J.Lo

The fact that Jennifer Lopez doesn’t sing all that well has done little to slow the momentum of her singing career. Hell, with marketing savvy, slick production, and a caboose like hers, it doesn’t much matter what’s on the rest of the train. J.Lo’s songs, which were written by a small army of songwriters, run from mediocre to mush, recasting Lopez as the same Latin dance-pop diva we saw with her debut. “Ain’t It Funny” rips off Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” egregiously, and little else here stakes out any new ground. In and of itself, this is a problem that could be overcome by a more talented vocalist, but Lopez’s thin, reedy voice lacks the range to do anything interesting with these songs. In the bawdy “Come Over,” Lopez moans and coos lines like, “When you come, it gives me fever.” Certainly something we can appreciate, but really, this is bush-league stuff (sorry for the pun). It aims squarely for the lowest common denominator and hits its mark.


Multimedia:
Listen to clips from “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” and “Ain’t It Funny” in RealAudio.