Lopez Wants to Talk, but Will She Dish?

Jennifer Lopez wants to talk to her fans today about her new album, but will they want to hear instead about the trial and tribulations of her famed beau, Sean “Puffy” Combs? Besides building her film career (see item above), Lopez resumes her pop music pursuits this week with the release Tuesday of “J.Lo,” her follow-up to “On the 6,” the 1999 debut album that has sold 2.4 million copies in the United States. To promote the new disc, Epic Records will make an all-out online blitz today: The album will be available for a sneak preview (via streaming, using Windows Media Format) at jenniferlopez.com at 9 a.m., noon and 4 p.m., while the singer-actress will host a global chat on msn.com at noon. “I want to hear what you have to say,” Lopez says in a press release for the event, “but only if you tell all of your friends. Come on, everybody, log on and let’s talk about ‘J.Lo.’ ” But fans may also want some dish on Lopez’s personal life. A trial is underway in New York that has her boyfriend, rapper-entrepreneur Combs, fighting felony charges of weapon violations and witness bribery stemming from a nightclub shooting in 1999. (Lopez was also taken into police custody after the incident but was not charged.) Combs has spoken out in recent weeks about the incident. Will Lopez do the same today? “Jennifer will choose which questions she will respond to,” an Epic spokeswoman said. Either way, retailers say media coverage of the trial may actually help Lopez sell CDs. “She’s on the news every night with the Puffy trial and with the movie and her performance [earlier this month] on the American Music Awards--there’s a lot of stuff going on with her, her name is out there,” says Violet Brown, the urban music buyer for the Wherehouse chain of music stores. “The Wedding Planner” features the “J.Lo.” single “Love Don’t Cost a Thing”--and “chick flicks sell soundtracks and music,” Brown says--and shoppers have been inquiring about the album’s release date for weeks, always a good sign. “Honestly, I didn’t realize how well the first album sold. . . . There seems to be a real anticipation for this one,” Brown says.

--Compiled by Times staff writers