"Gotta Be There" samples the intro of Michael Jackson's 1971 Motown hit "I Wanna Be Where You Are" and references hip-hop dancefloor burner "Puerto Rico", while "Never Gonna Give Up" begins with almost two minutes of her voice weaving in and out of a string orchestra, with lyrics discussing about finding closure after a difficult breakup, which was alleged to be about her ex-fiancée Ben Affleck, especially the lyrics, "Forgiving him was the first thing I had to do in order to move on/Forgetting him was not as easy to do." The rock-etched "Mile in These Shoes" features spare verses, which seem to emerge from a "dank, empty warehouse", according to Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson, before the chorus opens up with a hip-hop/rock barrage of drums. Lyrically, the song thrusts a middle finger at the haters, with J.LO singing about they can't truly understand what it's like to be her until they walk a mile in her shoes. The midtempo synth-overloaded "The Way It Is" follows, with lively drums and string flourishes building toward a wall of synths, while midtempo "Be Mine" has "make-it-up-as-you-go-along" lyrics, including "Looking through a coffee table book at a small café on Broadway." In "I Need Love," Lopez convinces herself it's time to quit partying and settle down over zippy strings and percussion lifted from Bill Withers' "Use Me." The piano-spiked ballad "Wrong When You’re Gone" has softly clapping production, while the title track "Brave" finds Lopez singing about a newfound fearlessness, set to a steady beat and triumphant strings. The album closes with a remix of "Do It Well" featuring Ludacris.