It’s a three-peat for Jennifer Lopez and her frequent collaborator Pitbull. The Latin duo have teamed up for the third time with ‘Live It Up,’ following ‘On the Floor’ and ‘Dance Again,’ which were two singles that reinvigorated Lopez’s somewhat sagging music career. Does ‘Live It Up’ stack up against J. Lo’s and Mr. Worldwide’s prior efforts?
Yes, but in a totally different way.
Lopez has been slowly but steadily drifting away from the smooth but urban-flecked R&B that defined her earlier albums. There’s a lot of competition in that particular subgenre, so she had to branch out and reinvent a little in order to stay relevant.
While Lopez languished in a bit of a holding pattern in the late-’00s, when it came to her music, she got a boost by partnering with Pit in 2011 and 2012 for two steamy dance tracks. They’ve recognized the chemistry and the connection and are exploiting it to the fullest.
‘Live It Up’ is a full-on club banger that veers more towards the EDM spectrum than R&B or pop. (It would fit quite nicely on a David Guetta album.) So while it’ll get its fair share of remixes and club play, it will also find a home on the radio and in mall clothing stores, whereas the hardcore EDM remains at the festivals.
‘Live It Up’ is an uptempo, sweaty dance track layered with escalating synths. RedOne cranks the knobs in a way that that makes you think if there ever was a song that “sounds like Miami,” this is it.
Pit controls the first third of the song, rapping in both Spanish and English, celebrating his beautiful collaborator before stepping aside to let her do her thing, returning to dress things up in various parts throughout the song.
It’s typical of the duo’s formula, but they’ve switched it up this time on the production end of things, thanks to the multiple layers of synthy beats. Something tells us that when we hit Labor Day, this will be one of those songs that defines the three months that came before it.
PopCrush
It's getting pretty positive reviews.
She's gonna get a #1 there for sure 
