Jennifer Lopez Says She Was 'Inspired' to Make New Music When She and Ben Affleck 'Got Back Together'

Lopez reflected on wanting to "get back in the studio" ahead of her new project 'This Is Me…Now: A Love Story'

Jennifer Lopez is citing her relationship with Ben Affleck as one of the reasons she was motivated to "get back in the studio."

The multi-hyphenate, 54, caught up with Entertainment Tonight about This Is Me... Now: A Love Story, her new cinematic original which marks a musical and visual reimagining of her life events that inspired the upcoming album, This is Me... Now.

"When Ben and I got back together, it was just like, 'I want to make music again, I want to get back in the studio,'" Lopez said. "I was very, very inspired."

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The "Can't Get Enough" singer and Affleck, 51, rekindled their relationshipin 2021 andgot marriedin July 2022. He also makes an appearance in her latest visual project, alongside Post Malone, Fat Joe,Keke Palmer,Trevor NoahandSofia Vergara.

"Half the time, I was thinking, like, 'This is amazing! I am so excited that I'm doing this!' And then half time I was like, 'Why are you doing this? You are so crazy," Lopez shared of her thought process while making the new cinematic original.

"But I think that's what being an artist is about, you know, you have to. That's the difference between being an artist and not being an artist, how vulnerable you can get." 

During a Thursday press confer -

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ence with director Dave Meyers, Lopez also revealed that Affleck helped quiet her doubts while piecing together her latest ambitious effort.

“I was like, ‘I don’t write, I don’t do this.’ He was like, ‘You do, you write, you direct, you produce, you choreograph, you do all the things. Start stepping into that, start owning a little bit of who you are,’” she recalled Affleck telling her. 

Meyers added that the pair's romance was a key influence for the visual, as he noted that Lopez opened up to him "specifically about the pain that she went through when she broke up with Ben the first time." The project features one scene of Lopez as a construction worker at a heart factory, which Meyers said was inspired by the "pain" she described.

"There was a lot of honesty that was shared in that first meeting, and so the heart factory became sort of a Titanic-level meltdown, which was a metaphor for what she was giving me as far as her truth," Meyers said.

Ahead of the release of Lopez’sninth album on Feb. 16, a source told PEOPLE last month that for Lopez, now was "the perfect time to focus on a new album."

"She’s loved creating new music. She’s very excited about it," the source said.

“Ben’s proud of her. He’s her biggest fan," they added. "He loves how hard working and focused she is.”

Lopez has already given fans a taste of the new album with single "Can't Get Enough" and title track "This Is Me... Now," both of which she performed last week when she took the stage atSaturday Night Liveas musical guest for the fourth time.

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