Jennifer Love Hewitt: the Pop Girl years
Before there was J-Lo, there was J-Lo-Hew.
To the casual fan, Jennifer Love Hewitt is probably best known as an actress of the big and small screens, commanding a consistently solid B-list status from the late 90s and throughout the 00s with her uniquely endearing it-girl-next-door brand.
But the more ardent LoveBirds (completely made up fandom name) among us will be familiar with the second string to her bow as a bonafide recording artist, with four studio albums and a modest Hot 100 hit under her belt. Though acting was what would eventually make her a household name, Hewitt had initially set her eyes on a music career when she started out as a child star, and for a while had both of those plates spinning in tandem.
Music for me has always been something that is directly connected to my heart. Acting is a very important thing for me, and I love doing it. But when I’m acting, I spend 14 hours a day and months at a time being someone else. When I’m singing, I just get to be me.
Jennifer Love Hewitt, interviewed by Gary Graff for United Press International (2002)
At the age of 12 she was starring in the music-oriented children’s TV series Kids Incorporated, and also recorded her debut studio album Love Songs.
In the decade that followed, while her acting career soared, further musical endeavours failed to leave a dent on the charts. Ironically, I stumbled across her singing talents by accident while watching one of her earlier credited non-musical roles as Brooke Figler, one of a group of wayward youngsters in the 1996 film House Arrest.
The song that plays over the end credits, It’s Good To Know I’m Alive (which is exactly as corny as it sounds), piqued my curiosity because the singer had a notably youthful voice, so I kept watching the credits to find out who it was. Lo and behold, though I had slightly suspected already, it was none other than Jennifer Love Paris Balenciaga The House Down Boots Hewitt herself.
Keeping in mind that this was a whole decade before Hannah Montana was a twinkle in Mickey Mouse’s eye, I was kind of enthralled by the idea of someone who could be an actress and a popstar at the same time (Madonna was not flying this particular flag very well). After that I became a little bit obsessed, to the point where I built my own Jennifer Love Hewitt fansite – an achievement I’m sure thrilled my dad, who had been teaching me HTML – documenting everything I could find about her film, TV, and music career. An unexpected consequence of that was receiving emails from people thinking I was her, telling me how beautiful and talented I was, which I found massively creepy at the time; nowadays I’m not sure I’d be so quick to dismiss that type of misplaced attention.
But I digress – though the OG J-Lo never quite managed to match the dual superstar status of actual J-Lo, it’s worth revisiting her valiant attempt even if just to wonder about the main pop girl that could have been…
Love Songs
Released: 21 March 1992
Singles: Dancing Queen, What’s It Gonna Take, Please Save Us the World
Hewitt’s first musical break came before she was even a teenager. While touring the world as a child model for sportswear brand LA Gear, she was approached in Tokyo by an executive offering her a recording contract with a video games company – perhaps the most “90s” sentence ever. Released only in Japan, Love Songs became a hit reaching the #1 spot and staying there for three weeks. Prior to the album’s release, a cover of Blondie’s Heart of Glass was released as a single though not included on the final tracklist.
The album is a combination of covers and original songs, including Bedtime Stories co-written by fellow teen star Debbie Gibson.
She just had this great spunky, young sound and it was perfect for the song I had written… and then when she came out and I became a fan of her work as an actress I was like ‘Hey, I’m feeling pretty cool ‘cause I wrote a song for Jennifer Love Hewitt’.
Debbie Gibson
🎵 Jennifer Love Hewitt – Bedtime Stories
As well as the covers, it’s a surprisingly listenable 90s dance pop album with a few statutory ballads mixed in, and even a little jazz (on the song A Little Jazz). Given the album’s title most of the songs are in the vein of first-time young crushes, though Bedtime Stories does push the age-appropriateness levels with lyrics like “As much as I like a little danger / I have some rules by which I must abide / Wanna hear your voice before I close my eyes / But baby, you better think twice / Before you come around and tell me bedtime stories”.
Overall, it’s a relatively mature production for someone of her age at the time. But the fact remains this is undeniably the voice of a child, so I can’t imagine it having much appeal outside of a Kidz Bop audience.
Let’s Go Bang
Released: 12 September 1995
Singles: Let’s Go Bang, Couldn’t Find Another Man
Three years after the release of Love Songs, Hewitt was emerging out of her “child” star status but still firmly in not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman territory. At a time before Britney **seamless segue klaxon** burst onto the scene mapping out what would become the blueprint for young female popstars in the 21st century, there were two equally if not more legendary and influential singers already setting the gold standard: Whitney and Mariah. Let’s Go Bang definitely takes its cues from their style of mid-to-low tempo 90s pop music, sounding much like a collection of their cast offs.
While Hewitt isn’t quite in the same league vocally speaking, she does have a consistent and powerful singing talent that would outshine many of her would-be contemporaries today; think Jessica Simpson but without the violence.
Released the same month she would debut her prime time starring role as Sarah Reeves Merrin on Party of Five, with little promotion the album ultimately flopped, failing to chart along with its two singles.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Released: 3 September 1996
Singles: Cool With You, No Ordinary Love, I Believe In…
Much like Let’s Go Bang, Hewitt’s third (and possibly best!) album Jennifer Love Hewitt released the following year didn’t seem like it was trying to break any moulds musically. Though not bad, the songs are about as generic as they come – certainly for the period – but there is a definite shift away from dance and more towards soft rock, a sign of things to come.
It goes without saying this also flopped, ultimately seeing her get dropped by her record label.
How Do I Deal
Released: 17 November 1998
CD single from I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Soundtrack
After her success with Party of Five and I Know What You Did Last Summer, Hewitt was firmly establishing herself as part of the young, hot Hollywood scene. Riding on this heat, the producers of film sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer asked her to record a song for the soundtrack, accompanied by a music video.
The angsty pop/rock song became her first and only entry on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #59.
While this didn’t lead directly to any other music outputs, the film saw her character Julie James fighting for gay rights – as well as her life – performing a classic karaoke rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive.
BareNaked
Released: 8 October 2002
Singles: BareNaked, Can I Go Now
10 years after the release of her musical debut, with a new record label and newfound celebrity status, Hewitt took a step back from acting to focus on what would be her fourth – and to date, final – studio album BareNaked. With much more input from Hewitt herself, this album was co-written almost entirely by her, with Meredith Brooks helping her to hone that pop/rock sound.
When I did my other records, I was never really asked to write; I would walk into the studio and they would say ‘What do you think of this song?’ and I would go in and record it and that would be it. Jive came to me and said ‘What would you like to do?’ I wasn’t exactly sure, and they said ‘Fine. When you figure it out, let us know.’ I was able to find myself as an artist, and my music was no longer pop music but kind of rock-pop music.
Jennifer Love Hewitt, interviewed by Gary Graff for United Press International (2002)
With the benefit of her star power and a more significant promotional circuit, BareNaked became her first album to chart on the Billboard 200 peaking at #37, with title track BareNaked peaking at #24 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.
The Client List
Released: 26 October 2018
Presumably due to its lukewarm reception, Hewitt put her music career on the burner and returned to grace the small screen. In doing so, she once again lent her vocal chops to the soundtrack of series The Client List, and managed to produce the best and pop-girliest pop music video of her career for I’m A Woman.
Serving looks, vocals, light choreo, and high hairography, it’s a stark and ironic reminder of what could have been.
Hewitt clearly has all the makings of a brilliant pop star, and it’s a shame her passion for music wasn’t matched by public demand. Even so, she continues to be an utterly charming and charismatic actress, seemingly more focused on the small screen of late (her last live-action film appearance was in 2012) but still dazzling in every role.
As far as music goes she does continue to sing though it seems to have been scaled back to nothing more elaborate than a hobby, performing covers on social media.
Though I don’t expect her to record any more music, I think what she has produced already doesn’t get enough credit or recognition. As a long-time fan I’m happy to say: Jennifer, I still know what you did last century.
This article was originally published on the Pop Warrior blog – 22 March 2022
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What do you reckon: in a parallel universe could Jennifer have given Britney a run for her money?