Jennifer Lopez' "Live It Up" feat. Pitbull - Single Review

     Third time is apparently the charm! After the release of a greatest hits album and two singles, "Dance Again" and "Goin' In", Latin queen Jennifer Lopez is jumping back into her music with her eight studio album planned for a summer 2013 release. The effort's lead single "Live It Up" has Lopez teaming up with rapper hitmaker Pitbull for the third time, following their collaborations, "On the Floor" and fore mentioned "Dance Again", both top 20 hits. It seems the logic in the two artists' minds is: why fix something when it is not broken? The pair have proved to be a hit in the studio and on the charts and have unstoppable chemistry, so another song does not hurt anyone right? As their third effort, if you don't include "Drinks For You" featured on Pitbull's Global Warming, critics and fans will start to wonder if the magic the two have is starting to fade. The answer is a simple "No"! Lopez and Pitbull's new single bares similarities to its predecessors, but remains different and unique to be a strong contender for the song of summer 2013.

     "Live It Up" has Pitbull opening with a shockingly impressive verse. Rapping in English and Spanish, as always, the artist sets up the power and accomplishments about his female counterpart, while throwing in a few props to himself. Critics, and many fellow bloggers, seem to have it out for Pitbull, but I actually admire his talents. His contribution on the new single does not let me down. After Pitbull does what he does best, Lopez steps in to take hold on the dance hit reigns. Immediately, the diva's vocals stand out, sounding a bit different than usual. I like it. When the soaring chorus, "We can do anything we want, so live it up", finally comes up, listeners will not be ready for the club worthy production. Lopez seems to be having fun with her sure to be summer smash and that shows it how effortless the entire thing comes across.

     While every aspect about the song is not commendable, "let's f*** tonight" may be a little too explicit for my liking when it comes to a Jennifer Lopez track, the rest of "Live It Up" is an impressive, carefree, inspirational dance anthem that will certainly be blasting out of many car stereos in the coming months. When placed next to "On the Floor" and "Dance Again", the new single stands on its own two feet, many even surpassing the others with its drum-pounding production, electronic synths and gorgeous vocal performance from Lopez. Some may peg the new single as just the ordinary dance track, but when it comes to dance music who better to serve up an infectious beat than Miss Jenny from the Block. J.Lo is set to perform the track on the American Idol finale with a music video already being filmed.

A-