Jennifer Lopez's "Love?" Lacks Lola

"L-O-V-E, let's not mess around, we both know what we need. Now here is what I want, understand me when I say, make it last, 'kay?"

With that assertive declaration boldly made in "Fresh Out the Oven", the first breath from the Love? project, Lopez was confident and aware of what she wanted and needed. "Fresh Out the Oven" gripped the listener in its clasp of late night, disco back wall whispered come-on's. Musically, "Fresh..." sandwiched itself somewhere between Prince's "U Got the Look", albeit with the tempo lowered a few paces, and Kylie Minogue's "Slow". A perfectly placed feature from Mr. Armando Christian Perez, a.k.a Pitbull, gave it an even ruder feel. Then, with what promised to be the return of Jennifer Lopez as Lola in 2009, rather became one of the two years that saw the Love? album setback repeatedly.

Epic Records, unsure of how to promote the track and its cunning and subliminal video, wrote off "Fresh..." as a mere "buzz track" and back peddled with a more climate friendly taster in "Louboutins" in 2010. That song, to the knowing, was a slight clone to the superior Brave (2007) fashionista feminism manifesto album cut "Miles in These Shoes".

When that song, despite some of Lopez's strongest live performances to date, failed to catch on Epic Records dropped Lopez into the lap of Island/Def Jam Records. It ended a partnership that had run since 1999 when Jennifer Lopez first appeared as a singing entity.


There, Lopez began to wrap up and finish an album that still lacked an identity and specific mission outside of restoring her sales status. In the meantime Lopez found time to take a seat on the American Idol judge panel with Randy Jackson, and Aerosmith fronter Steven Tyler.



Love?, Jennifer Lopez's seventh record, attempts to solve the commercial conundrum Lopez began to court as early as 2005 with "the only" platinum peak of Rebirth. The real elephant in the room is that despite its low selling point, Brave the last Lopez affair, was her masterstroke. It could only be challenged by previous masterstroke entries from Como Ama Una Mujer (2007) and This is Me...Then (2002). All three albums presented that Jennifer Lopez had more bite than her harshest critics ever led the public to believe.

In music balance is everything when it comes to commercial and creative aspirations, so does Love? tightrope between legacy longevity or "for today" fortunes? The answer is a resounding, and sad, no to the former, and yes to the latter. There is no mistaking that Lopez was never a non-commercial being, but one that did gracefully pick up artistic mileage as she propelled along in a mainstream lane.

Love? barely approaching the transitional highs of Rebirth, with exceptions being issued to "Good Hit" and "(What Is) Love?" which will be discussed at length later, ties with J.Lo (2000) as her worst offering.

Production duties on this fiasco mainly incriminate: RedOne, Lady Gaga, Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Danja, and several other mainstream mobsters who songwrite and knob twist Lopez's unique sound into faceless Top 40 oblivion.

Previously, La Lopez proved she could exert heavier themes, so songs like "Starting Over" and "Until It Beats No More" should have not been an issue. They fail on Love?, as musically they do not provide adequate staging for her vocal growth patterns that were integral on Como Ama Una Mujer and Brave.

"On the Floor", the current chart hit heavyweight, almost raises the stakes with a sultry riff or two of Kaoma's "Lambada" merging with Lopez's voice to echo the sweet sugar rush that made "Waiting For Tonight" a transcendent modern classic. But with the bulky dance beats hitting harder than needed, both Lopez and Pitbull seem to be content playing second fiddle to RedOne's techniques. Mentioning RedOne, his and Lady Gaga's pieces "Invading My Mind" and "Hypnotico" evidence, from their overwrought titles, to their listless electro fuzziness, that Gaga's sound is not one size fits all. If anything it shows how her own work will not hold up as plentiful as some say it will.

"I'm Into You" is charming and sweet as a perfume cloud, and mimics its permanence. The cameo assist from Lil' Wayne is not needed at all, feeling like someone sliding a platinum grill front over an already beautiful smile. "Take Care" (featured on the expanded edition of Love?) and "One Love" become redeemable with repeat visits, as "Take Care" is a gummy summer trifle, and "One Love" is springy.

Love? is not completely lost, as two songs make the record worth the trek through other unworthy fare. "Good Hit" is an update on Lopez's Boricua street power, dressing it up in cybertronic camp cool sonics that bring to mind Robyn's "Fembot" from last year's Body Talk (2010). Even still, the execution of the playful fussiness that skips along the jumping beat on "Good Hit" is Lopez through and through.

"(What Is) Love?", one of the few tracks that made it from the initial sessions of Love?, is where Jennifer flourishes. A moving song, it looks to introspection and cute critique ("I've had blind dates, hooked up with some real flakes. I've gone out with church boys, musicians are the worst"). Coming into proximity to the range of her prior work vocally and emotionally, it gives us the portrait of what makes Jennifer Lopez so appealing: personality. That certain something which makes her approachable beneath her larger-than-life veneer.

Despite any criticism that was hurled at Jennifer Lopez, she always had spunk in major supply. Whether she was the round the way girl, aspiring diva, or sharing (directly or indirectly) her love tales, she built on that trait by becoming a better singer, songwriter, and overall music persona. Love? is the necessary evil of giving commercial clout to La Lopez, but saps her of all her powers, leaving her almost unrecognizable. That may work for Britney Spears and her cult in 2011, but Jennifer Lopez's faithful require more stimulation, or at the very least her supposed ego Lola from the initial Love? sessions.

"Good Hit" Promotional Teaser Music Video Short


"Everyone's got to make a living..." went the sampled tag on her '02 hit "Jenny From the Block," and while we know Lopez has a brand to maintain, it was always one that had a lovable heart at its center. Hopefully, with the success of Love? it will leave space for Lopez to return to her upward ascent to art and heart oriented stuff that has made her the pop maven she is today. Two and a half stars out of five.-QH

[Editor's Note: Love? in all music retailers now.-QH)