At 41, now a married mother of two, Jennifer Lopez is no longer the pop star she once was ten years ago effortlessly dominating the Billboard Hot 100. The unfortunate flop of ‘Louboutins’ seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for “Jennifer Lopez The Pop Star”. Sony decided to part ways and terminate their 10+ year partnership with Mrs. Lopez leaving her heavily promoted but unsuccessful album ‘Love?’ in release-date-purgatory. Floating around aimlessly without a contact and with absolutely no buzz surrounding the project it appeared ‘Love?’ would never see the light of day.

Coincidentally, also looking to save a sinking ship, Simon Cowell courted Jennifer to be a judge on the make or break 10th season of American Idol. Always a businesswoman first, Jennifer jumped at her last chance to regain musical relevance. Island Records saw the potential and seized the opportunity to sign her and breathe new life into the now floundering ‘Love?’. ‘Love?’ was revamped, to flippantly denounce any existence of the aforementioned former lead single ‘Louboutins’ and promotional single ‘Fresh Out The Oven’; instead it was packaged as a personal journey detailing the ins and outs of love dressed-up as club ready anthems.

Continue reading for a full track-by-track review…

1. On The Floor (feat. Pitbull)
Released purposefully to coincide with Lopez’s debut on American Idol, ‘On The Floor’ samples the very whimsical and flighty melody from ‘Lambada’; reminiscent of ‘Stereo Love’, already proven to be a radio smash. Jennifer’s voice on the refrain is regal while the the rest of the song is delivered in the rap-sing style established by her alter ego J.Lo. Paired with Pitbull to ensure airplay on both pop and urban formats, it was a hit waiting to be released. ‘On The Floor’ serves as a good opener to the album, as it introduces the main Euro-pop dance flavor of ‘Love?’. 4.5/5

2. Good Hit
Auto-tune soaked and unapologetically badass, ‘Good Hit’, produced by The Dream & Tricky goes hard. Using the voice altering technology for effect rather than a clutch, J.Lo delivers in a monotoned drawl how her hit gets her Gucci and other fabulous name brands while other girl’s cannot even compare. You can’t help but want to put on your bossiest LV shades and strut with her. 5/5

3. Im Into You (feat. Lil Wayne)
Produced by StarGate, second single ‘I’m Into You’ is a sensual mid-tempo cut supported by a highly addictive beat with reggaeton influences. Its a melodically repetitive song sung is a tightly restrained, nasal tone until the end when Jennifer lets out a serious of enthusiastic belts and loud ad-libs. Some were even on key! Wayne’s verses add some much appreciated edge to the track—their chemistry is palpable. It’s danceable without being a dance song and sounds right at home on Top 40 radio. 4/5

4. What Is (Love?)
Jennifer isn’t as frightful of a singer as popular opinion would lead you to believe and she tries her damnedest to prove the naysayers wrong, God bless her. On this D’Mile produced track her voice is the main attraction. Her vocals are allowed to soar on the hauntingly biographical ‘What Is (Love?)’ in a way that finally shows off why she’s suitable to be a judge on American Idol. Did she nail it because she connected with the extremely personal lyrics, which allude to her failed marriages and the media’s perverse obsession with her personal life? Who knows, but whatever the reason, the conviction in her voice is undeniably powerful. This track has been floating around for over two years, yet has never stood out to me, but compared to the rest of the vocal on ‘Love?’ it is no doubt Jennifer’s proudest moment on the album as a vocalist. Live performance here. 4.5/5

5. Run The World
No, not that song…this is Jennifer, remember? Following his formula to the T, it’s standard The-Dream production: handclaps (check!), “eh, eh”’s (check), stacked vocals backed by Terius (check!). On the plus the track harkens back to J.Lo’s glory days with JaRule and her iconic-to-the-time remixes. This laid back summer jam a refreshing departure from the heavily synthesized, melodramatic start of the album.  3.5/5

6. Papi
Classic J.Lo at her best. Simply put, it hits hard! Her voice is clear and piercing on the verses transitioning effortlessly into a heavily accented chorus, “Move ya bodeh! Move ya bodeh! Dance for your papi!” over a an aggressive four-on-the-floor latin rhythm. A robotic breakdown of spanglish chants builds up to a final crescendo of the thumping production that explodes (!) leaving you no choice but to “baila para tu papi!” Contender for best track. 5/5

7. Until It Beats No More
Out of left field Jennifer goes A/C on a song that sounds like a discarded cut (for good reason) from the ‘This Is Me…Then’ era. Not only does it sound dated, but it’s a bit too ambitious of a song for a loud but thin voice like Jennifer’s. At the expense of her listeners she often confuses volume and shouting for technical belting, the results come off as shrill and painfully flat—no better demonstrated than on this track. However, she gets an A for effort. 2/5

8. One Love
Produced by D’Mile, ‘One Love’ features the Diva’s only writing credit of all 12 songs. A breezy mid-tempo filler that questions the existence of real love from a jaded J.Lo. A pleasant offering at best, this track did nothing for me or the album, but stay for the money note she sorta hits at the end…it’s almost worth it. Almost. 2.5/5

9. Invading My Mind
The song is futuristic, exciting and has an epic-feel to it featuring production credits from RedOne and LadyGaga. Detractors of this track when it leaked labeled it as generic, euro-trash; quite the contrary. Yes it’s universal, meaning any pop star could have easily recorded it, but J.Lo provides a certain latin flair to the track that makes it fresh! 4/5

10. Villain
‘Villain’ boasts a slightly different sound for J.Lo but is trademark The-Dream & Tricky. It’s a dark and sexy kiss-off to an ex desperately trying to claw their way back into your life. It sounds like a cross between something found on Britney’s benchmark electro-pop album ‘Blackout’ and Cheryl Cole’s ‘Promise This’. 3.5/5

11. Starting Over
J.Lo gets personal again on this Danja produced number, a sweet ode to her husband Mark Anthony, to whom she confessed that while her love for him is undoubtably strong she can’t help but feel part of their love begin to wane and question if it’s meant to be. Confident and controlled her light voice sits atop an charging production driven by militaristic percussion, displaying her most earnest vocal performance since ‘What Is (Love?)’. 3.5/5

12. Hypnotico (Bonus Track)
Its baffling how in between birthing a new race and a torrid affair with Judas, Lady Gaga has time to help out ole Jenny From The Block! Jenny plays the sexy siren on this criminally catchy electro number. ‘Original Sexy’ herself is ready to titillate and tease the boys on the sing-song chorus “We just some silly heartbreakers tonight!” This needs to be a single, like, yesterday! 5/5

Final verdict: ‘Love?’ is a solid effort with truly inspiring moments but it’s not quite the uptempo, party record it should have been. ‘Love?’ presents a hybrid blend of dance-pop/r&b with latin undertones produced and written by the industry’s A-List giving J.Lo exactly what she’s been asking for, a good hit. This is not an album of artistic development or musical growth. ‘Love?’ is meant to garner hit singles and professional relevance for J.Lo in the ever changing landscape of popular music. The album is certainly a win for the style icon and a much needed addition to any fan’s collection! Jennifer Lopez has taken this euro-pop craze by hostage and isn’t giving it back until we pay her! She accepts, gold, platinum or diamond…

‘Love?’ 3.5/5