Just say the name Jennifer Lopez and surely someone, somewhere, everywhere will associate her with something: movies, dance, brands, husband Ben Affleck — and, yes, music. Which is ironic because Lopez has long said that music is her first love. is what led her to dance and later to acting. But as a crowd pleaser, Lopez has never embraced her musicality as thoroughly as she does now with today's multi-dimensional This is me…Now work.
Spearheaded by the self-titled album – her ninth studio album and first in over a decade – the project also includes This is me…Now, a musical produced by MGM Amazon and streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime. the documentary The great love story that was never told, streaming on Prime Video. and This is me…Now tour, which kicks off June 26 in Orlando and will include 30 arena dates in the United States alone.
“The mindset was, 'Let's create an ecosystem of Jennifer Lopez that can push through all the different worlds that she's traversed: her music, her filmmaking, her production, her acting,'” says the longtime manager and production partner and its production. Benny Medina. “[What] what does such a project look like and how do you get the attention and placement that you can?'
The album This is me…Nowreleased by Lopez and Medina's Nuyorican Productions and licensed to BMG, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Albums chart. This is me…Now the musical also opened on February 16th, followed in quick succession by tour dates on February 22nd, and finally the release of The greatest love story never told (Artists Equity production) which arrived on February 27th. More tour dates and several private listening sessions with fans are coming — just one of many strategies Lopez and Medina hope will help spread the gospel This is me…Now. Vinyl, for example, which is directly associated with the album's “then and now” concept, was a key component of its first-week sales, accounting for nearly a third of all copies sold.
These small details, contained in such a big picture, are indicative. Medina, who began his career as a Motown artist and later worked at Motown Records Berry Gordyhe approaches every project like the media entrepreneur he is.
But after more than 20 years working with Lopez – with whom he is a partner in each of her ventures – he admits that this project was especially challenging.
“Everybody starts with the idea, 'Wait a minute, is this a movie, a movie, a feature-length music video?' says. “It's not something you've seen and produced. And that was the really interesting part. Here, along with her team, she worked harder than she had ever worked to write, produce and complete an album. And then writing and producing a film while being watched to make a documentary. The only person who will ever really stick with you during this is yourself and the other people who have signed up as a result of incredible faith.”
Here, Medina — earning his title Advertising sign's Executive of the Week — breaks down the belief that allowed him and Lopez to walk away This is me…Now.
This is Jennifer Lopez's first No. 1 in 20 years. How did you do it;
With so much time between an actual full studio album release and very few pieces of music, I discovered something that was really interesting that no record label executive or strategic partner had really considered: We are not the current streaming zeitgeist. In fact, her brand does not live on in the world of music as firmly as in the world [movie] people because there was so much activity on the film side. The same thing that grows you in today's trading strategies is the frequency of the music. it's why every kid who puts a video on TikTok has a shot. Our goal was to approach this in some ways as a new artist that we were building the algorithm and the relationship with the DSPs and coming back to the radio with the same attitude, “Listen, give it a shot.”
I think it's remarkable that such a household name as Jennifer Lopez was willing to do this hard work.
What we're really trying to do here is start a new journey of how a legacy artist like Jennifer Lopez can be marketed to be able to market to all the young consumers in the world who may not be related to music, but may only know her as a movie superstar.
As for the album, vinyl was a big factor in its success. Can you tell us about it?
The great news is that vinyl has had this resurgence and this whole concept was about 'then and now'. At that point, we decided to do multiple vinyl covers and worked on doing some specific A&R for the different records. And from there you had to get as many platforms as you could to push the messages This is me…Nowany singles associated with it, to support the film which was released with six of its songs and to promote the documentary about the making of the project and the mindset.
When I think of Jennifer Lopez, I think of an artist who does many things at once. What was different about this project?
We've done a lot of these things separately and separately with different partners. We've never done a project that encapsulates all of that, and certainly not something as personal as this. It was from point A to point Z, try to reach every place and place you possibly can, cross your fingers and hope that the consumer will see you and engage with you and ultimately want to consume what you want to make available to Buy.
You worked with different partners: The documentary is on Amazon, the music through BMG and you worked closely with Apple as a DSP. How did you get everyone to work together?
Going to every platform, talking to the really super smart people there [and] saying very clearly, “We want to partner with you on this Jennifer Lopez project and start rebuilding her value algorithm and connection with consumers.” In a sense [it was looking at it] like a new artist, even though we had this global superstar.
What did you learn from this project?
What I've learned the most is that I'm still so excited to get down and dirty and in the weeds to create a new model. It was like taking all this knowledge and putting it all into this modern era. No matter how great or huge the project is, you need to go through certain steps and practices in this era to even put yourself in a position to have a look that turns into consumption and, consequently, success. There's really no way around it. I come from an era of “Let's put it in the clubs, in the streets.” Now, you have to bring it into this huge zeitgeist, and even the biggest artists have to have a schedule of frequent releases and frequent information.
Today, no matter who you are, from record to record, you have to look at how consumption patterns have changed. How the media itself has changed in terms of how much you use it, and therefore how engaging your work needs to be. Our thoughts were, “Let's make sure we give them a well-rounded experience.” The musical experience was a trilogy, where each brick would fall forward, but everything came from a music album that was created when Jennifer decided that she wanted to speak to her fans again with a voice that she had not used for many years.
A big tour is coming up. In fact, it's only Jennifer's third headlining tour. Given how successful she is across the board, why were the tours important?
This is another world that, believe it or not, we're building for Jennifer Lopez, and people are so shocked. She likes tours. An entertainer is an entertainer. It's a different kind of energy than being on set and making movies. It connects you directly to your fans. He talks so often about being able to look into the eyes of different people living in different parts of the world and make the connection. She's actually an artist who's okay with the meet-and-greet afterwards. She likes to watch alone. And usually, the people who want to meet you afterwards have a story to tell. So we don't see it as a risk, because the flip side is that this whole movie star movie has its name in the world on enough things that people are used to seeing anyway. The idea of getting up and seeing something live in this era felt completely natural, as well as the fact that we're looking at what we're going to do in the next five years. And this is part of our five-year plan: more music, more touring, more live.
You've worked with her for 20 years. What's your secret to staying together?
I greatly admire, respect and appreciate everything he can do and dreams of doing. And I love a challenge. I was born into a world of multimedia. Where I started at Motown, you had to be able to do it all: write, produce, sing and dance, and over the years I never saw the difference between any studio or soundstage I went to because of the song or the script would be as great as the talent. And the song and script can still be great. This is how I show up every day. I think I'm meant to produce art and results. The secret is our faith and trust in each other. And in my case, I've always had the best relationship with artists I admire.
