Jennifer Lopez (one of my favourite singers) has been celebrating the 25th anniversary of her 2nd studio album J.Lo. It was released on 16th January 2001 in the US (22nd January in the UK) and is one of her most successful albums to date. I'm a bit behind with this post about it but never mind! :)
This has turned into quite a long post, so I'm splitting it up into two parts. Here is Part 1! :)
The anniversary comes after her other album milestones- the 20th anniversay of her 3rd album This Is Me...Then in November 2022 and the 20th anniversary of her 4th album Rebirth in March 2025.
To celebrate the J.Lo anniversary, Jennifer released a 25th anniversary edition which features one new song (Crazy (Nobody Else), exclusive tracks only previously available on international editions and a new remix of Play (Trixie Mattel Remix).
The album's title is a reference to Jennifer's nickname J.Lo, given to her by fans. Its music style is primarily dance-pop, Latin and R'n'B, with other influences and its themes include relationships, female empowerment and sex.
J.Lo is Jennifer's highest selling album to date, having been certified quadruple platinum in America and was the 6th most successful album of 2001 worldwide. It reached No. 1 in the US (on the US Billboard 200 and Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums charts), No. 1 in Canada, No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart (currently Jennifer's most successful album here) and was her highest selling album throughout Europe in February 2001.
Having started out as a dancer and actress, Jennifer launched her career as a singer with the release of her debut single If You Had My Love and debut album On The 6 in May and June 1999 respectively. J.Lo was her follow-up album and helped to define her career as a singer.
I remember getting the album. I think I got it as a present for my 17th birthday in March 2001! It's my 2nd favourite of Jennifer's albums, after On The 6.
The standard edition (which I originally had) contains 16 tracks. 4 singles were released it from- Love Don't Cost a Thing, Play, Ain't It Funny, I'm Real and there was also a promotional single, Cariño. There were several international editions which featured bonus tracks, including Spanish and Brazilian, Japanese and European editions.
A re-issued edition of J.Lo came out on 24th July 2001 (Jennifer's 32nd birthday) which included a new track, I'm Real (Murder Remix) featuring American rapper Ja Rule. It's one of my favourite Jennifer songs.
My fave songs on the album include Love Don't Cost a Thing, I'm Real, Ain't It Funny, I'm Gonna Be Alright, Walking on Sunshine and Cariño. I also like Play and Secretly.
I later got another version of the CD (I think it's the European edition) which contains the bonus tracks Pleasure Is Mine, I'm Waiting and the I'm Real remix, which are also some of my favourites.
In February 2002, J.Lo released the remix album J to tha L-O! which includes the I'm Real remix and remixes of Ain't It Funny and I'm Gonna Be Alright- Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix) featuring Ja Rule and Caddilac Tah, and I'm Gonna Be Alright (Track Masters Remix) featuring Nas, all of which are some of my fave songs of hers.
Here are the singles from J.Lo, plus remixes. :)
Love Don't Cost a Thing
Love Don't Cost a Thing was the lead single from the album, released ahead of it in November 2000. It's one of Jennifer's most successful singles to date, charting in the Top 10 in the US and reaching No.1 here in the UK and other countries including Canada and New Zealand.
It's a pop and R'n'B song with the message that buying your lover expensive gifts is not a substitute for real love and connection. At the time Jennifer was in a high profile relationship with American rapper and record producer Diddy aka Puff Daddy/P Diddy which led to speculation that the song was about their relationship. They broke-up not long after the single's release.
Love Don't Cost a Thing was also included on the soundtrack for Jennifer's romantic comedy film The Wedding Planner (also released in January 2001), which she starred in alongside Matthew McMconaughey.
I featured it (the music video specifically) in my Top 10 Jennifer Lopez Songs post back in 2012 (No. 3 on the list). Feels a long time ago now! See it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/10/top-10-jennifer-lopez-songs.html
Play
Play was the 2nd single to be released, coming out in March 2001. One of the co-writers was American singer Christina Milian, who also sang back-up vocals.
Play is a dance-pop and electropop song, with lighthearted lyrics about asking the DJ to play your favourite song. As with Love Don't Cost a Thing, it was a hit, reaching No. 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 10 in international charts.
I included Play in my More J.Lo Songs post in 2013 (scroll down): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/02/more-jlo-songs.html
Play (Trixie Mattel Remix)
For the 25th anniversary edition, a new remix of Play was made. It's by American drag queen, TV star, singer and DJ Trixie Mattel and American record producer and singer-songwriter Drew Lewis.
I'm Real
The 3rd US single, I'm Real was released in June 2001. (Ain't It Funny was the 3rd international single; see below.) It was co-written by Jennifer and several others, including record producer Cory Rooney. It was partly inspired by the song Firecracker by the Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (itself a cover of the 1959 song by Martin Denny).
There was controversy over the Firecracker sample, due to the fact that it was originally meant to be used by Mariah Carey (another of my favourite singers) for her single Loverboy, from the 2001 album Glitter (the soundtrack from the film of the same name). Mariah believed that he ex-husband record producer Tommy Motolla was deliberately trying to sabotage her career by giving the sample to Jennifer instead.
She ended up using another sample for Loverboy from the 1986 single Candy by American funk and R'n'B band Cameo. The original version did see the light of day when Mariah included it on her 2020 album The Rarities though.
I'm Real was also a chart hit, getting to No. 1 in the US in September 2001 (unfortunately during a difficult time for the US, the September 11 attacks). It did well internationally too. In July 2001, a remix featuring Ja Rule was released (see below).
While the remix is my favourite, I also like the original I'm Real. Jennifer's 2nd husband Cris Judd was a dancer in the music video and Ja Rule also makes a cameo. I included the video in my More J.Lo Songs post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/02/more-jlo-songs.html
I'm Real (Murder Remix) feat. Ja Rule
A remix of I'm Real called Murder Remix was released in July 2001, on the re-issued edition of J.Lo- the lead single from the re-release and the 5th overall, coming after Ain't It Funny (see below). It features Ja Rule (one of my fave rappers) and the title refers to his record label Murder Inc. which was run by Irv Gotti. Sadly Irv died last month.
The remix is a more urban/R'n'B style than the original and was written by Ja Rule and Irv. It samples both the 1983 All Night Long by Mary Jane Girls (another song I like) and Rick James' (the founder of the group) 1978 single Mary Jane. Fellow Murder Inc. artist Ashanti sang the demo version and later provided backing vocals for the released version.
In addition to being on J.Lo. the Murder Remix appears on Ja's 3rd studio album Pain is :Love (released in 2001) and was later included on the J to Tha L-O! The Remixes album. There are two versions of the track, explicit and clean. The explicit version was controversial due to Jennifer singing "n**ga" in the lyrics ("I tell them n**gas mind their biz but they don't hear me though"). In the clean/radio friendly version, the N word is cut out and there are also changes to Ja Rule's lyrics.
While I like the original I'm Real, I prefer the remix and it's one of my fave songs by J.Lo in general. I featured it in my Top 10 Jennifer Lopez songs post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/10/top-10-jennifer-lopez-songs.html
The music video in the post is for the clean version, so I thought I'd share the audio for the explicit version here! :)
Ain't It Funny
Ain't It Funny was the 4th and final single in the US, coming out in December 2001. However, it served as the 3rd single abroad, having been released internationally in June 2001.
Defined as a Latin pop song and also disco salsa, Ain't It Funny is abut how dream romances don't necessarily live up to reality. It was another hit for Jennifer, doing well in several countries (reaching the Top 3 in the UK and mainland Europe).
Originally intended for the soundtrack of The Wedding Planner, it was deemed to have too much of a Latin style by the film's director Adam Shankman and Love Don't Cost a Thing was thought to be a better fit (see above).
There is also a remix (another Murder Inc one), although it's considered a remix in name only, since it's actually a different song.
Ain't It Funny was included in my Some Mariah Carey + J.Lo Songs post back in 2015 (I know its ironic given their rival but I like them both!): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/01/some-mariah-carey-jlo-songs.html
Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix) fea. Ja Rule and Caddilac Tah
The Murder remix of Ain't It Funny was one of the songs on the re-release of J.Lo and was later included on her remix album. It was released as a single in January 2002.
As with the I'm Real remix (see above), it was a collaboration with Murder Inc and featured rapppers Ja Rule and Caddilac Tah. It was co-written by Ja and is a hip hop/R'n'B track. However, despite being called a remix, it's actually a different song.
Ashanti was again involved, co-writing the song and also recording the demo version, as she did for the I'm Real remix. She appears in the music video too.
The Ain't It Funny remix samples Flava in Ya Ear, a 1994 single by the late rapper Craig Mack and is about dealing with an ex-boyfriend. As with the original Ain't it Funny, it was a hit song.
While I like both versions, I like the Murder remix a bit more (as I do with several of Jennifer's songs). I featured it in my More J. Lo Songs post: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/02/more-jlo-songs.html
That's it for now! Hope you liked the post. Do you like J.Lo? What do you think of the new songs?
Stay tuned for Part 2, with more songs I like, plus the new tracks. :)
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