In This is Me . . . Now, Jennifer Lopez tells her own story using the language of music, dance, lyrics, metaphor, imagery, and drama. She calls herself “The Artist” in this. As an artist, she uses the tools of her trade to show a personal and vulnerable picture of herself as lonely and searching for love.
This is Me . . . Now Is also going to be released as a straight music album. I saw a couple of people who likened it to a music video for an entire album. It is – sort of. It’s also a journey of self-discovery that leads a tumultuous trail through her childhood, her marriages, her friendships, her therapy, and her emergence into a mature, self-accepting, self-loving adult.
The message I got from the chaos of the whole experience was that until Jennifer learned to embrace her inner child and dance in the rain with no partner but a metaphoric hummingbird she couldn’t put her relationship addiction behind her.
Every thing Jennifer’s good at – writing songs, dancing, acting – it all gets thrown into the hour. There’s humor in the form of the Zodiac, with the 12 birth signs being acted out by people such as Jane Fonda, Keke Palmer, two of Jenifer Lewis (Gemini, obviously), Neil deGrasse Tyson and others. Fat Joe plays her therapist. Ben Affleck is there, too, but not as one of the husbands. He’s ranting on the television like a lunatic fringe podcaster.
The choreography was outstanding. The songs were less impressive to me. The whole experience was disjointed. It was a mix of sweet dreams and nightmares. But the throughline, for me, was the message that happiness only comes from learning to love yourself.
Apparently Jennifer Lopez financed this herself, which is definitely a bold step toward believing in yourself. Prime Video is streaming it. If you watch it yourself, please share your reactions. I know people’s responses are going to be all over the place with this one!