Love?
Love? is the seventh studio album by American singer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on April 29, 2011, by Island Records. Produced during the pregnancy of her twins Emme and Max, Love? was cited by Lopez as her most personal album to date, taking inspiration from the birth of her twins and her own experiences with love.
Recording for the album began in 2009, with an original release date for the project set for January 2010 by Epic Records to coincide with Lopez's film The Back-up Plan. However following the lack of success with lead single "Louboutins", Lopez and Epic Records parted ways, leaving the fate of Love? in uncertainty. In 2010, Lopez signed a new record deal with Island Records, allowing proceedings for the release to be kept. The album includes a mixture of previously recorded material which leaked online in 2009 and 2010 during recording sessions, along with new songs with Tricky Stewart, The-Dream and RedOne commissioned by Island Records. Primarily a dance-pop record, Love? also marks a return to Lopez's pop/R&B roots.
Upon its release, Love? garnered mixed reviews from music critics. While some were critical of it, others disagreed, praising it as a great dance album. Commercially, Love? debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, becoming her sixth album to peak within the top 10 in the United States, and her highest peak since 2005's Rebirth. Internationally, Love? experienced moderate success, peaking within the top 10 in twenty-four different countries and also reaching the top five of several music markets. The album sold 353,000 copies in the United States.
The album's first single under Island Records is "On the Floor" and features Pitbull. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped over thirty international charts, while the second and third singles from Love?, being "I'm Into You" featuring rapper Lil Wayne and "Papi", both topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, each becoming moderate hits. Love? has become her third consecutive album to have all singles reach number one on that chart, earning her a milestone for eleven number ones at the time tying her with Katy Perry and Kristine W.
Background
Love? follows the footsteps of her least commercially successful album, Brave, which just missed the top ten of the US Billboard 200, at position 12. Its beginnings date from late 2007 and early 2008, during Lopez's pregnancy with twins Emme and Max. While pregnant, and while at home after pregnancy, Lopez had been working on new music for future projects. In February 2009, a new song from those recording sessions titled "Hooked on You" leaked online. Lopez would address the leak on her official website in May 2009, where she said "I'm always excited about my music and this is one of a few tracks I'm currently working on. I'm flattered by everyone's interest in the track and really excited for you to hear the real thing..." Songwriter Wynter Gordon also addressed another leak from the album, a song that Gordon wrote called "What Is Love". In a personal blog through her official MySpace page, Gordon expressed her discontent that an unfinished, unmastered version of "What Is Love" had been leaked through the Internet. "I wrote this song from a deep place in my heart. If the world was gonna hear it, I wanted them to hear it right... It's as good as gone to me now... The story was given a Lifetime TV special instead of a movie... sad." Gordon did note that she was dissatisfied with the circumstances but was in "no way dissing Lopez." The following month Lopez told MTV's Larry Carol that she was keen to finish the album and several singles, with a potential release date for the end of 2009.In February 2010, Lopez left Sony Music Entertainment by mutual consent. Her departure from the label temporarily halted production on the album. However upon signing a new contract with Island Def Jam Music Group, recording resumed on the album, and Lopez entered the studio with Kuk Harrell to record brand new material for the disc. The New York Daily News revealed that Lopez would be taking some of the records recorded under Sony Music to her new label so that they could be included on the album. She said "stuff I'd been performing will be on the album as will previously released dance cuts." According to the paper, Island Def Jam would also release a remix disc alongside the album. AOL's music entertainment site, PopEater, later reported that Epic Records had actually shelved Love? and never committed to releasing the album, although this was never confirmed by Lopez, Epic or Island Def Jam. In February 2011, Lopez told BBC that the album was nearly complete. She had around twenty songs recorded from 2009–2011 which were being considered for the album, but she was finding it hard to edit the final track listing. "I'm very proud of the album; it's so hard to edit it because I have recorded maybe 20 songs and of course I'm not going to put 20 songs on an album, so to cut out eight to ten of those... it's breaking my heart." Lopez credits Love? as her best album to date because on it she recorded her "best vocals". RedOne and Lopez's new label boss, Antonio "L.A." Reid served as executive producers on the album.
Recording and production
While on set filming for The Back-up Plan in June 2009, Lopez revealed to MTV's Larry Carol that she had been working on the follow-up album to 2007's Brave. She had been working on the album during pregnancy, but it was not until the birth of her twins, Max and Emme, that she was able to focus on the project. Carol asked about the direction of the album, but Lopez refused to comment, instead saying "You can't help but put not only your kids into it, but to put anything you are going through in your music. The only thing you can really sing or write is stuff that you know. The more music you make and the more that you get into it and the more you write, the more you realize that's all you can write." At the time of the interview, two of the album's songs had leaked. The first, titled " Love?", was written by Wynter Gordon and co-written and produced by Emile Dernst II. After expressing dismay at the song's leak, its writer spoke of why the song was very personal to her: " not knowing what love is...I felt like so many woman have that same story. No fathers, families, abusive boyfriends and husbands..no parental support, they feel alone.. I've had my few relationships and have yet to feel love." Jean Baptist produced a 'part-two' for the song, which was mentioned at one of the album pre-release parties, attended by Rap-Up magazine, however the second part of the song was omitted from the track listing. The original version of the song, under the title "What Is Love", was included on the soundtrack to the 2010 film, The Back-up Plan, starring Lopez.Gordon also wrote "Starting Over" for the album with help from Marcella Araica and Nathaniel Hills, who also produced the song. Over a "fast-paced, galloping beat", Lopez describes the hardships of "getting back in the game after a breakup". According to the album credits, this is the only song with credited live instruments. The third song written by Gordon is called "Everybody's Girl", co-written by Mike Caren, Shep Crawford and Ollie Goldstein. The lyrics in this song speak of whether the female protagonist's man can love her "under the intense glare of the spotlight", over an up-tempo production. The other, aforementioned leaked song, "One Love", was written by Lopez, Antea Birchett, Anesha Birchett and Dernst II, as a tribute to her past relationships. Lopez references her famous lovers from the past, Sean Combs, backup dancer Cris Judd, Ben Affleck, and Marc Anthony.
The Birchett sisters also worked with Muhammed Kateeb and Otis Greyson to write the third leaked song, "Hooked on You". Danja also produced two other songs for the album, "Love and War" and "Keeper". The latter bears some resemblance to T.I.'s "Hell of a Life" which was also produced by Danja. It also follows in the same vein as "One Love" with lyrics that focus on Lopez searching for and then finding Mr. Right. While "Starting Over" and "One Love" both made the album, Danja's other two productions did not. Meanwhile, Caren and Chris Sernal respectively produced and wrote the guitar-driven ballad "Beautiful", which according to Rap-Up, is resemblant of production work by Ryan Tedder. Lopez also worked with Pharrell Williams and his production outfit The Neptunes on the album. One record they produced, "Fresh Out the Oven" was written by Williams, Pitbull, Lopez and Amanda Ghost. It also features additional vocals from Pitbull, but was only ever intended to be a fun record that was leaked by Epic Records and promoted in US night clubs. Neither track made the final track listing.
However, not all of Lopez's collaborators were new. She reunited with longtime collaborator, Rodney Jerkins who has worked with Lopez numerous times in the past. Darkchild produced "This Cannot Be Love", although the song did not make the final track listing for Love? It has similar introductory chords to "The Boy Is Mine" by Brandy Norwood and Monica. "This Cannot Be Love" has a progressive uptempo melody which continues to gather pace over the course of the song, while in the lyrics Lopez "asks if true love exists". When asked what inspired some of the album's records, Lopez told The Advocate, that whenever she records a new album she always thinks of dance music as it is popular in the gay community and club cultures. She said songs like "This Cannot Be Love"have musicality similar to her worldwide hit, "Waiting for Tonight", which was well received by the LGBT community. " talks about the idea of getting lazy in love. You know how we do that? When you're with somebody and you're like: Wait a minute — remember when we were so in love and obsessed with each other? What happened?"
Lopez also worked with Norwegian producers, StarGate on a personal song called "Story of My Life", and the album's second single "I'm Into You". While the former does not feature on the album, the latter is an Island-flavoured mid-tempo song, co-written by Taio Cruz and featuring guest vocals from Lil Wayne. Other major producers on the album include Christopher "Tricky Stewart" and The-Dream, who produced the album's Epic Records lead single, "Louboutins". The song was initially produced and written by Stewart and The-Dream for Brandy Norwood, but following Norwood's departure from Epic Records it was subsequently given to Lopez. The song, backed with strong synths and trumpets "tells the story of a woman stuck in a dead-end relationship with a man who clearly doesn't deserve her, and with her journey to realizing that and eventually walking out on him", and her frustration that her man is not 100% committed. "Louboutins" topped the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart but did not garner any airplay. Furthermore, critics gave the song mixed reviews, calling the lyrical content "boring", "dated" and "poo", although some did appreciate that the song was "catchy" and had some club appeal to it. It was excluded from the final track listing. Other songs recorded with Stewart and The-Dream include "Run the World" which initially featured Rick Ross and The-Dream, but the final version of the song removed both featured artists. It was tipped by Lopez to be a potential summer single. Another song produced by the duo was "Good Hit", initially lined up as a buzz single. MTV's Chris Ryan described it as having a slick dance beat over which "Lopez sings about dropping it low in a voice coated with the much-maligned but incredibly popular vocal filter."
In November 2009, Stewart told Vibe that his and The-Dream's fellow production associate Kuk Harrell, would be producing a lot of the album. He said "I heard him working on some of the vocals and she has a lot of really good songs, I will say that. The stuff I heard was really good, really strong." Following Lopez's move to Island Def Jam, Lopez re-entered the studio to record new material with Harrell. Lopez later revealed that most of the album had been revamped and most production was now courtesy of Stewart and The-Dream despite recording several new songs with Moroccan producer RedOne, which made the album. Amongst those recorded with RedOne is the Latin music-influenced "On the Floor" which features Pitbull and a sample from Kaoma's 1989 hit single "Lambada". Two other RedOne songs, co-written and co-produced by Lady Gaga, "Invading My Mind" and "Hypnotico", also appear on Love? "Hypnotico" was originally recorded by recording artist Tami Chynn for her unreleased second album. Meanwhile, Lopez told fans in March 2011 that she recorded some of the album's songs in Spanish. Rap-Up revealed that the album was to also feature production from producer Troy "Radio" Johnson.