The album is heavily inspired by the rekindled romance between Lopez and Ben Affleck as well as their subsequent marriage, with themes of love and self-healing throughout.

Part of a three-part project documenting Lopez's search for love, self-healing, and her reunion with actor Ben Affleck, This Is Me... Now is accompanied by two further components.

Aside from containing choreographed visuals for songs from the album, the film is a stylized and fictionalized narrative loosely based on Lopez's own life and her trials as a serial romantic.

It features a cast of celebrities, including Fat Joe, Trevor Noah, Jane Fonda, Post Malone, Keke Palmer and Sofía Vergara, among others.

[4] Lopez co-produced and starred opposite Owen Wilson and Maluma in the romantic comedy Marry Me, which was filmed in late 2019 and released in February 2022.

After one of the funders pulled out, due to "not understanding the project", Lopez forged ahead before selling the rights to A Love Story to Amazon Prime.

[2] On September 11, 2023, it was announced Lopez had signed a "recording and publishing partnership" deal with BMG Rights Management, in conjunction with her own Nuyorican Productions.

[16] When discussing how the album came about, Lopez remarked that it was inspired by a conversation between her and her manager Benny Medina, where she told "untold stories about her search for love in the years between her first time with Affleck and the triumph of their reunification".

[10] The starting point for the album was a collection of letters which Affleck wrote to Lopez and titled "The Greatest Story Never Told".

[17] During an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Lopez confirmed that she worked primarily with a small group of producers on the album.

[18] During the first day, studio sessions led to the completion of the title track and the album's closing song, "The Greatest Story Never Told", which took its inspiration and name from the collection of letters.

"[17] Further sessions and additional credits come from Chauncey "Hit-Boy" Hollis, Tay Keith, Yeti Beats and Carter Lang, with the album completing recording and production in 2023.

[19] According to BMG, the album was mainly recorded at Lopez's home studio, Lola's House in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

[20] Several fellow artists contributed to the album including Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, British singer-songwriter Raye, Madison Love, and Jason DeRulo.

[22] Uproxx noted that the title track was a "downtempo" ballad, and saw Lopez "basking in her rekindled love with Ben Affleck".

[27] British singer-songwriter Raye co-wrote the song and sang background vocals on the track alongside Lopez, Jae Stephens and Steve Mackey.

[21] The song "Hearts and Flowers" has been referred to as a sequel to Lopez's 2002 single "Jenny from the Block" by critics like The Arts Desk.

[24] Singer-songwriters Madison Love and Jason DeRulo helped to co-write the penultimate song "Midnight Trip to Vegas", which also samples "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak.

[28] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "the album is relatively streamlined and sleek, containing no guest appearances and showing no overt attempts at chasing trends.

[24] Pitchfork contributor Julianne Escobedo Shepherd commented that Lopez's "voice is stronger than ever" and "As a synergistic mythmaking effort, the album is certainly doing its job", though "the narrative threatens to, and does, overtake the music.

"[32] Peter Gray of The AU Review wrote that while "so much of this album's content and enjoyment comes from her connection with Affleck [...] it's when the singer reflects on herself that we get moments of pop perfection.

"[34] The Independent's Helen Brown found that "for all her promises to show us the real her, it's a struggle to see it in the slick and sexy production", even if "she exudes the confidence of a woman who's survived the hard knocks" with "a dreamy texture to Lopez's old-school R&B".

[3] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph described This Is Me... Now as a "competent but underpowered album of slick pop" and questions the absence of "all Latin flavouring, which might have been her superpower.

"[15] Martina Rebecca Inchingolo of ABC News said Lopez "takes back her rightful place on the throne of pop music" on the album and noted her "new, refined wisdom" in comparison to its predecessor.

[35] In a less positive review for HipHopDX, Will Schube wrote that "for all of the time, money, and energy J.Lo and her team put into the theatrical accompaniment to This is Me… Now", it would have "behooved all involved to spend a little more time on the music that the film was meant to accompany", concluding that the album hears Lopez "constantly tell fans how great her love life is.

[33] On September 21, 2023, Lopez partnered with Apple Music for an exclusive concert at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles to promote the album.

[37] On November 25, Lopez released a teaser trailer for the album, featuring clips from the upcoming music videos and/or accompanying film.

On February 3, 2024, Lopez performed the song on Saturday Night Live, where she was joined by surprise guests Latto and Redman; the latter rapping his own new verse.

[10] During the documentary, Affleck appears in interviews on the set of A Love Story, one of the topics includes him asking if Lopez "ever forgave him for his actions in 2003", a reference to him breaking off their previous enagagement.

[53] Rehearsals began in May 2024 following the completion of principal photography on Lopez's scenes for the upcoming film adaptation of the stage musical version of Kiss of the Spider Woman.