Culture Chat: Jennifer Lopez’s baffling ‘This is Me … Now’
Life and Art from FT Weekend
Forhecz Topher
4.6 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2024
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This Friday, we explore Jennifer Lopez’s mind-boggling new movie musical ‘This is Me … Now: A Love Story’, which was released alongside an album of the same name. The film, inspired by her marriage to actor Ben Affleck, is a series of music videos, action scenes and therapy sessions. And it was self-funded, for $20mn. What, exactly was J Lo trying to say with this project? Lilah is joined by two special guests, comedians and hosts of the podcast Celebrity Memoir Book Club, Ashley Hamilton and Claire Parker.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify etc.
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– This is Me…Now: A Love Story is out now on Amazon Prime. Jennifer Lopez’s new album is also out on all streaming platforms.
– Ashley and Claire’s podcast is called Celebrity Memoir Book Club. It’s available wherever you listen. Here’s their 2021 episode on J Lo’s memoir: https://podcasts.apple.com/md/podcast/jennifer-lopez-knows-true-love/id1533533467?i=1000530871148
– We also love this FT column by Jo Ellison. Bennifer, the rematch and why love deserves a second chance: https://on.ft.com/48rItHj
More or Less:
– Ashley wants more choreographed dance routines, like in music videos by Tinashe.
– Claire wants more considered writing about the arts, and mentioned the Stephen Sondheim musical ‘Here We Are’. Related, here’s a piece from this weekend’s FT on the meaning of musical memorabilia – and why there’s a boom in the market at the moment.
– Lilah wants more narratives told backwards, like Sondheim’s ‘Merrily We Roll Along’, which is playing on Broadway starring Daniel Radcliffe. The FT’s review of the musical is here.
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner, McMurran and Sam Giovinco.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Life and Art from FT Weekend. |
| 0:04.6 | I'm Lila Raptopoulos and this is our Friday chat show. |
| 0:08.2 | This week we are talking about Jennifer Lopez's new musical film, This Is Me Now, a Love Story, which accompanies her new album, This Is Me Now. |
| 0:17.7 | The movie is a surreal musical odyssey through her literal heart and mind about her |
| 0:22.8 | quest to find love and to love herself. It's inspired by her relationship with her husband, |
| 0:27.2 | the actor Ben Affleck, who she was engaged to in 2002, split from and reunited with about 20 |
| 0:32.6 | years later. She self-funded the film and it cost her $20 million. film is wild, and some critics have been left confused by what it actually is. |
| 0:41.8 | So today we're going to talk about it. |
| 0:43.6 | I'm Lila Raptopoulos, and this is me now. |
| 0:47.4 | Joining me in New York, I have the comedians and hosts of the wonderful podcast Celebrity Memoir Book Club. |
| 0:53.1 | They read Celebrity Memoir, so we don't have to. |
| 0:55.7 | Ashley Hamilton and Claire Parker. Today they're here to get it right. They used to have a little, |
| 1:02.3 | now they have a lot. I don't know. Can I say? Both true. Hi, Ashley. Welcome. Hi. Thank you for having me. |
| 1:10.1 | Thanks for being here. Claire, welcome to the show. |
| 1:12.1 | Thank you so much. I'm so excited to talk about this. |
| 1:14.4 | So are we. |
| 1:15.7 | So can I ask for both of you what your top line reaction to this musical film was? |
| 1:21.0 | I listened to your episode on her memoir from a couple of years ago, and you really, it was scathing. |
| 1:27.9 | Okay. Is this along the same lines, it was scathing? Okay. |
| 1:28.5 | Is this along the same lines for you? |
| 1:30.3 | No. |
| 1:31.2 | Okay. |
... |
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