
FADEL: The title track on your album, "This Is Me...Now," which has that classic J.Lo sound, is about who you are today.
LOPEZ: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THIS IS ME...NOW")
LOPEZ: (Singing) A woman in love is what I grew up wanting to be. In love's what I wanted to be. It's my melody, the symphony I sing.
FADEL: Who is Jennifer Lopez in 2024?
LOPEZ: It's funny, you know, that "This Is Me..Now" became such a kind of statement for me that I never thought I would be making after I made "This Is Me...Then." And it really is about embracing who you are, your true self. Like, I have these great things about me and I have these things where I struggle. And I have these scars, and going - you know what? - I'm OK in this moment. This is me now, this is it. And that, I think, is such a beautiful statement of, like I said, embracing and loving yourself in a way that I struggled with a lot of my life, because I always, I think - and a lot of us - like, I'm not good enough at this, I'm not good enough at that. People think I'm, you know, an imposter. (Laughter) You know what I mean? Or...
FADEL: Yeah, I know that voice.
LOPEZ: Yeah, and there's voices from outside, too...
FADEL: Right.
LOPEZ: Who straight say it to you.
FADEL: Well, I hope today you can be like, I'm Jennifer Lopez. That's who I am. I think it's proven now.
(LAUGHTER)
LOPEZ: That's it. That's all I'll ever be.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEARTS AND FLOWERS")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Wounded soldier, lotus grows up, diamonds from pressure, time is precious.
FADEL: Is that what "Hearts And Flowers" is about, I mean, this song that's, to me, is this person who's overcoming obstacles? You describe the beauty that comes from hardship. If you could, talk about what it's about.
LOPEZ: Yeah, "Hearts And Flowers" for me was really about the idea that people look at you, and even in this day of social media, look at you from the outside. And everybody kind of puts this best foot forward.
FADEL: Right.
LOPEZ: But the truth is, it's not all hearts and flowers. No matter how blessed or great you think somebody's life is, it's not that. It's work to become a better person. It's work to do all of these things. And you got to stay in touch with who you are, but at the same time grow. And I think this whole project is about kind of thinking things are like a fairy tale and then realizing that they're not.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEARTS AND FLOWERS")
LOPEZ: (Singing) It ain't hearts and flowers. It ain't all hearts and flowers. So many nights and hours - every day of my life on the grind faithfully. Superpowers, we all got superpowers. Before you see my life and say I live the dream, remember, everything ain't always what it seems.
FADEL: Is Hollywood where you feel you belong the most? I mean, now that you're doing music again, where do you feel the most you?
LOPEZ: The most me? At home and then at home onstage.
FADEL: Really?
LOPEZ: Like, I get to be my best self up there, you know?
FADEL: Yeah.
LOPEZ: And I get to share something with everybody who comes into that audience.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T GET ENOUGH")
LOPEZ: (Singing) I feel like starting something.
FADEL: The album "This Is Me...Now" and the film "This Is Me...Now: The Love Story" are both out today. You can stream the film on Amazon Prime Video. Jennifer Lopez, thank you so much.
LOPEZ: Thank you, my sweet. Thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T GET ENOUGH")
LOPEZ: (Singing) Can't nothing take me out my zone. It's on. When it feels right, nothing else matters.
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