Idolator
Janet Jackson wants you—and anyone else within earshot—to know that she's celebrating the release of her 1986 album Control this year. The title of her new record, 20 Y.O., stands for "20 years old," and it's meant to remind her fans of how much she's grown, artistically, since she busted out "The Pleasure Principle" and "When I Think Of You."
But in those 20 years, the idea of what makes an album has grown, too. And not in a good way.
Take a look at the tracklisting for Control—stunning for its absolute precision, with nine songs, no guests, and no spoken-word filler. In contrast, 20 is all over the place—it doubles Control's track count, packing on five skits, as well as guests like Khia and Nelly. (Somehow, it manages to clock in at under an hour.) There are a few decent songs buried within—"This Body" is a corker in the "Black Cat" mold, and "Get It Out Me" uses its sample of Nice N' Wild's "Diamond Girl" in an inventive way—but you have to wade through Janet talking about the time she sang about spousal abuse to get there.
20's overstuffedness contributes to the record's other problem, one that's even more fundamental to why it doesn't quite work. For all of Janet's willingness to flaunt her cleavage and jaw about going home to get herself off, what's most disappointing about the album is how unbelievably hidden she is. Sure, there's a ton of sex talk, but it's completely devoid of intimacy; anyone who's glanced at a gossip column in the last 10 years has heard it all before, anyway. It only adds to the feeling that Janet's decided to cloak herself within her own record, taking refuge behind guest MCs, and multi-tracked vocals, skits, and her insistence that she likes to take off her clothes. Any fans who were hoping that she'd shake off her string of lackluster albums and show pop fans who's in control will be disappointed.
Janet Jackson - This Body [MP3, link expired]
Janet Jackson-20 Years Old-Retail [Mininova]
Previously: Videodrone: Janet Jackson, "So Excited"
Comments
packing on five skits
Six too many.
I thought the album title was a reference to her daughter's age.
How I get tired of these same old asinine reviews. Artists don't make albums for sardonic twits like yourself. They make them for the fans. And JJ's are about the most devoted fans on the planet. That said, the album delivers, BIG TIME. It immediately reminded me of RN1814 & JANET, where there is something for everyone. I stopped valuing reviewers when they consider a song to be a flop when in it only charts on the Urban charts (at #1, mind you.)
Since pop artists have been feeding on & stealing black music for longer than Mad-donna has been gettin' into the groove, the Urban (say "black people", come on, say it...) audience is the only one that counts. Janet gives us what we want and we will give her the 1# album next week. And if "Enjoy" on 20YO doesn't make you happy, you are a deaf fool.
Stick your review in your Idolator and smoke it.
I thought we were done with the skits by now.
You might be, but her fans love it. Actually, it personalizes the album. There cute, and in a world were ugly is everywhere, we could use all the cute we can get.
You forgot to add "Squee!" to that.
It's nice to know SAMIDAE speaks for every Janet Jackson fan on the earth. Tell us, do you spend innumerable hours polling every Janet Jackson fan and cataloguing their responses, or are you all in some sort of collective consciousness?
The swipe at "Mad-donna" - the (more successful) bête noire of Janet Jackson psychofans - says it all.
I'm with ya on this. Why is it that every urban artist now hides behind dozens of guest MCs (who all try desperately to sound like New York street thugs despite having grown their punk asses up in Malibou) and overblown layers of beatbox fluff.
Jamie Foxx's "Unpredictable," for example, could've been pretty good, but he trashed his credible and real vocal talent with gobs o' hip hop flunkies and needless profanity. Having seen him do "With You" solo for James Lipton, I was excited at the prospect of the then-upcoming album. But then I heard the version on the CD and was embarassed at having bought into it. He took a charming little love song and injected so much nasty rap crap into the middle that flushes the sweet sentiment right down the crapper. Who the heck let's a rapper jump into the middle of a love song and ask the line, "Who's p*ssy is this?"
Timberlake has done much the same... The guy actually does have some talent, but he junks up nearly every good song with meaningless and often tasteless urbanility.
I'm a fan, and I'm still on the fence about buying this album. It sounds like All For You and Damita Jo redux to me.
And, no, SAMIDAE does not speak for me; I speak for my damn self.
Comment on this post
Reply by EmailLogin with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?