This Is Me... Then

Jennifer Lopez is living proof that good looks, steely-eyed ambition, and a small army of producers and marketing consultants can overcome even the most shocking dearth of talent. That Lopez has no discernible musical abilities might be forgivable if she put even an ounce of personality into this, her third album. Granted, her public persona is endlessly annoying, but even a little of her faux-streetwise, Latin-diva shtick would be a welcome addition to all this hopelessly drab R&B-by-numbers. The only meager pleasures here come on the first two tracks, “Still” and “Loving You,” which cast Lopez in her most fitting guise: vacant disco queen. Nothing good happens after that. “Dear Ben,” her string-laced ode to fiancé Ben Affleck, is some of the most embarrassing schlock ever committed to tape. Whatever strands of credibility LL Cool J was still hanging onto are revoked by his participation in the soppy break-up duet, “All I Have.” The biggest laugh, though, is provided by “Jenny From the Block,” wherein J.Lo attempts to, er, keep it real: “Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got/I’m still Jenny from the Block.” Please.