Twenty years on from her first musical love-letter to then-fiancé Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez is releasing a sequel of sorts to her 2002 hit, Dear Ben.
Because, obviously, the hottest power couple of the noughties are now back together, natch.
It’s the first proper new music we’ve had from JLo since her 2014 album A.K.A, which ended up being her lowest ranking studio album, not even grazing the top 40 in the UK and Ireland. Since then she’s turned her attentions to acting – as well as, you know, looking incredible – notably for 2020’s Hustlers, where her performance as accomplished stripper Ramona earned her two acting awards.
But now it looks as though Jenny From The Block could be returning to her musical roots, potentially inspired by her rekindled romance with actor Ben, who she originally split from in 2004. She made her loooooong overdue announcement on Instagram, revealing the album would be called This Is Me… Now; a follow up, fans will know, to her third studio album, This Is Me… Then.
Alongside a short clip of the album art for the original record transforming into her current face (which genuinely has barely aged in two decades), she also posted the track listing, including titles like not.going.anywhere (a nod to the resilience of their love, perhaps?), Midnight Trip to Vegas (undoubtedly a reference to their secret July 2022 nuptials ahead of their proper ceremony for friends and family two months later), and, of course, Dear Ben pt II.
While not everyone was thrilled by the reunion of ‘Bennifer’ – who first started dating in 2001 after filming Gigli together – their renewed romance has been a bright spark of hope for those still heartbroken for ‘the one that got away’, which was, it seems, very much the cast for them.
Speaking to Huffpost in 2015, Jennifer said, ‘‘I would do it all over again, I think.
‘I really would. Even the relationship part. I just feel like everything is part of your story and your journey and is meant to be and helps you grow if you're willing to look at it, and I'm willing to look.’
Call us a sucker for love, but this album, neatly bookmarking the twenty year expanse of young love’s heartbreak to a more mature and, we hope, longer lasting connection, is going to be something special.