In the words of Ryan Gaycrest, the results are in and they're not good. While JLo is riding high on a new comeback on American Idol, the same cannot be said about her long-awaited new album Love? While On The Floor (co-starring the senseless, uninspired rap provided by Pitbull) is riding high on the Billboard charts, the same cannot be said about follow-up single I'm Into You with Lil Wayne. But that's not all.
Billboard is reporting that the entertainer's new album has so far sold roughly 60,000 copies of her new album on the Billboard 200, which is slightly higher than her last album Brave, which sold 53,000 units in it's first week. It doesn't help that she's in stiff competition with singing powerhouse Adele, who's new album 21 is shattering Billboard records, as well as new releases from the umteenth ‘Now That's What I Call Music’ compilation or the new Beastie Boys album which was sold out when I went to do my usual music shopping this week at Best Buy (Yes bitches - I'm old school and still buy CD's of my favorite artists).
It also doesn't help that the majority of JLo's new album is just plain bad. While there are some paint-by-numbers guaranteed dance/pop hits on the album such as the album's first single, Papi, Invading My Mind, Hypnotico, and Charge Me Up, the rest of the album is an uninspired hot mess with tracks that mostly leaked online last year such as (What Is) Love? (from her rom-com flop The Back-Up Plan) and songs that are just plain bad such as Good Hit, Run The World, Villain (which, to no surprise were produced by The Dream & Tricky who couldn't revive Ciara's and Mariah's careers with their last abysmal albums). Also the fact that she's become the queen of recording other people's leftovers doesn't show that she's in the music business because she loves it but rather as a way to make a quick buck (Hypnotico was originally a Tami Chynn track but after her debut was shelved, it was given to JLo. Take Care was originally a Rihanna track that wound up on the cutting room floor. Ms. Fenty receives a writing credit in JLo's liner notes).
All in all I've always rooted for Jen to play to her strengths as a dance/pop star but her tracks with RedOne feel uninspired and as if they were planted there for the sole purpose to sell records - which is fine if they didn't come across like cheesy dated Euro pop straight out of the 90's. I guess if I'm looking to having some substance and a side order of emotion to go down with my electro-pop, I'll just have to look toward Robyn's new album or the next dance record from Madonna. But if you're looking for some depth on a JLo record, you best look elsewhere.
Sidebar: If Def Jam is looking to make some serious coin off the record, have someone remix the weak R&B lite tracks and just have her release Papi, Hypnotico, and Invading My Mind as future singles. She'll be performing on American Idol's results show tonight so we'll see if that will help move some units.
Jennifer Lopez - Hypnotico by ryan-peter-nolan
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