On the 6
On the 6 is the debut studio album by American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. It was released on June 1, 1999, by the Work Group. Lopez worked with several producers on the album, including Rodney Jerkins, Cory Rooney, Dan Shea and her boyfriend at the time, rapper and record producer Sean "Puffy" Combs. A Spanish edition of the album was released on November 24, 1999. This version of the album shuffles the track list, omitting "Feelin' So Good", while including an all-new Spanish track, in addition to Spanish versions of "Open Off My Love", "Promise Me You'll Try" and "Waiting for Tonight", the latter of which also appeared on the album's original release as a bonus track. The remainder of the tracks on this edition appear as they did on the album's original release.
Critics greeted Lopez's musical debut with a generally positive response. On the 6 was praised for its conservative, though dynamic, musical style and combination of Latin with pop and R&B. Critics commented on Lopez's vocal ability and many generally gave good remarks for her versatility and somewhat "seductive" and "sultry" singing, however, some critics found the vocals quite underwhelming. The album was successful on the charts, reaching the top ten or top twenty in the U.S. and several other countries around the world. On the 6 was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of three million copies in the U.S..
The album produced five singles, three of which hit the main US Hot 100 chart. "If You Had My Love" peaked at number one in the U.S., while "Waiting for Tonight" peaked at number eight. "No Me Ames", a ballad with Lopez's then-future husband, now ex-husband, Marc Anthony, did not reach the US Hot 100 chart, but was a hit on Billboards Latin chart, while "Feelin' So Good" hit number 51 on the US Hot 100, and peaked at number one on the US Dance Club Songs chart. A fifth and final single, "Let's Get Loud" did not chart on the US Hot 100 due to the lack of a physical release in the U.S., but became a major hit in several other countries. With the album, Lopez was credited with helping drive what was termed the "Latin explosion" in Western pop music.
Lopez surprise-released a 25th anniversary digital-only reissue on May 31, 2024.
Background
Since her childhood, Lopez's Puerto Rican parents stressed the importance of a good work ethic and the ability to speak English. They encouraged their three daughters to put on performances at home, singing and dancing in front of each other and their friends so they would stay out of trouble. During her final year of high school, Lopez learned about a casting call for several teenage girls for small film roles. She auditioned and was cast in My Little Girl, a low-budget film co-written and directed by Connie Kaiserman. After filming her role, Lopez knew that she wanted to become a "famous movie star". She told her parents, but they told her it was a "really stupid" idea and "no Latinos did that". Her disagreement with them led Lopez to move out of her family home and into a Manhattan apartment. During this period, Lopez performed in regional productions of several musicals before being hired for the chorus in a musical which toured Europe for five months. She was unhappy with the role, since she was the only member of the chorus not to have a solo. She got a job on the Japanese show Synchronicity as a dancer, singer and choreographer. Lopez then obtained her first high-profile job as a Fly Girl dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. She moved to Los Angeles with then-boyfriend David Cruz to film the series, and remained a cast member until 1993.After a series of co-starring film roles, Lopez received her big break in 1996 when she was cast in the title role of Selena, a biographical film about American singer-songwriter Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. In the film Selena's voice is used for the musical sequences, but Lopez would sing the lyrics instead of lip syncing. When asked in an interview if Selena inspired her to launch a music career, Lopez said "I really, really became inspired, because I started my career in musical theater on stage. So doing the movie just reminded me of how much I missed singing, dancing, and the like..." After filming Selena, Lopez was "really feeling Latin roots" and recorded a demo record in Spanish. Lopez' manager sent the song to Sony Music Entertainment's Work Group, which was interested in signing Lopez. Tommy Mottola, the head of the label, suggested that she sing in English and she began recording On the 6. Lopez was aware that she received her recording contract on her looks and reputation, and wanted to prove that she had musical talent. Before her first album, critics wondered why she would take the risk of launching a musical career: "If the album was a flop, not only would it embarrass Lopez but it might even damage her career."
Recording
For On the 6, Mottola and Lopez met with several producers, but producer and writer Cory Rooney later recalled that when he met Lopez, they "immediately hit it off". He played piano and sang "Talk About Us" for them, which Mottola and Lopez liked; she recorded it the next day, and worked closely with Rooney on the rest of the album. Other contributors to On the 6 included then-boyfriend Sean "Puffy" Combs, future husband Marc Anthony, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Poke & Tone and the husband-and-wife team of Emilio and Gloria Estefan. Grammy Award-winning singer and vocal producer Betty Wright, known for her hit "Clean Up Woman", worked closely with Lopez on the album and provided her with "plenty of inspiration". Lopez said Wright had "an amazing spirit": "She was in with me, day in and day out, helping me. I'm a young singer, you know? A young studio singer. I may have sang all my life, and I may have sang on stage and stuff like that, but it's different to record in the studio. And you need somebody who really can guide you through that."One day, whilst working on On the 6, Jennifer Lopez "happened to be" recording at the same recording studio where American recording artist Marc Anthony was recording. Anthony, who had become intrigued by Lopez after seeing her in Selena, came into her studio and asked her to appear in the music video for his song "No Me Conoces". She agreed, but only if he recorded a song with her, to which he in turn agreed. Lopez recalled the events on her Feelin' So Good video album by stating: "So at that time I called Tommy and I'm like 'Look, so Marc Anthony said he would do a song and I really don't want to do a duet with just anybody, I want to do a duet with him. So can you force him to sign something, so he has to do a record with me? If I do this video!'" The two first shot the video and then began working on the song.
"Let's Get Loud" was originally written for Gloria Estefan, but she felt as if the song was too similar to her previous recordings. She then passed the song to Lopez, stating that she would have "more fun with it" and would put "a new spin" on it.
Lopez felt that recording her first album was "worlds apart" from being a film actress in Hollywood: "The movie business is so structured with time frames and such. But the music business is so loose, you can come in whenever you want". She hoped On the 6 would appeal to people like her: "English is my first language. I grew up here. I was born here, I didn't have a career in Spanish first. I think it appeals definitely to my generation of people, we grew up in America but had Latin parents or parents of different ethnicity." She wanted the album to reflect both sides of her, regarding Hispanic people as her "core audience".
Music and lyrics
On the 6 primarily consists of R&B and Latin music, which Lopez called eclectic Latin soul. Although she described herself as bilingual and the record has Latin influences, Lopez chose to sing in English. The Los Angeles Times described the album as not only Latin soul, but "state-of-the-art dance pop". Lopez said, "The whole vibe of the album is R&B and Latin music. It has both those influences...It still has a pop feel to it, but I definitely wanted to mix the two because I feel that very much who I am, growing up in the Bronx, being of Latin descent". The album incorporates different parts of Lopez's life and upbringing and marked the beginning of her musical exploration of love, a theme she continued in future albums."If You Had My Love" is a slow-paced mid-tempo pop and R&B song in B♭ minor, with piano and guitar instrumentation. On the track Lopez establishes a number of "ground rules" for her admirer before giving herself to him: "Now if I gave you me, this is how it's got to be/ First of all I won't take you cheatin' on me/ Tell me who can I trust if I can't trust in you/ And I refuse to let you play me for a fool". "Let's Get Loud" is a "fiery, soulful" salsa dance song originally written for Gloria Estefan, who gave it to Lopez. Lopez asserts her Latin heritage in the song, which opens with the "sassy" declaration "Ya Jen llego, presente!". "Feelin' So Good", a mid-tempo hip-hop song featuring Big Pun and Fat Joe, samples Strafe's "Set It Off". Lopez sings about feeling so good and declares that "Nothing in this world could turn me around", as Big Pun shouts "Jenny, you da bomb!" "Waiting for Tonight" is a dance song highlighting the album's "upbeat side" with a distinctive Latin feel. Aaron Beierle of DVD Talk said the song has a "rich groove", while Entertainment Weeklys David Browne described it as "club-hopping".
Lyrically, several soft ballads on the record have Lopez portraying a woman who is heartbroken. "No Me Ames" is sung by Lopez and Marc Anthony, who became her third husband several years after the album's release. The ballad is described as "smoldering". A tropical version of "No Me Ames" was included; Heather Phares of AllMusic said that the remix "emphasizes Lopez's distinctive heritage". "Open Off My Love" is one of the album's upbeat songs and is inspired by R&B Latin; the arrangement includes horns, keyboards and percussion. It contains a sample of Grupo Africando's song "Yay Boy" and has several sexual innuendoes, with lyrics such as "When I touch, you get hot" and "Touch you in that place you like/ You'll be open off my love". "Should Have Never" is one of the album's "smooth" ballads, in which Lopez sings about regret. About writing "Should've Never", Lopez said "I would listen to it and listen to it, and then I was like, "I have an idea of what I want to write about: when you're with somebody, and somebody else comes into your life, and even though you love this person, somebody else is there...". The song concludes with a "Spanish moan". On the 6 features several other ballads, including "Too Late" and the "flamenco-flavored", bittersweet "Could This Be Love". Lopez shows her vulnerable side on "Talk About Us" and "Promise Me You'll Try".