"Waiting for Tonight" is a song written by Maria Christensen, Michael Garvin and Phil Temple. It was originally recorded by Christensen's girl group 3rd Party for their debut studio album, Alive (1997). Two years after the group disbanded, American singer Jennifer Lopez recorded her own version of the song for her debut studio album, On the 6 (1999). Ric Wake and Richie Jones produced Lopez's Hispanic house version of "Waiting for Tonight", which differs from the German-sounding Europop version that was recorded by 3rd Party. A Spanish version of the song, entitled "Una Noche Más", was adapted by Manny Benito and also recorded for the album. "Waiting for Tonight" was released on September 7, 1999, by the Work Group, as the third single from On the 6.
Music critics have credited "Waiting for Tonight", along with several other Lopez dance songs, for making her one of the leading artists in the dance-pop genre. The single reached the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. "Waiting for Tonight" became Lopez's first song to top the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart. The song also went number one on European radio. It earned her a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000.
The music video for the song was directed by Francis Lawrence and depicts a New Years theme-party celebrating the upcoming millennium, as well as a potential Y2K problem. The song was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards, where it received the MTV Video Music Award for Best Dance Video. Lopez has performed the song on television programs such as Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and the 11th Billboard Music Awards. Lopez and Australian music producer Fisher released a "contemporary" remix of "Waiting for Tonight", 25 years after the song's release.
Writing and composition "Waiting for Tonight" was written by Maria Christensen, Michael Garvin and Phil Temple, originally recorded by Christensen's girl group 3rd Party. Jennifer Lopez recorded her own version of "Waiting for Tonight" three years after the group's break-up for her debut studio album, On the 6 (1999). The song was first presented to Lopez and her producer Cory Rooney by Ric Wake. Lopez "hated the song" in its early demo format saying "I never want to hear that song again. It's horrible and so cheesy", while Rooney believed it had potential. Rooney said: "I begged [Ric] and said, 'Look, please we need to go back on this song. We need to work on this song and really produce it out.'" Wake informed Rooney that it would cost too much to rework the song, and Rooney subsequently paid $50,000, stating: "That's how much I believe the record is gonna be a hit for her." Upon hearing the new version, Lopez loved it, and wanted to record it right away.
Ric Wake provided the production for Lopez's version, which according to Garvin, differs from the "very German-sounding" Europop version that was recorded by 3rd Party. Richie Jones also produced the song and arranged it with Wake, while providing additional programming and arranging along with "Young" Dave Scheuer. Christensen, Jane Barrett and Margaret Dorn performed background vocals. Eric Kupper and Diego Sánchez played the keyboards, while Jones played the drums and percussion. Scheuer, Franklyn Grant, and Thomas R. Yezzi provided engineering for the song, with assistance from Juan Bohorquez and Robb Williams, while David Barrett served as production coordinator. The song was recorded at various recording locations in New York City, including Cove City Sound Studios, The Dream Factory, Hit Factory and Sony Music Studios. The song was later mixed by Diego Sánchez at Cove City Sound Studios as well as Crescent Moon Studios.
"Waiting for Tonight" is a dance-pop song with a length of four minutes and six seconds (4:06). According to the digital music sheet published at Musicnotes.com, the song is written in the key of B minor. It follows a chord progression Bm–A6–Fm7–Gmaj7. The instrumentation of "Waiting for Tonight" consists of a piano and guitar. The song has a tempo of 125 beats per minute. Sofia Vyas of Time Out described the song as a combination of disco, 1980s pop, 1990s R&B, and club music. "Waiting for Tonight" has sensual lyrics, with Lopez comparing her sex life to a movie scene.
Critical reception "Waiting for Tonight" is the best song of Lopez's career according to Entertainment Weekly, the Chicago Tribune, Slant Magazine and Idolator, being well received by radio, and with MTV describing the song as "classic Lopez". "Waiting for Tonight" was used frequently as a celebratory anthem, along with another Lopez song, "Let's Get Loud". People magazine stated that "Waiting for Tonight" became one of the "turn-of-the-millennium" club anthems. Lauren Zupkus of The Huffington Post praised it as an "epic dance hit", which was the "perfect anthem for all of our anxiety about Y2K". Los Angeles Times writer Gerrick D. Kennedy stated that "we can all admit that 'Waiting for Tonight' played at our respective millennium celebrations." Dee Lockett, writing for the Chicago Tribune, stated that songs such as "Waiting for Tonight" made Lopez "arguably the leading artist in the dance-pop movement at the time". Andrew Barker of Variety magazine called the song her "breakout club hit", and wrote that it "seemed to anticipate the rise of Euro-centric dance pop.
Although the song is not actually about the then-upcoming millennium and the year 2000, but instead about Lopez anticipating spending time with her lover, thus she's "waiting for tonight", marketing by the record label, as well as the music video funded by the label, tied the song to the new millennium instead. Stacy Lambe of VH1 stated the song quickly became a staple for Lopez. It simultaneously built up the excitement for the New Year while kissing off the fears and drama of the past. It was 1999 after all, and anything could happen." Nick Murray of Rolling Stone described it as "music worth getting lost in". In 2017, BuzzFeed listed the song at number 50 in their list of "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs Of the '90s". In 2018, Rolling Stone ranked "Waiting for Tonight" at number thirty on a list of "50 Greatest Latin Pop Songs", with Suzy Exposito writing: "A reflection of her own experience as a Puerto Rican in the mainland – a perspective shared by many Latinx people living in the United States – 'Waiting for Tonight' pays a soft tribute to the island sounds that raised her, while dominating dance charts around the world and cracking Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Lopez was part of a 1990s Latin "explosion" that saw Latin artists having more mainstream success, that would later include Selena Gomez in the 2000s, just as Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam helped paved the way starting in the 1980s." In 2019, Billboard ranked "Waiting for Tonight" as the ninth greatest song of 1999, stating "its themes are universal, the music is infectious, and the chorus remains timeless (...) If 'Tonight' premiered today, it would still be a smash."
David Browne of Entertainment Weekly was critical of the album On the 6, but he felt that "Waiting for Tonight" stood out among the album's tracks. Richard Harrington from The Washington Post was unfavorable of the song, calling it a "generic" dance track. Deseret News described Lopez's vocals as sultry but thin in songs such as "Waiting for Tonight". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine observed that Lopez's vocals were best-suited for dance-pop songs such as "Waiting for Tonight" and not much other material. AllMusic's Heather Phares praised the Spanish version of the song, "Una Noche Más", for elevating its parent album On the 6 from a star's vanity project. Lopez earned a Grammy Award nomination for "Waiting for Tonight" for Best Dance Recording at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, but the category was won by Cher for "Believe".
Release and chart performance "Waiting for Tonight" served as the third single from On the 6. The track was released on October 27, 1999, in Austria, and five days later in the United Kingdom. It peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, and had sold 255,000 copies there by July 2016. It debuted and peaked at number two in Spain, where it spent twelve weeks charting in the top ten. The song reached number six in Italy, and charted at number seven on the Single Top 100 chart in the Netherlands. In Belgium, the song peaked at number four in Wallonia and fifteen in Flanders. It was certified gold in Belgium for shipments of 25,000 units. In Finland, "Waiting for Tonight" charted for three weeks, peaking at number eight. The single also peaked at number ten in France, and was later certified gold in France by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique, marking shipments of 250,000 units and becoming her second Gold certification in the country, after "If You Had My Love" . Elsewhere, it reached the top fifteen in Norway, Scotland, Switzerland, Ireland, and Germany (where it also reached the top of the airplay charts). The single peaked at number sixteen in Sweden, and reached the top thirty in Austria (number twenty-four).
"Waiting for Tonight" debuted on the Australian Singles Chart at number 35 on October 31, 1999. In its eleventh week on the chart, it reached a peak of number four. Overall, it spent six weeks in the top ten and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of 70,000 units. After entering the Official New Zealand Music Chart at number 42 for the week ending October 31, 1999, the song peaked at number five one month later, and was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand for shipment of 7,500 units.
For the week ending October 16, 1999, "Waiting for Tonight" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 56 as the "Hot Shot Debut of the Week." Airplay increased, with the song steadily rising to number 37 in its second week, garnering the "Greatest Gainer in Airplay" title. In its third week, it jumped to number 25 on the Hot 100, while topping the Billboard Dance Club Play chart. "Waiting for Tonight" entered the top ten of the Hot 100 on the week ending November 27, 1999, reaching number nine. The following week, the song peaked at number eight on the Hot 100, on the chart dated December 4, 1999. It is her ninth-most-successful song on Billboard charts. "Waiting for Tonight" was one of four songs that reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999 based solely on radio play. The song was, however, released to retail on a limited basis and sold 10,000 copies in the United States by January 2000 and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on May 31, 2024. In August 2002, the song received a BDS Certified Spin Award for receiving 200,000 radio spins in the United States. In Canada, "Waiting for Tonight" entered at number 4 before reaching number two for the week of November 29, 1999.
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