J Lo evinces growth as a vocalist

J LO. Keeps herself “trendingly ” relevant.

There are a lot of tabloid-fodder issues that keep Jennifer Lopez a hot item in social media: After breaking up with 27-year-old former backup dancer, Casper Smart (who has allegedly been caught exchanging incriminating text messages with a transsexual), in April, J Lo has reportedly began dating “Dancing With The Stars’” ballroom champ, Maksim Chmerkovskiy—who’s 34.

The lovely 44-year-old multitasker doesn’t let age or intrigue slow her down, however: “American Idol” wants her to rejoin Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban on its judging panel for Season 14. She is set to produce and star in NBC’s 13-episode detective series, “Shades of Blue.”

She will return to the big screen via two cautionary dramas, “Lila & Eve” (about mothers, portrayed by Lopez and Viola Davis, who want to avenge the violent deaths of their children) and “The Boy Next Door” (about a divorcee’s affair with her teenage neighbor, played by Ryan Guzman), plus Dreamworks’ animated adventure, “Home.”

Recently, she received Billboard’s Icon Award, graced the opening of the World Cup in Brazil, finished writing her first memoir, “True Love,” celebrated the sixth birthday of her twins, Max and Emme (with ex-husband Marc Anthony)—and released her latest album, “A.K.A.” There really isn’t much she can’t do!

Sizzling music video

J Lo’s eighth studio recording isn’t groundbreaking, but the melodies and her singing are nothing to sneeze at—as she demonstrates in the electropop charmer, “First Love,” which has winsome moments that recall the irresistible musicality of “If You Had My Love.”

Shot in black and white, its sizzling music video features the songstress cavorting in a desert with top British model David Gandy, who recently endorsed a local mall’s fashion line.

“I’ve always sung about love—and this album is no different,” Lopez shares. “But, this time, it’s less about telling a story and more about capturing that feeling.” And, capture it she does, with flair and groovesome swagger in her collaborations with French Montana (the carrier track, “I Luh Ya Papi”), Nas (the funky “Troubeaux,” in the deluxe edition) and frequent collaborator, Pitbull, in “Booty,” a Chris Brown-penned number whose pounding and popping hooks make her twins sing and dance!

She keeps herself “trendingly” relevant with her edgy duets with hot-to-trot rapper of the moment, Iggy Azalea, and reality star T.I. in “Acting Like That” and “A.K.A.”

We enjoyed Lopez’s endearingly revelatory tunes in her Ben Affleck heyday (immortalized in the 2002 album, “This is Me…Then”), but this new collection displays her newfound confidence as a vocalist, as evinced by her gorgeously rendered high notes in the string-driven sentimental ballad, “Let It Be Me”—which will surprise her detractors and make them gasp, “Is that really J Lo?”