Hooked

Miami, Jan. 29: Jennifer Lopez catapulted her acting career with her starring role in Selena, a biopic on the Latin Tejano star who sang in Spanish and was on the verge of an English-language crossover prior to her death.

Ten years after Selena, and following a multiplatinum recording career in English, Lopez is ready to sing en Espanol once again.

Como Ama Una Mujer (How a Woman Loves), Lopez’s first Spanish-language album, hits stores in America on April 3.

At the heart of it all is a deal in the works with the Univision TV network to produce a five-part mini-series based on a treatment by Lopez, which in turn is based on the content of the album. The series will feature the album’s music. Lopez will not act in the series, but she will perform a track at the end of each episode.

“It’s the first time we’ve done something like this,” says Simon Fields, Lopez’s production partner in Nuyorican Productions, the Los Angeles-based film and TV company.

Each song will embody one of the series’ storylines. “It will be scored as if it were a movie series,” Fields says.

The deal — still under negotiation — would also encompass tie-ups with a major retailer, as well as opportunities with other Univision properties and tie-ups in the digital and mobile arenas.

However, Como Ama Una Mujer wasn’t conceived as a clever way to utilise multiple media platforms. The notion of recording in Spanish was behind Lopez’s very first demo when she finished filming Selena in 1997. The concept materialised three years ago, when Lopez’s husband Marc Anthony was wrapping up production of his album Amar Sin Mentiras.

Lopez went into the studio to record one song with her husband and got hooked. “Emotionally speaking, to me this album is more me than any other album,” she says.

Anthony co-wrote and co-produced the album in conjunction with Latin stars Estefano, and Julio Reyes.