J.Lo

Like Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez has entered the singing, dancing, acting, can-do-anything zone of the bona fide superstar and has developed an ego to match her talents. J.Lo, the follow-up to her multi-platinum 1999 debut On The 6, makes little attempt to tinker with the latino soul formula she patented back then, employing an army of co-producers and writers (including partner Puffy) to assemble a slick, 15-track affair. If anything, her sound is safe, retro even, with some tracks looking back to the 1980s, particularly the Michael Jackson-influenced "I'm Real" and the funky, impressive "Play". Her Puerto Rican background comes to the fore on a handful of Spanish numbers, notably "Cariño", which samples Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaria's "Sofrito" to impressive effect. It goes badly wrong on the "La Isla Bonita" sound-a-like, "Ain't It Funny", which merely serves to reinforce the impression that Lopez is happy to settle for being the latino Madonna. --Mike Pattenden

Label: Unknown
Studio: Epic
Released: 2003-08-04
Format: Audio CD

Extras/Features:
Extra tracks