On The 6

Whatever the musical merits and demerits of this debut album, you can be sure of one thing: the grunts and dog soldiers in the Sony frontline will not allow it to fail.

Indeed, the bigwigs in the boardroom must've been hopping with glee when the neat little package labeled Lopez came their way. Her assets are many, including a high profile and abundance of acting cred achieved through films like Stone's U-Turn and Soderbergh's Out Of Sight, plus a ready-made demographic: Lopez is at the forefront of the Latino pop phenomenon currently eating America, due in no small part to her debut in the title role of the Selina biopic.

For a generation of Puerto Rican, Cuban and Latin-American kids whose only role model was, until now, the rather auntie-like figure of Gloria Estefan, or, at a push, Janet Jackson, Jennifer is their Lauryn Hill. And lastly, she's got The Look - the cover of this CD scans like a Vogue shoot, adorned with lovingly-lit, sumptuously sultry portraits of the pouting songbird.

Wisely, Lopez stays close to her culture throughout much of On The 6. Several of the titles are in Spanish (and that second most carnal of tongues suits her down to the groin); she leans on both Gloria and Emilio Estefan for a brace of tracks (the spicy vibes of 'Let's Get Loud' and 'Baila'); and there's even a duet with Marc Anthony - dire, as it happens - served in both tropical and ballad forms. Furthermore, there are at least a couple of dancefloor killers here: the Puff Daddy collaboration 'Feelin' So Good', not to mention the dirty dancing of 'Open Off My Love'.

Predictably though, the best of the lot is the lead-off single 'If You Had My Love', one of two slinky, slithery soul tunes produced by Rodney Jerkins, a man well-used to tailoring his weird blend of stealthily subtle beats and processed harp/harpsichord sounds to fit celebrity divas, having previously worked magic on singles by Whitney Houston and Brandy & Monica.

Unfortunately, the rest of the record sucks (or blows, or whatever orally-fixated term our American cousins are employing this week), bloated with limp, sappy Euro-ballads like 'Should've Never', 'Talk About Us' and 'Promise Me You'll Try'. As is borne out by the album's sleeve notes, Lopez is too spunky a character for material as bland and sanded-down as these slow-set fillers.

As it stands, On The 6 is half-good, but with so much riding on this prize filly, she's obviously playing it safe. Which is a shame.

Now, what about that Rosie Perez record?