Songoftheday 1/18/22 - Like a movie scene In the sweetest dream, I have pictured us together...
"Waiting For Tonight" - Jennifer Lopez
from the album On The 6 (1999)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 16
Today's song is from singer/dancer/actress Jennifer Lopez, who rode in on the "Latin Explosion" and landed a #1 pop hit on her first try out with "If You Had My Love" in the summer of 1999. While that song was more slinky R&B in the boy-band/diva girl vein, her followup brought her straight to the dance floor. "Waiting For Tonight" was actually a remake of a song from the Eurodance act 3rd Party, written by the group's Maria Christensen with Michael Garvin and Phil Temple. It was on their debut and only album Alive in 1997, but wasn't released as a single...
Lopez's producer Ric Wake (Taylor Dayne's go-to) brought the song to Lopez, and initially passing, reworked it with Cory Rooney (who co-produced "If You Had My Love") into a more current-sounding club track, rather than the already passe-in-1997 Eurodance. A minor key celebration of anticipation, the song was perfectly timed for the turn of the millennium, and Jennifer's voice is fleshed out with enough production (and background vocals) to sand out the rough edges, and under the sheen was actually a trace of Latin drums and guitar flourishes...
"Waiting For Tonight" became Lopez's second top ten pop hit in December of 1999. The remixes of the song, done by Hex Hector and Pablo Flores among others, helped it spend a week at #1 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the single was also a big success, reaching the top ten in Canada (#2), Spain (#2), Hungary (#2), Australia (#4), Belgium (#4W/#15F), the UK (#5), New Zealand (#5), Greece (#5), Italy (#6), the Netherlands (#7), Denmark (#7), Finland (#8), Iceland (#9), and France (#10). At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "Waiting For Tonight" was nominated for Best Dance Recording, losing out to Cher's comeback smash "Believe".
Jennifer's third single from On The 6, "Feelin' So Good", brought her back into the R&B/Hip Hop vein, and featured cameos from rappers Big Pun (who sadly passed right before its release) and Fat Joe. While the song missed the top-40 on both the pop (#51) and R&B (#44) charts, club remixes of the track helped it score her second #1 Dance Club Play hit in Billboard. Another cut from the album, "Let's Get Loud", was co-written by Gloria Estefan, and was a minor Dance Club Play hit at #39. However, it was a respectable hit overseas, topping the chart in Hungary, and making the top ten in the Netherlands (#3), Iceland (#3), Italy (#6), Belgium (#7F/#21W), Australia (#9), Portugal (#9), and Switzerland (#10). It also grabbed her second (and so far last) Grammy nomination in 2001, again for Best Dance Recording, criminally losing to "Who Let The Dogs Out" by the Baha Men. Her duet with Marc Anthony on the album, "No Me Ames", topped Billboard's Latin Songs and Tropical Airplay charts. It was nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Duo/Group performance, losing to the Mexican group Mana's "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez". Lopez will return to the series, but for me, this is her highest moment.
(8/10)
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Here's the club remix by Hex Hector that helped it top the Dance chart....
Next up, a performance on French TV to promote the single...
Here's Lopez on her Let's Get Loud concert doing "Waiting For Tonight" and "Walking On Sunshine"...
and lastly, at the Super Bowl in 2020...
Up tomorrow: Yes, it's the debut of the "Chicken Of The Sea isn't Chicken" singer.
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