Jennifer Lopez is back on the road.
The Up All Night: Live in 2025 tour kicked off on July 8 in Spain and is set to stop next at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena on Tuesday. The show is a greatest hits set, blending early classics like Let’s Get Loud and Jenny from the Block with tracks from This Is Me... Now and her latest song, Wreckage of You, which she performed on stage for the first time earlier this month.
With a career spanning more than two decades, Lopez has an expansive catalogue, covering everything from RnB, pop, EDM, Latin ballads and trap, sung in both English and Spanish. It shows an artist who, despite the fame, the peaks and the backlash, has yet to lose her drive. This tour isn’t a comeback but an affirmation of where she is today.
Here are 10 songs that soundtrack that evolution.
1. If You Had My Love (1999)
Glossy and emotionally distant, J-Lo’s debut single isn’t really a breakup song and more like the coda to one. There’s no pleading, no anger, just a cool detachment, as if she’s already walked away. Its distant tone is what makes the track interesting. It’s not a kiss-off but a finale. The production is sleek and the vocals are composed while Lopez sounds capable and assured, proving to naysayers she could sing. It is smart and calculated start.
2. Let’s Get Loud (1999)
Originally written by Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio, the song was first considered for Estefan herself. But she felt the track – with its vibrancy and urban pulse – was better suited to a younger artist. Lopez, then on the cusp of launching her music career, took on and owned it.
You can still hear Estefan’s imprint throughout: the congas, the brass and the chant-like chorus. It’s the sound of Latin pop being rejigged for a mainstream stage – something Estefan pioneered, paving the way for artists like Lopez and Shakira.
Where If You Had My Love kept things cool, Let’s Get Loud puts Lopez's vocals in the front and centre. It’s full of attitude and became a staple of her live shows, from Vegas residencies to stadiums and sports events around the world.
3. Love Don’t Cost a Thing (2001)
With its percolating percussions and streamlined groove, it is an almost a picture-perfect snapshot of early-2000s RnB. The sound is sleek, mid-tempo and driven more by attitude than vocal fireworks.
A reason the track works so well is Lopez herself, as she serves the song. The delivery is sharp, each line clipped with precision. The lyrics became a kind of cultural slogan, a meme before memes were a thing. At this point, Lopez was in transition to full-blown pop star and you can hear that confidence all over the record.
4. I’m Real (Murder Remix) with Ja Rule (2001)
When people talk about the track, they’re almost always referring to the remix with hip-hop star Ja Rule. He was at the height of his run back then and his rumbling verses gave the piece the grit it needed. The original version felt flat by comparison. This remix, though, was hazy, unhurried and full of the kind of RnB-rap chemistry flavour defining the early 2000s. Lopez’s soft, sultry coos is a great foil for Ja Rule’s raspy raps. It was a great collaboration, and a chart-topping summer hit.
5. Jenny from the Block (2002)
Maybe it was inspired by the movie roles she was taking at the time, but with this track, Lopez fully orchestrates her origin story. The samples – from The Beatnuts and Boogie Down Productions – nod to her hip-hop influences, but the bigger play here is brand-building.
This was less about the music and more about shaping the J-Lo identity: grounded, street-smart and media-savvy. It worked then – but the same strategy hasn’t always resonated. You can draw a straight line from Jenny from the Block to the more calculated moments in her later career, like the misfire of her latest album. This was one of the times she got the balance right.
6. Get Right (2005)
Lopez has a bunch of tracks that feel like outliers and Get Right is one of them. Built around a squawking sax loop and twitchy percussion, it’s one of her most rhythm-driven songs. There’s no real hook to speak of, just forward motion.
The vocals are clipped, staccato, almost functioning like another part of the beat. It works though. The whole thing holds together, and it quietly marks one of her first proper steps into club territory – something she would go on to perfect with On the Floor a few years later.
7. Que Hiciste (2007)
This marked Lopez’s move into Spanish-language pop – taken from her album Como Ama una Mujer – but instead of chasing the bright pop energy of someone like Shakira, she leaned into balladry.
The production is heavy on cinematic strings and slow builds, but what really stands out is how it opened up her voice. Unlike her RnB material, which is often heavily treated, this kind of Spanish-language pop demands vocal umph – and Lopez rises to the occasion. It’s one of the few records where we hear her relatively unadorned vocals. While it didn’t make much noise in English-speaking markets, it remains a well-regarded effort.
8. On the Floor with Pitbull (2011)
By the the blazing track arrived Lopez had been relatively quiet on the charts for a few years. Hence she went to Moroocan-Swede RedOne – one of the hottest pop producers at the time – best known for his bombastic, dancefloor-ready work with artists like Lady Gaga. The result was On the Floor: a stomping club-ready track that takes the familiar Lambada melody, gives it a new bassline and turns it into a stadium-sized banger.
Lopez, ever the strategist, released the song in tandem with her debut as a judge on American Idol, ensuring maximum exposure. And it worked, with the song introducing her to a new generation of fans while still giving a nod to her Latin roots. Even if the whole thing feels a little too calibrated, it still sounds glorious. It topped the charts in more than 20 countries and brought Lopez back to pop’s top tier.
9. El Anillo (2018)
Coming with its dose of real-life drama, as fans linked the lyrics to the approaching dissolution of her relationship with then-partner and baseball athlete Alex Rodriguez, the real change here is musical – with Lopez stepping deeper into Latin trap that was gaining ground through artists like Bad Bunny and Ozuna. Earning a Latin Grammy nomination, El Anillo proves Lopez still does her share in evolving in the evolving Latin pop space.
10. Wreckage of You (2025)
Lopez’s latest song, which premiered live in June during her tour stop in Spain, forms one of the most dramatic moments of the show – a stripped-back piano ballad that sounds more like a confession than a performance. “Thank you for the scars you left on my heart,” she sings. “Now watch me climb out of the wreckage of you.”
How you want to interpret that is up to you. Is it about Ben Affleck? It doesn’t really matter. It’s a big, inspirational ballad about life after divorce. Her fans will lap it up and it could very well shape the sound of whatever Lopez is working on next.
Jennifer Lopez performs at Etihad Arena on Tuesday. Doors open at 7pm; tickets from Dh795
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Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
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Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
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Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
