Brave Jennifer

The title of her latest album is Brave and I must say that it is a word that aptly describes Jennifer Lopez. I say brave because she was the New York girl who couldn’t speak Spanish but who dared and successfully played Tejano pop icon Selena on the big screen. Brave, too, is the fact that although J. Lo will never win the top prize on American Idol, her pop fodder vocals continues to hold its own alongside Christina Aguilera or Beyoncé Knowles, in this diva singing obsessed world of ours.

So do not look for something like Listen or I Turn to You in her albums. But never forget that she sells a lot of CDs. You can bet your last peso that nobody can get you moving to Let’s Get Loud as well as she does let alone coming up with something as infectious and perky as If You Had My Love and Waiting for Tonight. And remember, too, that J.Lo is one singer who can move from movies to singing with great ease, sell perfume and jewelry while also filling gossip columns with interesting items about her personal life.

It is a truism that all it really takes is guts to do whatever you want and J.Lo has that. I believe that this bravery stems from being honest about what she can do and then giving whatever she does, her best. The Brave CD is that sort of album. It scales no new heights and instead stays pop, simple, with hook-filled, very radio-friendly tunes. I hear Madonna which should be a comfortable place for Jennifer. Then aside from Como Ama Una Mujer, which in all probability was largely influenced by her husband Marc Anthony, Brave also comes across as her most personal album ever.

Best song in the line-up is Brave, which has a really great dance arrangement and an “I don’t care mood” that fits the J.Lo of today. She extols the virtues of marriage in Stay Together, loves her baby everywhere in Gotta Be There Forever and gets into a bragging mood with Mile in These Shoes. The hip-hop tinged Do It Well, which I hope would be followed by the well-produced Brave, is the first single.

The other cuts are Hold It Don’t Drop It, Never Gonna Give Up, The Way It Is, Be Mine, I Need Love, Wrong When You’re Gone and as a bonus track a version of Do It Well featuring Ludacris.

Feminine and sweet

Incidentally, J.Lo is also featured in the soundtrack of the motion picture El Cantante. This bio-pic is based on the life of the legendary salsero Hector Lavoe and it stars Marc Anthony. An exciting singer who puts so much intensity in his performances, Marc Anthony is also a fantastic actor. He was in Bringing Out the Dead and Hackers, and getting to play the lead in El Cantante is supposed to be one of the highlights of his career.

I am not familiar with the music of Lavoe, whose classic salsa tunes like El Cantante, Mi Gente, Escandalo and Aguanile make up the bulk of the album. But I can listen to Marc Anthony anytime and he does a great job here. He really makes you want to get up and do the salsa. As for J Lo, she has only one song, Toma de Mi, in the CD. I cannot explain why but I really enjoy listening to her sing in Spanish. Just like what happened in Como Ama Una Mujer, her vocals in Toma de Mi has a certain softness that is feminine and sweet but also sexy and mysterious.

Big-selling CDs

As is usual during the last quarter of every year, the big name stars have again embarked on a massive invasion of the hit charts. Take a look at this Billboard list of the big-selling CDs of the moment in the US. The artists are big, like Bruce Springsteen or becoming big with their second efforts, Keyshia Cole. Lucky newcomer Soulja Boy, however, is still there.

Magic by Bruce Springsteen; Still Feels Good by Rascal Flatts; Exile on Mainstream by matchbox twenty; souljaboytellem.com by Soulja Boy Tell’em; Back of My Lac’ by J. Holiday; Just Like You by Keyshia Cole; Graduation by Kanye West; Reba Duets by Reba McEntire; Songs of Mass Destruction by Annie Lennox; and High School Musical 2, Soundtrack by Various Artists.