J-Lo Shows Just Enough Love

Jennifer Lopez, the dancer turned actor, turned producer, turned fashion designer returns to music to release her first wildly successful album since 2002’s “This Is Me… Then.” The two singles on her newest album, “Love?,” “On the Floor,” with Miami rapper Pitbull, and “I’m Into You,” which features the prolific New Orleans’ lyricist, Lil’ Wayne, have already grabbed the charts and massive radio play.

At 41, Lopez shows no signs of loosing touch with the buyers demographic, but that should come as no surprise. Industry know-how coupled with the marketing genius she’s exemplified throughout the facets of her career produces a powerhouse for a pop label.

Or at least in theory. Lopez left Sony Music Entertainment and Epic Records following particularly weak sales of 2007’s “Brave,” signing later with Island Def Jam Records to put out “Love?” Both she and her manager released statements saying the break up was amicable and that the terms of her contract had been fulfilled.

Def Jam assembled a crew of notables like Terius “The-Dream” Nash and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, who together produced Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Beyonce’s “Single Lady’s”, the two-time Grammy winning producer/songwriter RedOne, and even the media’s favorite pop star, Lady Gaga.

This dance-pop album adheres to the rules for success; ergo, don’t try anything new, just recycle the top 4o winner’s. “On the Floor” starts the album out by stealing the accordian from Edwarde Maya and Vika Jigulina’s “Stereo Love,” which was insatiable until every Duane Reade and department store had it in non-stop rotation.

Jay-Z may have may have thought he put the T-Pain flavor to sleep with “Death to Auto-Tune” but Lopez continues the album with a heavy taste of it in the second track, “Good Hit.” Apparently she is no longer “Jenny from the block,” dropping west coast slang like, “Got my California loke,” and representing L.A. throught the album. However, the Bronx born beauty does show off the candid posture with “baby I’m a classic / don’t you wanna bag me?”

Lil’ Wayne starts the single “I’m Into You” with eight bars of reformed rap claiming “all of that changed since I met you / so we can leave that old sh*t in the restroom.” Lopez follows suit with “I’m not the one easy to get to / but all that changed baby when I met you.” Some of the rhymes she attempts fall flat, but this track does exhibit a couple gems.

At this point the album takes a slower, more emotional, though still bass heavy direction. Among these “(What is) Love,” where Lopez makes the dishonest claim that, “I’ve been alone / for the past three years / on Valentines / day.”

If you didn’t know, Lopez is happily married to producer Marc Anthony, and, call me a purist, but I can’t stand it when singers record songs in direct conflict with their publicized reality.

Also included in the R&B section are “One Love,” co-written by Lopez, “Until it Beats No More,” with a pulsating heartbeat bass and “Starting Over,” complete with a full stringed section of viola, violin, cello and stringed bass behind the clapping castanets.

Recovering from the moody interlude is the Timbaland-esque sounding “Villain.” The vocals follow an interesting twisted warp melody at times, but the track is so overproduced that it’s impossible to distinguish who the singer is. This song could be put onto a Britney Spears album and nobody would know the difference.

Finally, the absolute club ready track “Hypnotico” which was written by Lady Gaga finishes “Love?” Unfortunately, Lopez and Gaga didn’t actually work together on here; rather Def Jam orchestrated the collaboration from behind the scenes. Lopez sings, “they love me for my body / I’m original sexy,” and sounds like a slant to today’s young generation of entertainers, which probably wasn’t Gaga’s intention.

“Love?” is strong where it counts and should anticipate a significant longevity. Not a fan? Avoid Duane Reade; it’ll be in there speakers for a while.