Tabloid Junk: Jennifer Lopez Dropped & Album Shelved?

Seems like it’s hard for a lot of the veterans these days. Just when everyone thought Jenny was about to emerge from the block with some heat, it seems as though Sony dropped her. The singer’s album “Love?” has also been shelved indefinitely according to reports. While reps for the singer are saying they left on a mutual agreement, other reports are also saying that the label decided to pull the plug on the relationship after her Tricky Stewart/Dream produced and penned single “Loubotins” bombed. Word is that she isn’t wasting any time and have been meeting with Island Music Group’s head LA Reid. Read more for a full report.

Jennifer Lopez has spent most of her singing career at Sony Music Epic Records. The bland version of what happened, I’m told, is that the contract period had ended and that Lopez had fulfilled it with her last two singles, and that Lopez and Stringer decided together not to move forward with an album. Others insist the Sony label dropped her. There also is disagreement on how finished her upcoming album was before it was canceled. Internet reports say her 7th studio album, titled “Love?”, was supposed to come out in April and featured production from Danja, Jim Jonsin, Darkchild, Chris n Teeb from Dropzone, and The Neptunes among others. A song from it titled “Fresh Out The Oven” surfaced online in October 2009 as a buzz single and reached #1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. But the official lead single, “Louboutins”, had its radio debut on November 23 following the song’s premiere and performance at the 2009 American Music Awards and then peaked at #31 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Lopez insiders claim to me the album was “by no means done” and everyone was “only a few songs into it” and “unlike movie dates, street dates rarely hold in the music biz”. But that album was real enough to delay the release of her upcoming CBS Film, The Back-Up Plan (see below). Others tell me the album isn’t being released because “Louboutins” bombed, as did her performance at the American Music Awards, and Sony Music execs “aren’t sure who her audience is anymore. Where once she had little girls, she’s been supplanted by Beyonce, Gaga, and Rhianna. Lots of fighting going on between Benny Medina (who, of course, is spending their money like it’s 10 years ago) and the label.”