SIngle Review: Jennifer Lopez – ‘First Love’
2 min read
Jennifer Lopez has released lead single First Love in the build up to her new album A.K.A. Her tenth album is to include contributions from Nas, Rick Ross, Pitbull, French Montana, Chris Brown, Maxwell, Diplo and more, with First Love being produced by the radio-friendly Max Martin (Katy Perry).
First Love is an up-tempo pop number, dealing with the stars romantic past and the often-confusing side of relationships. The song walks the line between pop and hip-hop and is largely driven by the raw percussive drums on the track. They are big, energetic and keep the song moving at great pace. J.Lo sings along with the lines “I wasn’t looking for someone new, till you came down, giving me the best that I’d had”, reminiscing on her ever-favourite song subject of ‘Love’. She is accompanied by some pretty big synth hits, which fit in nicely under the vocals, accentuating her clever lyrical phrasing. The chorus takes us into more familiar J.Lo territory, with those big drums fading away in favour of a more electro backdrop. It packs some energy, possibly more than we have seen from Lopez in a long time and often moving into the ‘dancier’ side of her sound.
The song is slightly let down by its sheer repetitiveness, and even though it changes in dynamics with a slight rap-breakdown, it’s not enough to keep things interesting. After one listen, you can probably recite every lyric in there and its almost too easy to predict every turn the song takes, something that seems to be the case with an abundance of modern pop. That being said, it is in no means harsh on the ears – it is in fact rather catchy. No, J.Lo might not win storyteller of the year anytime soon, but she knows her audience and with First Love, is sure to have a hit on her hands with them at the very least.
