If there is one woman who has a tumultuous beginning in the year 2001, Jennifer Lopez would fit into that category. On one hand, she has the No. 1 movie, “The Wedding Planner.” On the other hand, she may be a key witness that may set Sean “Puffy” Combs free in the high-octane trial that is currently on display in New York City. Nevertheless, Lopez has matured in both acting and musical careers as she releases her sophomore album, “J-Lo.”

The album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Album Charts, has a mix of pop, dance, and R&B songs that would satisfy even the most mundane of fans. But Lopez goes back to her Latin roots in many of her songs in this album. Lopez starts off with her smash hit pop single, “Love Don’t Cost A Thing,” which some say would relate to her relationship to Combs.

She continues her pop-dance trends with songs such as “I’m Real,” “We Gotta Talk,” and “Play.” However, she has some slow songs in “Come Over” and “Secretly” that would give fans a break from the entire dance beats that Lopez continuously gives them.

One of the more upbeat songs is “Dance With Me,” which heavily starts out on a salsa beat, and continues with her mixing of dance and salsa beats that is destined to be a club favorite. The same goes for “Ain’t It Funny,” which provides more Latin beats mixing in with dance beats.

“Carino” and “Si Ya Se Acabo” represent more of her Latin roots in her albums. Unlike her last album, “On the 6,” Lopez’s sophomore album has matured in many ways.

Many of her tracks were produced by a variety of artists and producers. Among those were Combs and mega producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins (“That’s The Way”), who has been responsible for other smash hits for Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, and the Spice Girls. While Lopez is in the spotlight for both “The Wedding Planner” and “J-Lo,” life was not quite as bright a year and a half ago.

The process of making both movies and her new album was not easy. The criticism from her last album and the situation with Combs made Lopez’s situation even worse in the last two years.

The revealing dress that she wore in last year’s Grammy Awards caused a stir of controversy for many in the media. While on that same day, combs was indicted on weapons and bribery charges stemming from a nightclub incident in New York City that had Combs, a bodyguard, and Lopez being arrested that night. Lopez, however, was quickly released and all of the charges against her were dropped.

With all the media attention shadowed on her since that incident, she uses it to her advantage to promote both her new movie and new album, which, similar to her last album, went multi-platinum, along with her smash hits, “If You Had My Love” and “Waiting For Tonight.” She also did the ultra horror thriller, “The Cell,” with Vince Vaughn.

“J-Lo” will easily be multi-platinum, and don’t expect to see her slowing down with both her movie and musical careers. Lopez has already proven that she can act, but now she wants to prove to critics that she can also be a successful singer.