Reviews Are in for Jennifer Lopez' New Album 'This Is Me... Now'

Jennifer Lopez is back in the news today, Feb. 16, with her first new album in a decade, This Is Me... Now. Also back in the news today: the reviews of Lopez's first new album in a decade, and it's not good news.

Lopez's This Is Me... Now is a sequel of sorts to her third studio album, 2002's This Is Me... Then. She has simultaneously premiered a musical documentary, This Is Me... Now: A Love Story on Amazon Prime. More on the latter later.

The album is an unabashed love letter to her husband, Ben Affleck. And while she has every right as a creative artist to expound on her happiness, some reviewers were taken aback by some of the album's lyrics.

The reviews on This Is Me... Now are well, meh. As Page Six noted, "At times, the Grammy nominee seems to be in a one-woman race to out-cringe herself lyrically," labeling the NSFW lyrics in "Greatest Love Story Never Told" in one word: "Yuck." The New York Post cast a large eye-roll on Lopez treading over the same territory, giving the album a two-word review: "Dear God."

The Independent, while giving the album a three out of five-star review, did end with a bit of a downer: "[Y]ou hope for more detail than how Lopez is 'looking at my ring ring' while waiting for her phone to 'ring ring.' Beyond the rocks that she’s got, there isn’t much to be gleaned."

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The Arts Desk opined that while "There are a range of positive aspects," however, "This is Me… Now is too often bogged down in tepid, skittering R&B stylings of yesteryear." And The UK's Telegraph had the best summation right at the top of the review: "The star delivers a competent but underpowered album of slick pop inspired by Ben Affleck – though we could have done without his rapping," and gave it a 3-star rating.

Slant had perhaps the most sympathetic words noting the album "is one of Lopez's most sonically consistent efforts." Yet, even with a nod to the throwback era of its predecessor, 2002's This Is Me... Then, stated "'Dear Ben Pt. II' is emblematic of the similarities and differences between Then and Now. Lopez's collaborators on the 2002 song maximized her modest vocal abilities by pairing her voice with a simple yet insinuating melody and an understated arrangement. The sequel, though relatively low-key, features cringy verses and a hook that pushes Lopez’s voice beyond its limits."

As for the This Is Me... Now: A Love Story documentary, it purports to be a Lopez' in-the-circle-therapy session with a zodiac-inspired slant helmed by a star-studded cast, that of course, includes Affleck. Lopez co-wrote the short film and in a statement, described it as "a narrative-driven cinematic odyssey, steeped in mythological storytelling and personal healing." In one scene, Affleck is shown reacting, a little taken aback as noted by Variety, to love letters that Lopez is showing to a group of collaborators, then delivers the line, "So this was something of an adjustment for me."