It has been 20 years since Britney Spears released Oops!… I Did It Again – cue gasps of shock and disbelief that, yes, we are that old.
The song was released on March 27, 2000, but the album of the same name hit shelves on May 16, 2000. To mark the milestone anniversary, the pop star tweeted Nasa, to remind them of just how integral they were in the making of her music video for the titular track, set on the Red Planet.
"Hey @Nasa ... I received your gift," Spears tweeted. "I know it’s been 20 years since we met on Mars and I just wanted to say … aww you shouldn’t have."
Nasa's Perseverance Mars Rover replied, writing: "I'm packed and almost ready to fly in July, landing on Mars next February. I’ll collect rocks for a future mission to send back, but know I went down and got them for you."
Nasa's main account even retweeted Spears's original tweet, writing: "It might seem like a crush."
For those in need of a refresh: the Oops!… I Did It Again video is set on Mars.
At the beginning of the video there is "no sign of habitation", a handsome young astronaut (played by Eli Swanson) reports, as he explores the planet from the Mars Lander. He does, however, find a beaten-up Britney Spears CD, which he describes as "cute". As he picks it up, a red-catsuit-wearing Spears appears out of nowhere.
Cut to two minutes and 48 seconds into the video and we have our love story. Spears performs a gravity-defying flip off the stage towards the aforementioned handsome young astronaut and removes his helmet. A risky move, but it pays off as Swanson's character appears able to breathe on Mars.
Then a passage of dialogue follows, which any young millennial worth their Himalayan rock salt can recite word-for-word.
"Britney, before you go, there is something I want you to have," he tells the singer, as he hands her a necklace.
"Oh, it's beautiful ... but wait a minute, isn't this?"
"Yes it is."
"But I thought the old lady dropped it in the ocean in the end," Spears replies, with a Titanic reference, which was already a ripe three years old when this came out in 2000.
"Well baby, I went down and got it for ya."
And then we get the most brutal line of all: "Aww, you shouldn't have." And she walks away with her priceless movie memorabilia.
The astronaut seems undeterred, however, and moonwalks away (another vintage pop culture reference, even in 2000), while his Nasa colleagues on Earth sway away to the song, ignoring the blatant romantic dismissal.
Rewatch the 'Oops!… I Did It Again' video here, it will inevitably be the best four minutes and 11 seconds of your day:
Interestingly, this is not the first time Spears and Nasa have had a fun back and forth on Twitter.
On August 15, 2012, Spears tweeted Mars Curiosity asking: "So, does Mars look the same as it did in 2000?"
The car-sized rover landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, but made time to reply straight away, writing: "Hey Brit Brit. Mars is still looking good. Maybe someday an astronaut will bring me a gift, too. Drill bits crossed."
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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.”
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