J. Lo's new album turned out to be a big disappointment for fans and critics alike. "Brave" debuted low in its first week out, and painfully failed to enter the U.S. Top Ten, coming in at #12 and selling just 53.000 copies. In the context of her past releases, this is a bit of a disaster, considering that all of Jennifer's six previous studio albums (On the 6 - 1999, J. Lo - 2001, J to tha L-O!: The Remixes - 2002, This Is Me... Then - 2002, Rebirth - 2005 and even her recent Spanish one, Como Ama Una Mujer - 2007) managed to debut in the Top 10.
Question is: how did this happen? "Brave" was said to mark J. Lo's return to R&B and hip-hop music. Lopez herself described her album as "feel-good music", which is true up to a point, if we take into account the fact that the album contains dance tracks like "Stay Together", "I Need Love" and "Do It Well" (which features rapper Ludacris) which are quite catchy. However, despite the fact that she manages to do nicely in the upbeat songs department, the same cannot be said about some other songs like "Never Gonna Give Up" and "Mile in These Shoes", which reveal Lopez's rather unconvincing vocals.
Overall, the album seems to lack what one magazine once called "the Lopez trademark sizzling Latin-inspired sound"; in other words, that dance-till-you drop appeal and what we have all come to associate with the Latino diva and that feisty, occasionally whimsical but strong beat and atmosphere that made us either like or hate her tracks the first time we listened to them.
The whole story gets even more humiliating if we consider who she lost to. Coming in at number 10 in the top was Josh Groban's new album, Noel, which debuted at #10 and sold 64.000 copies. So basically, "Brave" was beaten by a Christmas album - and we're barely halfway through October. Sara Evans' "Greatest Hits" album came in at #8 with 66.000 copies sold. Also, LeAnn Rimes' "Family" sold 74,000 copies ( #4) and Kid Rock's new album (yes, you heard me right, Kid Rock) "Rock 'N' Roll Jesus" debuted at #1, selling 172.000 copies.
So, all we can do is hope that J.Lo's album will register a spectacular rebound sometime this week (what's left of it, anyway). It may seem shameless of me, but at this time, I do feel more interested in whether Lopez will be announcing her pregnancy any time soon (or not). Let's hope she will. Best case scenario, it would help up the sales of her album. Don't look at me like that - stranger things have happened.
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