Jennifer Lopez’s new album could be a love letter to Ben Affleck 20 years in the making

JLo’s new album is the perfect end to her nostalgia tour, after the superstar revived Bennifer last year

Jennifer Lopez's new album will be her first in nine years
(Image credit: Daniele Venturelli/Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Luisaviaroma)

Long live Bennifer – everyone’s favorite 2000s couple who reunited and made us all believe that happy endings do exist.

If the reunion of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck wasn’t enough of a feel-good throwback, JLo has gone and outdone herself with the announcement of her new album.

The album will be her first in nine years, so it’s understandable that fans would be excited. But the album is a direct follow-up to her Ben Affleck inspired album titled This is Me… Then.

Jlo and Ben - aka Bennifer - married earlier this year

(Image credit: Michael Buckner/WWD via Getty Images)

This Is Me... Then came out in 2002 and helped solidify JLo's emerging star power. After all, this was the album that included her iconic song Jenny From the Block.

On the 20th anniversary of This Is Me… Then, JLo took to her recently wiped Instagram to post what appeared to be a photo of the album cover.

However, this was no mere photo or throwback – the photo comes alive as 2002’s Jennifer merges into 2022’s (though you can hardly spot a difference, and this could be down to this beauty hack the Maid in Manhattan star swears by), and she introduced her upcoming album titled This Is Me… Now.

JLo shared the tracklist for the upcoming album, which includes:

  • This Is Me… Now
  • To Be Yours
  • Mad in Love
  • Can’t Get Enough
  • Rebound
  • not. going. anywhere.
  • Dear Ben pt. ll
  • Hummingbird
  • Hearts and Flowers
  • Broken Like Me
  • This Time Around
  • Midnight Trip to Vegas
  • Greatest Love Story Never Told

And there are a few tracks in particular which have fans convinced this is going to be a confessional and candid insight into the reunion and marriage of Bennifer.

Jlo and Ben first dated in the 2000s

(Image credit: James Devaney/WireImage)

For a start, Dear Ben pt. II is a direct sequel to the 2002 Dear Ben.

Before their first breakup, this song included lyrics like “I write this song to let you know, That you will always be, My lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend, and my king, I love you, you're perfect… There’s no way I'd leave you, it is not a reality, Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a fantasy.”

Knowing what we do now, and how the pair found their way back to each other, Dear Ben pt.II promises to be a love letter for the ages.

Jennifer Lopez's new album could be dedicated to Ben

(Image credit: Jamie McCarthy/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Another track which has fans intrigued is Midnight Trip to Vegas. Though they had a ceremony at Ben’s home in Georgia, the pair had something of a shotgun wedding, tying the knot in Vegas and announcing the news in a somewhat lowkey manner via Jlo’s fan newsletter.

While the album doesn’t have a specific release date yet, it’s fair to say people are excited as celebrities and fans alike flooded Jlo’s post with comments.

Celeb trainer Tracy Anderson wrote, “Dear Ben pt ll. The sweetest title ever written!!!!! Forever an inspiration! WOW”

Another added, “DEAR BEN PART 2 I'M ON THE FLOOR!! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT.”

“This is actually iconic,” another fan echoed, and frankly, who are we to disagree with that?

Jack Slater
Freelance writer

Jack Slater is not the Last Action Hero, but that's what comes up first when you Google him. Preferring a much more sedentary life, Jack gets his thrills by covering news, entertainment, celebrity, film and culture for woman&home, and other digital publications.

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