Jennifer Lopez Live in Manila This November 26, 2012!

 

When In Manila and a concert-loving amigo, you probably know that Latina goddess Jennifer Lopez (AKA J.Lo, AKA Jenny from the Block) is coming to Manila for a one night only concert. News of the record-setting price one has to pay to watch her have in all likelihood reached you as well. VIP tickets sold at 25,840 pesos while the farthest seats in General Admission still cost a spectacular 2,590 pesos! Perhaps more fascinating still is the fact that the PhP 25,000+ tickets were already sold out months before! 

 

So what is it about Jennifer Lopez Live in Manila that makes Manila’s elite take out them 25 G’s from their wallets just to see Ms. Jenny? Guys at work readily quipped, “Her butt!” Y’know, her twins which are insured for $27M. (Wait, is that for each side or both?) I’m sure a number of hombre would actually go just to see her shake her booty, but I highly doubt that everyone in the concert would be going just for that.

 

Here in When In Manila, we’d like to think that we go to concerts for the music. And J.Lo‘s sexy Dance, honest R&B, and soulful Spanish Ballads are a great collection of an artist’s work that reflects her life as much as her culture and passions.

 

So here is a list of five songs from five different albums that we think should be included in her Manila concert simply because each represents a focal point in her life and career as a music artist.

 

Jennifer Lopez Live in Manila Wishlist

 

Numero Uno – “If You Had My Love” (from the album On the 6)

 

From being a sweetheart on the big screen, Jennifer Lopez burst into the music scene with her first single “If You Had My Love” and instantaneously had the throngs of Pop fans beguiled by her sultry voice. This song should be included because it set the tone for J.Lo‘s brand of music. The R&B rhythm, the Pop beat, and the hint of Latin guitar (not to mention the flamenco dancing!) set her apart from contemporary Pop idols Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. And in the battle for Sexy Pop Supremacy that this video heralded, compared to Ms. Jenny, they were children!

 

 

Numero Dos – “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” (from the album J.Lo)

 

Flash fact for the young: J.Lo and Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs (current incarnation is Diddy) used to be a couple.  Why’d they break up? The story goes that Ms. Jenny caught Diddy having telephone sex with a hooker – while she was in the other room! Note to the wise, if you have a girlfriend like J.Lo, DO NOT MESS AROUND WITH A HOOKER! Don’t even think about it!

 

Everything about this song and more so the music video screams “SCREW YOU, MR. COMBS!” “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” is really a double whammy for the ages because J.Lo was publicly broadcasting that she didn’t need Diddy‘s money (unlike his hooker), and in the final scene of the music video, where she took her top off and went to the waters, it had “You had this, but you let it go. Sorry!” written all over it! Classic! I guess we know who Taylor Swift fashioned her ex-boyfriend bashing ways from.

 

 

Numero Tres – “Jenny From The Block” (from the album This is Me… Then)

 

“Jenny From The Block” featuring Styles P and Jadakiss is another song in our list because it showcases the seamless confluence of J.Lo‘s R&B and various rap artists’ Hip-Hop that has been a large part of Ms. Jenny‘s body of work since the album J.Lo. That said, we would have no qualms in hearing “I’m Real” and “All I Have” during the concert.

 

“Jenny From The Block” is another statement piece at the height of the Press’s overinvolvement in the Bennifer affair (her relationship and eventual engagement to actor Ben Affleck). The music video was a stab at the paparazzi, but overall the message of the song is simply, however big Ms. Jenny has become, she’s still Jenny from the Block. This acknowledgement of her roots and how this song was stylistically very Bronx-driven garnered the single and the album major success in the charts.

 

 

It would be interesting to see J.Lo perform this song because it’s a collaboration, and in most of the concerts I’ve attended how the artists tackle a collaboration is really interesting. Some sing all the lines themselves. Some ask someone else to sing/rap the lines. Others play a recording. Either way, it would be fun to see how J.Lo and her team will approach this collaboration in concert.

Numero Quatro – “On The Floor” (from the album Love?)

 

“On The Floor” came out during an era when most artists were reinventing themselves. This single introduced us to a more Dance-aggressive J.Lo, a distinct shift from the traditional lyric-driven R&B music that we were familiar with since On the 6. With a palatable beat made for the relevant clubbing scene, the reintroduction of Jennifer Lopez as a Dance diva was welcomed, heartily eaten up by everyone, reaching #1 in seven major countries and not going lower than #4 (The Netherlands) in any other significant country. Need we say more?

 

 

Numero Cinco – “Dance Again” (from the album Dance Again… The Hits)

 

Her second major collaboration with Pitbull, “Dance Again” showed that the 43-year-old singer/dancer is not ready to hang her dancing boots up just yet! Following her separation from Marc Anthony last year, rumours started to circulate that the cause of their separation was Marc Anthony‘s disapproval of J.Lo‘s ‘provocative’ dancing.  (Yeah right! This after the American Idol finale where J.Lo shook her booty off while Marc Anthony was beside her staring with a huge smug grin plastered on his face!) Whether the rumours are true or not, we’re very happy that Ms. Jenny nonetheless continues to dance and make music. More years to come, Ms. Jenny, more years to come!

 

 

 

When In Manila and having the budget, see you at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on November 26, 2012 for Jennifer Lopez Live in Manila “Dance Again” Tour! Tickets (except VIP) are still on sale. Ticket prices and details indicated in the poster below.

 

 

When In Manila’s Wishlist for Jennifer Lopez Live in Manila “Dance Again” Tour: The Songs, Life, and Times of J.Lo