J.Lo is the second studio album by American singer Jennifer Lopez, released on January 16, 2001, by Epic Records. Lopez began recording the album in April 2000, enlisting producers such as Cory Rooney, Troy Oliver, Dan Shea and Sean Combs, all of whom she had worked with on her debut album On the 6 (1999). The album's title refers to the nickname given to her by fans, with Lopez describing it as an homage to her supporters. Drawing from her own experiences, Lopez included more personal songs on this album, which deals with themes of relationships, female empowerment and sex. J.Lo is a primarily dance-pop, Latin and R&B record which encompasses Latin pop, retro and contemporary pop.
J.Lo received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who criticized its manufactured sound, while praising its Spanish and dance material. Commercially, J.Lo debuted atop the US Billboard 200 the same week as her film The Wedding Planner opened at number one at the domestic box office. The album was certified quadruple platinum in the United States, making it her highest-selling to date, and became the sixth most successful album of the year worldwide.
"Love Don't Cost a Thing", released as the album's lead single on November 20, 2000, reached number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the UK Singles Chart. The album's second single, "Play", reached the top twenty in most countries, including the United Kingdom where it reached number three. "I'm Real" was serviced to radio as the album's third on June 19, 2001. To further its success, record executives at Epic recruited Ja Rule of Murder Inc. Records to create a remix of the song, "I'm Real (Murder Remix)". The remix, which featured Ja Rule, shifted Lopez's musical style from pop to a more hip hop and urban-oriented sound. It was the number one song in the United States at the time of the September 11 attacks for five non-consecutive weeks. "Ain't It Funny" was released as the album's fourth and final single on June 20, 2001. The album has sold over eight million copies worldwide.
Background
Prior to the release of J.Lo, Lopez had joined an elite group of limited actors to crossover successfully into the music industry. Inspired to pursue a music career after playing Selena in a 1997 musical biopic about the late singer of the same time, Lopez was signed to The Work Group and released her debut album On the 6 in 1999.Mendible, M. (2007). "From bananas to buttocks: the Latina body in popular film and culture". Austin: University of Texas Press. Retrieved September 4, 2012. Initially, the entertainer planned to release music in Spanish, although Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music Entertainment at the time, suggested that she sing in English. Subsequently, Lopez along with Ricky Martin led a large group of Hispanics who had crossed over into mainstream music with English material, including Enrique Iglesias, Marc Anthony and Christina Aguilera. At the time, this was referred to by the media as a Latin pop crossover "explosion" and "ethnic boom". Musically, On the 6 explored a Latin soul genre, and featured Lopez singing about love. It produced the number-one hit "If You Had My Love", as well as "Waiting for Tonight", which reached the top ten in the United States, among other singles. The album itself was a success, reaching number eight in the United States and selling eight million copies by 2003.
In April 2000, MTV News reported that Lopez, who had just finished filming a romantic comedy entitled The Wedding Planner, would begin recording her second studio album after wrapping up filming for another film, Angel Eyes (2001). That August, Lopez told LaunchCast that the album would be titled My Passionate Journey. "I'm halfway done right now. Hopefully I'll have it out by October," she said. It was reported that Lopez's boyfriend at the time, Sean Combs, who co-produced some of the tracks on On the 6, would contribute to the album. Additionally, it was reported that Rodney Jerkins, who produced "If You Had My Love", was working with Lopez. She said "I've grown musically, vocally, and everything" and wanted her second album to "... be more of a reflection of who I am, my own experiences".
The album was tentatively titled The Passionate Journey and set for release in November 2000, with the first single scheduled for release in late September. Lopez revealed in August 2000: "I had a deadline, but then I went and did three movies. So I'd been writing it during the movies and getting it together. And now I'm in there recording it." Lopez eventually decided to name the album J.Lo, paying homage to a nickname her fans called her on the streets since the beginning of her career, "My fans call me J.Lo. Giving the album this title is my way of telling them that this is for them in appreciation of their support."
Prior to releasing the album, Lopez knew how important it was to "stay fresh", wanting to innovate the music industry. She decided to tweak her public image, dying her hair and changing her stage name to J.Lo. The album was released on January 23, 2001. Lopez had more "creative control" on J.Lo than On the 6, explaining: "I really felt like this time it was even more mine." Previously, she had been vocal in living her life while acknowledging her responsibility as a role model to youth. The entertainer stated, "I mean, I feel like you can't take on the responsibility of the world, you know? I think it's destructive [...] You start thinking, Oh God, I have to do this or do that. You have to live your life. I don't do drugs, I don't drink or smoke or do anything like that. So, those are the type of things that people like [in] role models: 'Oh, you can't be human.' You are human."
Composition J.Lo is a pop album with Latin, dance-pop and R&B influences. Lopez revealed, "I don't think what I make is real Latin pop. I make pop music that has some Latin influence." The album is more personal and romantic than her previous, with Lopez referring to the songs as a reflection on "what I've observed and witnessed my sisters and my girlfriends going through. The songs are about having a good time and not having a good time, or partying a lot and partying too much."
The album's opening track "Love Don't Cost a Thing", produced by Ric Wake, lyrically centers around a materialistic relationship. "I'm Real", composed by Lopez with Cory Rooney and Troy Oliver, has a retro vibe and was likened to music from Janet Jackson's album Control by Slant Magazine. The dance-pop track "Play", produced by Swedish producers Arnthor Birgisson and Anders Bagge, features back-up vocals on the chorus from recording artist Christina Milian, who also co-wrote the track with Rooney, Bagge, and Birgisson. In the track, Lopez pleads with a nightclub DJ to "play her favorite song" over a shuffling electric guitar and dance beat. Telegram & Gazette compared its sound to Madonna. "Walking on Sunshine" was considered a "techno-disco anthem", while "Ain't it Funny" is a Latin pop song that returns López to her Latin roots. Written by Lopez and Rooney, it contains lyrics about "creating the perfect romance in your mind, then facing reality when Mr. Right is less than ideal". "We Gotta Talk" has double-time beats and, lyrically, "prescribes communication and compromise to heal a romantic relationship".
J.Ló includes the Spanish songs "Cariño", "Si Ya Se Acabo" and "Dame (Touch Me)". "Cariño" is described by Lopez as a "cha-cha" inspired composition, with lyrics that refer to love and affection. "That's Not Me" is a dramatic song about self-empowerment with an arrangement consisting of an acoustic guitar and piano, as well as "skittering syncopations, layering half-speed vocal lines over double-speed runs". The album also features romantic ballads, which Rolling Stone and Slant Magazine drew comparisons with Jackson. "Come Over" is a song about "forbidden lust", whilst "Secretly" features Lopez singing about a "guy whom she can smell across the room".
Controversy Both the original and remix versions of "I'm Real" generated controversy. The original version of "I'm Real" is based around a sample of the Yellow Magic Orchestra's song "Firecracker", using an interpolation throughout introduction and chorus. Tommy Mottola, in addition to being the head of Sony, was the head of Columbia Records, which recording artist Mariah Carey had left at the time. Mottola, Carey's ex-husband, heard the sampling of "Firecracker" in a trailer for Carey's musical film Glitter (2001). According to The Inc.'s Irv Gotti, Mottola knew of Carey's usage of the "Firecracker" sample, and attempted to have Lopez use the same sample before her. When the music publishers for "Firecracker" were questioned, they admitted Carey had licensed usage of the sample first, and Lopez had signed for it over one month later, under Mottola's arrangement.
Following the scandal, Carey was unable to use the sample. Also according to Gotti, Mottola contacted him with instructions to create an additional song that sounded exactly like another Glitter track he produced, titled "If We", featuring rappers Ja Rule and Nate Dogg. The result of this was the remixed version of "I'm Real", which received backlash for Lopez's use of the term nigga. In response, Lopez stated, "For anyone to think or suggest that I'm racist is really absurd and hateful to me. The use of the word in the song, it was actually written by Ja Rule, it was not meant to be hurtful to anybody." Later, Rule was confused as to why Lopez "received flack" for using the word. The rapper stated, "I think the whole thing, like everything else, is being blown out of proportion. She's not the first Latino to use that word on a record, and it's never been an issue before. I think it's just that she's a very high-profile star and it's something to let people get a chance to poke at her." Despite the controversy, J.Lo was reissued with the remix as a bonus track on July 24, 2001. The inclusion of the remix resulted in the reissue carrying a Parental Advisory warning—coupled with the fact that another song on the album, "Play", contains profanity—and a clean version of the album was also issued.
Promotion The audio CD of J.Lo was "equipped" with special technology, which allowed buyers to access exclusive bonus features via Lopez's official website. Fans could place their CD in their CD-ROM drive of a computer and go to the entertainer's website where they would "unlock" a "secret" area of the site, which would contain the features. Lopez appeared on various television shows and performed live on several occasions to promote the album. On January 12, 2001, the entertainer appeared on Top of the Pops, performing the singles "Love Don't Cost a Thing" and "Play". On January 24, Lopez appeared at the Virgin Megastore on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. Fans who purchased the album at 12 a.m. only would exclusively be given the chance to get Lopez's autograph. Lopez traveled to Australia briefly to promote J.Lo. According to the Sydney Morning Herald who wrote about her visit years later, she arrived in "true superstar style", "Her press conference at the Boomerang mansion in Elizabeth Bay was an absolute circus of beefy security guards (watching over J.Lo's arrival by boat), gushing publicists and one of the largest entertainment media packs I've ever seen."