Arriving just weeks after
Jennifer Lopez
announced her departure from American Idol, the compilation
Dance Again...The Hits
was in the works before
J-Lo
joined AmIdol -- she departed
Epic
for
Island/Def Jam
after 2007's
Brave
yet owed her old label a hits collection -- but undoubtedly
Lopez
's two years on the singing competition boosted her profile and popularity, elevating
Dance Again
to something more than contract fulfillment. That much is evident from the two new recordings, "Dance Again" and "Goin' In," tracks that feature
Pitbull
and
Flo Rida
, respectively, cuts designed for the dancefloors of 2012 just as the two post-Idol hits from 2011's
Love?
-- "I'm into You" and "On the Floor" -- were. These hard, cold constructions feel especially steely when paired with the fizzy, glitzy turn-of-the-millennium hits that turned
into a pop star. Not all of her charting singles are here but the ones MIA are not the ones that immediately pop to mind ("Play," "I'm Gonna Be Alright," "I'm Glad," and "Hold You Down" are among the absent singles). What is here are the big hits -- "Love Don't Cost a Thing," "Waiting for Tonight," "If You Had My Love," "Jenny from the Block," "I'm Real," "Get Right," the latter two in the remixes that burned up the charts -- along with the comeback hits, so this should satisfy casual
fans of any stripe. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine