Classic_Pop_Issue_30_July_2017

● As well as her music career, Janet

has sustained a successful acting

career, starring in John Singleton’s

Poetic Justice opposite Tupac Shakur

in 1993 and with Eddie Murphy in his

successful comedy sequel The Nutty

Professor 2: The Klumps in 2000 as

well Why Did I Get Married fi lms and

Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls.

● With 1993’s janet. album dealing

predominately with the subject of

sex, Jackson felt a responsibility to

promote safe sex and began working

tirelessly as a campaigner for the

AmFar (American Foundation for AIDS

Research) charity. The 1997 Together

Again song was written as a tribute to

friends Janet had lost to AIDS and she

donated all of the profi ts to AmFar.

She has continued to chair galas for

the charity. She was honoured in 2013

for her work with them.

● As one of the music world’s biggest

female role models and sex symbols,

Janet has felt pressure to keep her

weight down. Her bestselling self-help

book True You was published in 2011

and detailed Janet’s struggles with

eating disorders, relationships and

body image.

NEED TO KNOW

SHHH

34

THE LOWDOWN JANET JACKSON

NASTY

1986

Give a little respect to me

Recently divorced from singer James

DeBarge and swapping California for

Minneapolis, Janet was going through

something of a culture shock when she

arrived in Minnesota to work with Jimmy

Jam and Terry Lewis. Independent and

truly on her own for the fi rst time, she soon

realised she had to quickly acquire a thick

skin and a set of survival skills.

Alarmed by the way guys approached her,

looked at her and catcalled her in the street,

Janet wrote this dismissive track calling out

the “nasty boys”, demanding they treat her

and women generally with respect.

Musically, Jam and Lewis punctuated her

anger with strong, aggressive beats which

encompassed soul, funk and hip-hop and

became a sound of its own called New Jack

Swing. Released as Control’s second single,

Nasty was a Top 10 hit around the world and

earned her an American Music Award.

RHYTHM NATION

1989

Strength in numbers...

Inspired by the Stockton playground murders

in 1989, when gunman Patrick Purdy shot

fi ve children before turning the gun on

himself, Janet felt a sense of duty to ensure

that her teenage fans were aware of such

incidents and social issues like racism and

bigotry, conceding that the best way to reach

them was to marry the message with the kind

of music they enjoyed. “I know a song or

an album can’t change the world,” she said.

“But there’s nothing wrong with doing what

we’re doing to help spread the message.”

Inspired by hip-hop – the sound of

the streets – Janet, Jimmy and Terry

incorporated hard beats and samples to

create a powerful, pristine production to

convey the message, driven by the bassline

of Sly & the Family Stone’s Thank You

(Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). An instant

dance classic, Rhythm Nation was a rallying

call to arms to the world to wake up.

IF

1993

Janet writes the rule book

Reassured that her fans were behind her

new direction, Janet felt confi dent enough to

unleash If. Encapsulating everything she had

set out to accomplish with the frank sexuality

of her Janet album, it was a fusion of various

styles. Built on a foundation of a frenetic

dance beat, over which are layers of distorted

synths, screaming guitars, a sample of Diana

Ross and the Supremes’ Someday, We’ll Be

Together and a sex-drenched vocal from

Janet, it is the pinnacle of her career.

A song about unbridled lust with explicit

lyrics such as “Your smooth and shiny feels

so good against my lips, sugar”, Janet didn’t

hold back lyrically, pushing her carnal desires

to the forefront of the scorching dance song,

proving she was all grown up.

LOVE WILL NEVER

DO (WITHOUT YOU)

1990

The world falls for Janet’s charms

One of the fi rst tracks written for the Janet

Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 album

(before Janet decided on a socially aware

direction), Love Will Never Do (Without

You) was originally conceived to be a duet

with Prince, Johnny Gill or Ralph Tresvant.

However, when laying down a guide vocal

and Janet used the lower register of her

voice for the male verse, the results were so

effective that it was decided to keep it a solo

track, though it featured the talents of Herb

Alpert on trumpet, returning the favour after

Janet sang on his 1987 track Diamonds.

A blissful, joyous ode to being in a

relationship, Love Will Never Do was released

as a single in 1990. Despite peaking at

No.34 in the UK, it topped the US chart,

became Janet’s fi fth US No.1 single and

made her the fi rst artist to achieve seven

Top 5 singles in the US from one album.

THAT’S THE WAY

LOVE GOES

1993

Game-changing global smash

The fi rst new music from Janet since she had

signed a record deal making her the highest

paid artist in the world and the fi rst since

her record-breaking Janet Jackson’s Rhythm

Nation 1814 album (though she had scored

a hit with her Luther Vandross duet The Best

Things In Life Are Free the previous year),

Janet was apprehensive as to how it would

be received as she was coming back after a

four-year break and with a different sound

and aesthetic.

A sensual, laid-back groove over a

hypnotic hip-hop beat, That’s The Way Love

Goes was chosen as it is a continuation of

the style of Love Will Never Do (Without

You), her last offi cial solo single, with its

manipulation of Janet’s voice creating

different vocal textures throughout the song.

That’s The Way Love Goes became (and

remains) Janet’s biggest ever US hit.

THE ESSENTIAL SINGLES

Janet Jackson

1982

With no desire to launch a

music career, Janet agreed

to do so on her father’s advice who had

arranged a record deal for her when she

was 16 years old. Her 1982 eponymous

debut album bears no trace of Janet’s

personality whatsoever.

Discipline

2008

Discipline was the fi rst time

since Control that Jam &

Lewis had no input in a Janet album, with

her contribution also minimal. Having

co-written and co-produced everything in

the past, Janet’s sole writing credit on the

album is an 11-second interlude.

ONLY FOR THE BRAVE

TOGETHER AGAIN

1997

Emotional tribute to lost loved ones

Wanting to commemorate friends she had

lost to AIDS, Janet’s tribute began life as

a ballad until, recalling the spirit of the

friends in question, Janet decided it should

be positive and uplifting to refl ect their

personalities (a slower version, the ‘Deeper

Remix’ was later released with its own video

refl ecting the original arrangement).

Adopting a house music style inspired

by Janet’s childhood visits to Studio 54, the

song evoked disco classics such as Donna

Summer’s Last Dance and Gloria Gaynor’s

I Will Survive with its bittersweet tone.

Released three months after the death of

Princess Diana, the song benefi tted from the

public feeling at the time with its universal

theme of missing loved ones.

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