Everything Jennifer Lopez Has Said About Ben Affleck Inspiring Her Music

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the couple's Aug. 20, 2022 nuptials, see what Lopez has said about how Affleck inspires her music

Though Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are celebrating the one-year anniversary of their gorgeous August 2022 Georgia nuptials, the couple’s love story goes back decades.

With a history as long as theirs, it's no surprise that bits of their story have come out in Lopez’s music over the years, starting with her 2002 album This Is Me…Then. While songs like "I'm Glad" and "Dear Ben" are obviously about her beau, the "Get Right" singer has also revealed that the entire body of work was actually inspired by Affleck.

Now, as the couple celebrates the first anniversary of their summer 2022 wedding, let's look back at how JLo continues to let her love for the Oscar winner inspire her hits.

More than twenty years after the release of This is Me...Then, Lopez is gearing up to release the follow-up to that album, titled This is Me…Now. And it seems like it'll be a continuation of her gushing about her love.

"We captured me at this moment in time when I was reunited with the love of my life and we decided we were going to be together forever,” Lopez told Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe in an interview released in November 2022.

“The whole message of [This Is Me...Then] is, 'This love exists. This is a real love.' Now I think what the message of [This Is Me...Now] is: If you have, like me at times, lost hope, almost given up, don't. True love does exist and some things do last forever and that's real."

Related: Jennifer Lopez Says 'True Love Does Exist' as She Recalls Her 'Biggest Heartbreak' with Ben Affleck

Earlier in the interview, she also opened up about the process of creating the 2002 record and Affleck’s involvement in it all. The Good Will Hunting actor, who was featured in Lopez’s music video for “Jenny from the Block,” even helped her come up with the title of the record. 

"It’s all right there on the record and I didn’t even realize what was happening, what I was doing. It was just every day, going from the set to the recording studio, doing the thing, being in love, him coming into the studio," she recalled. "It was such a special moment in time to have captured."

Lopez also revealed that as much as spoke highly and raved about their love, she inadvertently spoke about their breakup and the trying years that'd follow them.

“It’s all there, when I listen to the lyrics now I didn’t even realize I was writing some of our story that would happen, which was sick. Like 'Still' and some of the records on there which were more obviously about Ben, but even records that you were like ‘Well, that’s kind of a breakup record’ I didn’t even realize that it was kind of prophetic in a weird way.”

After initially getting engaged in 2002, the pair postponed their 2003 wedding just days before they were set to walk down the aisle “due to the excessive media attention” that their nuptials had gained. In 2004, the couple officially called it quits.

Related: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's Relationship Timeline

"Dude, I wouldn't even perform these records. It was so painful after we broke up,” Lopez told Lowe of their split. “Once we called off that wedding 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life. I honestly felt like I was going to die. It sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn't get it right. But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending. It has the most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending."

Lopez said their reunion brought up the same surge of inspiration she felt back then, which led to the new record. She first got into the studio in May 2022 and by August, it was done, she told Lowe. 

During an appearance on an episode of the Smartless podcast hosted by Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman and Will Arnet, Affleck was asked how he feels about the subject, to which he responded: "The songs that have been written about me have been written by the greatest performer in the history of the world, Jennifer Lopez. I don’t know that they’re exactly so much about me, as maybe inspired by, because there are some negative things in there," he joked. "She’s amazing."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

And while her new album has yet to be released, it is expected at some point in 2023 and will include a new collection of songs inspired by their love story.

In addition to "Dear Ben pt. II,” another Affleck-inspired song on the album is "Midnight Trip to Vegas" — a nod to the couple's first marriage ceremony in July 2022.

Lopez previously teased another new track in her JLo newsletter named “Hummingbird,” which was also the theme for her 2022 holiday season. She noted that it represented her and Affleck’s “blended families” which “doubled the fun, doubled the love, doubled the presents and triple the chaos!!"

This is Me…Now will be Lopez’s ninth studio album and, according to a press release, will be “an emotionally raw and honest project, unlike any she has produced before.”

The album will feature "confessional songs, reflections on the trials of her past, upbeat celebrations of love with her signature powerhouse vocals, This Is Me…Now shines a spotlight on her tough childhood, unsuccessful relationships and the incredible emotional journey she has been on.”

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.