Jennifer Lopez is just two days away from releasing her most personal album yet, titled This Is Me…Now, which draws inspiration from her husband Ben Affleck. But as Jennifer Lopez, she’s not stopping there. Alongside the album, the 54-year-old singer is also releasing a film on Prime Video titled This Is Me…Now: A Love Story, heavily influenced by her and Affleck’s enduring love.
“I felt like I wanted to do something special,” Lopez explains to Yahoo Entertainment about her $20 million self-funded passion project, which includes a forthcoming documentary. “I felt like the music deserved that.”
Back in 2002, when “Bennifer” dominated tabloid covers, Lopez released her first Affleck-inspired album, This Is Me…Then. The twenty-year gap between the two albums is why Lopez believes this latest project deserved more.
“People know the story of me and Ben, but that’s not the story I want to tell,” she insists.
This Is Me…Now: A Love Story is described as “a narrative-driven cinematic journey, blending mythological storytelling with personal healing.” Lopez portrays herself in a tale of a hopeless romantic who, after losing true love, embarks on a journey of self-discovery and encounters several failed relationships before finding true love once again. So, how much of this narrative is based on reality?
“It’s meta,” she explains. “It’s not autobiographical, but it’s definitely inspired by events of my life and of other people’s kind of journeys that I’ve watched. But it’s definitely the story of a hopeless romantic’s journey through life and their search for love. That really kind of sums it up in a way, and there’s definitely things from my life that are infused and inspired in the story.”
Lopez and Affleck ended their engagement in 2004, with both acknowledging how intense tabloid culture and media scrutiny impacted their relationship. Even after two decades, they remain targets of paparazzi scrutiny, with every photo and expression dissected online (often inaccurately). Lopez shares that they now handle it with more confidence.
“Honestly, we’re just kind of very grown,” Lopez reflects. “Everything seems so important when you’re younger, you know what I mean? You think everything’s going to be taken away from you and everything that everybody says or thinks about you matters, and as you get older you realize it really doesn’t. Not that you don’t care what people think, I do, but at the same time I feel very confident in knowing who I am and what I have to offer. There’s not really anything anybody can say to shake that.”
She adds, “The thing I love more about who I am today as opposed to maybe 20 years ago is I can really continue evolving, and growing, and knowing that I’m not where I’m gonna be in two years, or five years or 10 years. It’s going to be even better. It’s really the exciting part.”
Reflecting on their breakup in 2004, Lopez shares what she would tell herself back then: “It’s going to be better than you think. Just hold on.”
This Is Me…Now: A Love Story premieres on Prime Video on Friday, Feb. 16.