The stars keep aligning for Jennifer Lopez, and the star is reflecting on her growth in her musical experience film, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, which premiered on Tuesday (Feb. 13) just days before her long awaited new album arrives on Feb. 15.
In the Dave Meyers-directed movie, the 54-year-old multi-hyphenate follows an astrologically charged journey to find love, which only comes to her once she learned to truly love herself and her inner child. “I was raised in a time of fairytales and Cinderella and Prince Charming and I’m just the type of person since I was very young that really believed in love and was a hopeless romantic from a very, very young age,” she tells Billboard of the inspiration behind the film’s concept, which features Lopez continuing to trust that love will come her way despite the heartbreak, all to the tune of her newest songs. “As I became an artist and started making music, love was my main subject.”
Love is certainly on the brain for Lopez, who rekindled her romance with Ben Affleck nearly two decades after they called it quits before their 2004 wedding. The duo tied the knot in July 2022, something the “Waiting for Tonight” star didn’t see coming, especially after having three marriages end in divorce. “I never thought that he and I would get back together,” she says of her relationship with the actor. “I just just couldn’t give up on idea that there was something amazing out there for me, even when it got really bad — and it did at times. I always believed deep, deep down to not give up completely. It wasn’t until I got to the point where I was really OK on my own and not having to be in a relationship when I feel like universe kind of opened up and said, ‘Well here you go.’”
Another full circle moment is the upcoming release of This Is Me…Now, the sequel album to her 2002 album, This Is Me…Then — which just so happened to have been written at the time of her then-relationship with Affleck. “This Is Me…Then was something that I wrote at that point in time that wound up capturing a moment where I fell deeply in love for the first time in that way, and I didn’t know that I would look back and I think. ‘What a kind of poetic thing to say,’” Lopez reflects.
She continued, “Then to have this kind of crazy, strange, magical, surrealistic plot twist where I wound up back with that person, it was insane and it was also very inspiring. So I went back in the studio, and in the way that This Is Me… Then captured that first moment in time, I wanted to capture this moment in time. It’s even more beautiful and inspiring than the first time. I have something to say about love now that I’ve been looking for which is — I’m sure people wonder because I did — does true love exist? Is that type of love real? Does anything last forever? When I felt like I had the answers to that, I wanted to share that with all the people who’ve been on this journey with me, who watched me get up and fall down, in and out of relationships. It may not be a straight road, but the love is there.”
And of course, because the film features a guardian angel council of astrology gods and goddesses played by Trevor Noah, Sofia Vergara, Keke Palmer, Post Malone, Jane Fonda and more, Lopez had a lot to say about her own astrological sign (Leo) and its compatibility with Affleck’s (also Leo). “Let me tell you it’s fiery! It’s great,” she says of a two-Leo marriage. “And it’s challenging. We are both very willful. If you know what Leos are like, you know we’re passionate. Oh my God, so passionate, the both of us. One of us gets on a tangent about something, it’s like, ‘Just sit down and let him have his moment.’ Or he needs to sit down and let me have my moment. We know each other in that way and we’re getting to know each other again, which is really beautiful too.”
This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, a 65-minute musical film drops on Amazon Prime video on Friday (Feb. 15) alongside the album. The singer also announced a 30+ city tour in support of the project. Check out the full list of dates below.
June 26 — Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
June 28 — Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
July 2 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
July 3 — Edinburg, TX @ Bert Ogden Arena*
July 5 — San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center
July 6 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
July 9 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
July 11 — Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
July 13 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
July 16 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
July 17 — Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
July 19 — Palm Springs, CA @ Acrisure Arena
July 20 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena*
July 22 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
July 24 — Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
July 26 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
July 27 — Indianapolis, IN @ Gainbridge Fieldhouse
July 30 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
July 31 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
Aug. 2 | Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena*#
Aug. 5 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre*#
Aug. 7 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
Aug. 9 — Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena
Aug. 10 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
Aug. 13 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
Aug. 14 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
Aug. 16 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
Aug. 20 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse*
Aug. 22 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
Aug. 24 — Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
Aug. 25 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
Aug. 27 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
Aug. 30 — New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
Aug. 31 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center*
*Verizon Up Presale Not Applicable | #Citi Presale Not Applicable