First Love

Album: A.K.A. (2014)
Charted: 63 87
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Songfacts®:

  • This upbeat, bass-heavy cut finds Jennifer Lopez paying tribute to her beau:

    I wish you were my first love
    'Cause if you were first, baby
    There wouldn't have been no second, third or fourth love


    Many of J-Lo's fans suspect the lyrics are directed to her former backup dancer Casper Smart, whom she had been in a relationship with since October 2011. The pair split shortly after the single's release.
  • The song was produced and co-written by Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, who previously created such hit tunes as "…Baby One More Time," "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "Roar." "Max Martin [is a] genius, man," Lopez said during a listening party, "He's a super producer, maker of great pop hits. I've always wanted to work with him but our paths [hadn't] crossed. I sought him out."
  • The song was also co-written by Cory Rooney, the co-writer and co-producer of Lopez' #1 hits "Ain't It Funny," "I'm Real" and "If You Had My Love."
  • Lopez told Billboard magazine the story of the song. "We - Max Martin, Cory Rooney, me, everyone - were all talking about relationships, what they're like, how hard work they are, and how it could have been so much simpler if 'the one' was the first one," she recalled. "We talked about it and he (Martin) came back and said, 'I have the song!'"

    "I remember I was working on Idol and Max and Cory came on to the set and said, 'You have to hear this! It came out of what we were talking about.' He went in and did it the next day," Lopez continued.

    "Those are the best songs for me, the songs that capture an emotion in a couple of words. It's one of the best love songs that I've heard in a long time, for me. The music takes the words to another level."
  • The song's music video was directed by Anthony Mandler, the man behind most of Rihanna's video catalog as well as the likes of Justin Bieber, Jay-Z and Beyonce. The visual features Lopez in the Mojave desert searching for her true love. The singer told People magazine that she relied on Mandler's insight throughout the project, even convincing her to film the video in black and white. "We talked a lot about whether we would do a little bit of color or pops of color," Lopez recalled. "But Anthony felt strongly that it be all in black and white."
  • British model David Gandy played Lopez' love interest in the video. "I've been asked if I'd take part in music videos before and I've always said no, but I jumped at the chance of working with a music icon such as Jennifer," Gandy told Vogue.

    The model added that the conditions in the desert made filming a challenge. "The conditions to shoot in were very challenging due to the weather," Gandy said, "we were in the desert outside LA and the winds were incredibly strong and we had to deal with plummeting temperatures and sand storms - but the atmosphere on set was great and we all had a lot of fun."

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