HOW times have changed for Jennifer Lopez. Brave, her second 2007 album and return to English-language recording is leagues better than its immediate predecessor, the abhorrently atrocious Spanish-language Como Ama una Mujer and a return to her R&B-club roots - the kind of grooves that have helped make her a multi-platform superstar.Combining urban dance pop music and easy to relate lyrics, JLo has once again managed to come up with a brilliant album.
The flirty lead-off track, Stay Together, produced by Sean Kingston's daddy, J.R. Rotem, is another certified shaker with a live band feel that pulses across the speakers and is the most personal of the 12 tracks as she gives props to monogamy.
The twice-divorced artiste claims she has finally found her happiness and appeals to the listeners to follow her example.
The mid-tempo composition, Forever, is one of the album's standout tracks due to its beautiful melody and her sensual performance.
Fans of Desperate Housewives will surely recognise Miles In These Shoes from the adverts, with its pleasing deep ideas and interesting metaphors in the lyrics.
For those fond of melodious and deep felt ballads, composition Never Gonna Give Up, a ballad driven with over two minutes of her voice weaving in and out of a string orchestra and devoted to the topic of heartbreak, will do perfectly well.
The most likely candidate for a smash hit is the ass-shaking masterpiece Do It Well, which she has wisely chosen as her first single.
However, it sounds dated and recycled thanks to its reliance on a sample of Keep On Truckin, already heavily used in hip-hop, as does Gotta Be There, which uses a sample of Michael Jackson's overused Gotta Be Where You Are.
Wrong When You're Gone shows she can inject some soul when she's adequately inspired, with its softly clapping production sticking in your head for days.
The title track, Brave, is saved to end the album which can be truly valued only after more than one listening.
Overall, Brave isn't one of her best album to date, but she's clearly in love, pure and simple, and the effect is hard to argue with.
Failing that, she can always fall back on her acting career! - NST 11/11/2007
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