As she drops her first studio album in a decade, This Is Me… Now, as well a coinciding Amazon Original This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, Jennifer Lopez checked in with Audacy’s Bru to chat about it all.

A sequel to her third studio album, This Is Me… Then, released in 2002, This Is Me… Now marks Jennifer’s ninth — and possibly final — album. And with it comes, “a narrative-driven cinematic odyssey, steeped in mythological storytelling and personal healing,” so says the official press release.

Discussing her decision to take this creative route and tell her story in this way, Jennifer said, “You know I made the album This Is Me… Then 20 years ago… and captured kind of a moment in time when I first fell in love. And then as fate would have it, I had a second chance at that, and got very inspired again and went back in the studio. Wrote an album in a couple of months, and then when it was done, I was like this is really special but doesn’t really tell the whole story.”

“It’s a nice celebration, it does capture the moment,” she continued. “But when I think about Then and Now and all of the time, the 18, 20 years in between and what it took to get there, that part of the story that’s really important too… So I got with Dave Myers, called him up, told him, played him the music, he was like ‘wow OK, what do you wanna do?’ I said just something that’s not really been done before, I actually, I wanna do this and that and this and that…. and we kind of collaborated and created this experience.”

Just from the Amazon Original trailer alone you can already tell the duo did not play when it comes to the visuals. All of which, according to J.Lo were a struggle to shoot, but obviously totally worth it.

“It was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever worked on, I really threw everything into it that was part of me. Whether it’s my love of musicals, doing romantic comedies, dancing, singing, fashion, everything about myself. And then on the personal side, all of the pain, and the joy. and the laughter, and the kind of like sadness. All of it, just kind of all into one thing, and it really turned into something really spectacular I think.”

Also chatting about how her rekindled romance with husband Ben Affleck influenced her, as well as what role he played in supporting her throughout, Jen expressed — “I mean he was a big support through the whole process, and kind of the person who was really like, 'this could be amazing.'”

Another way Affleck supported his Queen is by appearing in the Dave Meyers directed musical epic. And he wasn’t the only star to do so. In addition to Affleck, Fat Joe, Trevor Noah, Kim Petras, Post Malone, Keke Palmer, Sofía Vergara, Jenifer Lewis, Derek Hough, Jay Shetty, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Sadhguru, are all also set to appear.

To conclude the conversation Bru asked Jennifer, what is it that fans come up to her most for, her acting or her singing (among the many other things she does).

“You know, it’s kind of the whole thing," Jen expressed, sharing she most often receives messages of gratitude “for inspiring” others to do whatever it is they want to do. “Because they see me kind of like with opposition at times, and with kind of like criticism, and all kinds of things, and not stopping.”

“And they don’t know the times that I doubt, and the times that I do feel like giving up and all that," Jennifer added. "But what they do see is that I haven’t, and that I work hard at it… the hard work thing I hear a lot too.” Which as Bru delightedly noted and J.Lo cheerfully agreed, is not a bad thing to be known for.

For all that and a bit more, listen to the entire conversation above.

Both the album This Is Me… Now and This Is Me... Now: A Love Story arrive on Friday, February 16, 2024.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Bru