J-Lo Gets Back to Her Roots

March 28, 2007 — -- It has been said that music is the universal language, and international superstar Jennifer Lopez is proving it.

Her new CD, "Como Ama Una Mujer," which translates to "how a woman loves," is her first Spanish language album. Lopez said it had been a lifetime in the making.

"For me, this album is such a special project," she said. "I've always wanted to make a Spanish album. … This was a real opportunity for me to just express a different side of myself. Because I do all that dance stuff in English, this is a more intimate, romantic, vulnerable side."

Lopez produced the album with her husband and fellow performer, Marc Anthony.

"He had never produced anything for another artist," she said. "He really understood that this was a dream of mine, the type of album, what I wanted to communicate with it. So it was great because he knows me very well."

Lopez spent three years putting together "Como Ama Una Mujer," but that's not the only project on her plate. She has two new movies coming up: "Bordertown," in which she plays a journalist investigating the serial killings of hundreds of women murdered in the factory towns on the U.S./Mexico border, and "El Cantante."

Lopez produced "El Cantante" and also stars in it with Anthony. It's a biopic of Hector Lavoe, who is credited with bringing salsa dance to the United States.

"Their music changed the world at that time," Lopez said. "He [Lavoe] was one of the leading singers."

Anthony plays Lavoe in the movie. Ironically, when he signed on to act the part, he and Lopez weren't together.

"It's a really funny story because I called him like five years ago," she said. "We were both in very different points of our lives. We weren't together at all, but I knew he was the right person to play the role."

Lopez's next project will bring her back to her signature dance and hip-hop hits. She's working on an English album that she plans to release before the end of the year.