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JANET JACKSON is The Most Looked Up Lady On The Internet. The question is not how did it happen to the sweetest-sounding member of the Jackson clan — think of Super Bowl, Justin, wardrobe malfunction — but how come it took so long?
It has been more than a decade since Jackson first tried to outrage Middle America. In 1993 she posed for the cover of her fifth album naked from the waist up, jeans unzipped and with a bloke’s hands on her breasts. But when the CD hit the shops, the shot had been cropped at the shoulders.

What the censors couldn’t hide, however, was Jackson’s obsession with sex. The album was packed with tracks about her bedroom exploits and even spawned a hit, If, that was an ode to oral sex.

Ever since, Jackson has been doing the dirty in public, although few people noticed and none ever seemed to take offence. Her last album, All for You, in 2001, may have been musically patchy, but there were lots of steamy lyrics and, on Son of a Gun, the standout collaboration with Carly Simon, even hardcore swear words. By then, Jackson was stripping off as often as possible, but at worst, she was seen as a little bit bad. Naughty perhaps, but still nice.

So you can hardly blame her for flashing an impressively decorated nipple. How else was she supposed to make people listen? And if you still can’t understand why she did it, Damita Jo might explain. Jackson’s eighth album (the title, apparently, is her middle names) is a 22-track masterpiece that, if you don’t pay enough attention, you might dismiss as frothy dance-pop. On first listen, admittedly, there’s little that gets up and grabs you. It’s all perfectly pleasant, slickly produced and toe-tappingly catchy, but there’s no new musical ground broken and no songs that sound like a No 1 single.

Two plays later, however, and Damita Jo reveals itself to be something rather special. Suddenly, rather than sounding like a take on Jazzy Jeff’s Summertime, the opening title track turns out to be a clever, classy, hip-shaking song with a groove that’s hard to get out of your head. Singles are popping up everywhere: the gorgeous, guitar-backed Island Life, with its mid-song strings break, the Evelyn “Champagne” King sampling, peak-era Prince-style R&B Junkie, and My Baby, featuring the hot new hip-hop star Kayne West.

Her vocals have taken an adventurous turn — rather than just sounding sweet, she trips out lines in time to a beat, half-raps, hits high notes like her brother Michael and gasps as though she’s singing while, well, having sex.

And while we’re on the subject (again) there’s hardly a song here that Jackson keeps her clothes on for. On Strawberry Bounce, she’s teasing a man on his knees, Warmth is an explicit description of the act of arousal and on Moist, well, enough said.

Ironically, these are Jackson’s least personal lyrics for years. In the past her albums have had some sort of relationship story. On Damita Jo, she seems to be having random action all over the place — on a beach in Island Life, or on a weekend at home in Spending Time with You. Good God, the girl can’t even go clubbing without getting X-rated over the vibrations of the bass — the superb Herbie Hancock-sampling All Night (Don’t Stop).

On its own, of course, singing about sex isn’t enough to make a great album. It didn’t work on All for You. This time though, Jackson’s longtime collaborators, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and those old R&B hands Dallas Austin and Babyface, have all stepped up to the challenge.

Their style may sound a little dated — there’s no nicking from the Neptunes here. Rather than the sparse beats most R&B stars demand these days, Jackson has encouraged them to throw layers of keyboards, bass, handclaps, brass, strings and backing vocals or raps into the mix. So it doesn’t sound like typical 21st-century R&B, but then there’s enough of that around already.

Now here’s the odd part. Tacked on to the end of the album is an average, uptempo pop song called Just a Little While. And it’s the first single. Why? Probably because Jackson’s nipple caused such a fuss, it was thought too risqué to release a sex song. Talk about missing the point.

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review by Carl Shaker - Muisc Writer

Janet Jackson Is Back !

Since first hitting the music scene way back in 1986 Janet was always in the shadow of her brother Michael some say until the release of her 1993 effort simply title 'janet' (16 million sold) but all that changed. The most successfull debut tour in history , the most gold singles of one album , the biggest female recording contract ever and now THE most searched item on the internet following her 'wardrobe malfuntion' - a term which will make it into next years dictionary - at the last Superbowl , so with her new album , is there room to compete with JLO , Mya , Christina and Britney , remember Jackson is now close to the 40 year old mark.

In Jackson tradition the album is melted together with a stringfull of soft music and spoken intro's evident on her smash 'Rhythm Nation 1814'. Her last two efforts solf no less than 17 million copies between them... Will this do the same or has the publicity seeking family member damaged her career with that fatal episode a'la nipplegate ?

The albums huge listing of no less than 23 tracks see's Jackson working with the men behind all her hit albums , Jam & Lewis as well as new producers - which works well as the album churns out fantastic 'tradional' r&b with an edge as well as implementing current pop trends. Janet needn't worry as her crown of 'queen of r&b' is still sitting firmly at the top of her flowing dark locks.

This album seem's to follow on from her aformentioned 'janet' project which spurrned no less than 7 hits plus a remix album (the 4th biggest selling remix album in the UK) and a sell out world tour. Sex is the topic here and sometimes overcrowds this project a little too much , after listening to 4 ballads in a row towards the end of the album it does become tiresome...and a bit dull.

...BUT there are some real gems , 'R&B Junkie' is a fantastic slice of pure unadulterated 'Janet' and the simpleness of 'Spending time with you' is truly beautifull and show's her piers Janet is still the best at what she does. 'My baby' and 'I want you' dominate this long player and the electro funk of 'Sexhibition' and the title track are certainly body movers - the latter being a distant relative of beyonce's 'crazy in love' ? I wonder ?

Their are a few confusing topics , namely her first (and yet to be released single) 'Just a little while' - it sits out of place at the end of the album and clearly is not one of the best tracks featured here , secondly we all know that sex does sell , but c'mon , nearly every track ? We have all heard the stories and seen the pictures of the nipplerings and tattoo's , is this an attempt for Janet to seem more of the 'norm' than your average Jackson or is it what janet states and is that the mood she was in whilst writing these tracks - if so - she certainely has a high sex drive !

Overall this album is very well polished , apart from some tedious ballads near the end - this album will please both consumers and critics alike. Well done Janet... 8.5/10

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Life Is Like A Dick - When It Gets Hard, FCUK It!

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Janet Jackson, Damita Jo

(Virgin) (4 of 5 stars)

Alexis Petridis
Friday March 26, 2004
The Guardian


Buy Damita Jo at Amazon.co.uk

Before we get down to the business of Janet Jackson's seventh album, let us spare a thought for Bubba the Love Sponge. He was one of the more unlikely victims of what one commentator called the "cultural McCarthyism" now sweeping America: a racy Florida DJ who suddenly found himself among a number of DJs canned by radio network Clear Channel as part of its clean-up campaign. The spur was the "wardrobe malfunction" that exposed Janet Jackson's right breast during the Superbowl half-time show.
For Jackson, the Superbowl incident has been an unqualified success. Her single A Little While, a brilliant, skeletal take on mid-1980s drivetime rock, was released the day after Superbowl and swiftly became the most-played track on US radio; Damita Jo, meanwhile, is predicted to outsell its double-platinum predecessor, 2001's All For You. For the rest of the US, however, the consequences of her actions seem noticeably less healthy: vastly increased fines for "broadcast indecency", and an "indecency probe" by media watchdog the Federal Communications Commission, which many believe merely serves to distract attention from the FCC's attempt to impose a radical relaxation of media ownership rules. Without spending a penny, Jackson may just have mounted the most costly promotional stunt in history. The irritating thing is that Damita Jo doesn't need a promotional boost, let alone a promotional boost that allows the US religious right to have a field day.

One of the reasons it is difficult to believe in the "wardrobe malfunction" story is because, on the evidence of this album, Jackson is an extremely savvy operator. She has assembled an unimpeachable production and songwriting team, not only calling in new hip-hop wonderboy Kayne West and Dallas Austin, fresh from working with Kelis, but also reuniting with Jam and Lewis, the duo behind her 1986 album Control. The latter is a smart move: as a defiantly retro track called R&B Junkie makes explicit, one of the few precedents for the ultra hi-tech, avant-garde R&B production styles of Timbaland and Rodney Jerkins lies among the stammering beats and atonal electronics of Nasty and What Have You Done For Me Lately?.

The obligatory boring ballads aside, the results are astonishing. Damita Jo's opening salvo is an object lesson in keeping things concise. Four tracks, each barely three minutes long, go hurtling past in a head-spinning blur of snapping rhythms, buzzing synthesised noise and oddly disconnected samples: cut-up vocals and glockenspiel on Strawberry Bounce, rattling tablas on Sexhibition. Elsewhere, there are impossibly lithe basslines - notably on All Nite (Don't Stop) and I Want You, an intriguing electronic reconstruction of an early 1970s soul ballad. For the most part, the songs are not only inventive, but brilliantly constructed. The hooks nag, the choruses are explosive. R&B is primarily a singles genre - even the peerless Aaliyah's albums were a bit of a slog - but Damita Jo's strike rate is remarkably high. It's triumphant stuff.

In fact, the only drawback is the album's lyrical monomania. Janet Jackson has been harping on about sex almost exclusively for a decade now, and shows no signs of giving it a rest here. She comes up with things like Sexhibition, a mind-boggling string of page-three caption puns: sexplore, sexposure, sexation, sexplanation. After a while, the sexasperated listener may find themselves loudly sexpressing the desire that someone show Jackson the sexit. Elsewhere, she puns wearingly on phrases like "doing it" and "coming", like a demented 14-year-old boy. Perhaps she let Bubba the Love Sponge have a slice of the songwriting action as compensation for losing his job.

An apogee of daftness is reached on Warmth, a song that appears to be about - and, in the anything-goes spirit of the album, let us not mince words here - wanking someone off in a car. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that there is a fantastic song to be written about this strangely overlooked topic, but it would have to take itself a lot less seriously than this. Jackson makes the whole deal sound like no fun whatsoever, which is surely missing the point. "My hand's wrapped around, moving up and down," she sings, sounding like a biology teacher issuing instructions on how to dissect a frog.

You can see what Jackson is straining for on Warmth and Sexhibition, just as you can see why, at 38 years old, she would feel the need to flash her nipple at a television audience of 90 million. The world of R&B is obsessed with novelty and packed with lubricious ladies and lothario lovermen. Jackson is trying to send out a signal: you may be younger than me, but I am prepared to go further. As it turns out, there is no need. The deliberate courting of controversy is the least interesting thing about Damita Jo.

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People Magazine:

Reviewed by Chuck Arnold:

"Do you want me just for what you see?/ Do you think that I'm that person you watch on TV?" sings Janet Jackson o the confessional title track of her eigth studio album (which takes its title from the singer's middle name). Of course, after her infamous Super Bowl halftime peep show, Michael's little sister has gone from the Normal Jackson to the Nasty Jackson. On her latest, which continues the streak of first-rate R&B-pop disc she has released since her 1986 breakthrough Control, the controversial diva doesn't shy away from her girl-gone wild rep. From her topless pose on the CD cover to the sexually explicit lyrics on cuts such as the jazz-kissed "Moist", Jackson unabashedly gets her freak on. "Relax, its' just sex," she says at the end of the futuristic funk throwdown "Sexhibition," as if to address her conservative critics. But Jackson has been turning up the heat ever since 1993's excellent janet; in fact, many tracks here evoke the lush sensual rush that earlier disc's midtempo gem "That's The Way Love Goes" and vintage slow jam "Any Time, Any Place." However, there is a fresh, more R&B-centric sound to
Damita Jo thanks to Jackson's collaboration with other producers in addition to her longtime team Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Babyface contributes the lovely, acoustic-guitar-laced ballad "Thinkin' Bout My Ex," Dallas Austin delivers the Princely pop-rocker "Just a Little While," and Swedes BAG & Arnthor kick in the hypnotic house number "All Night (Don't Stop)." But it's producer-rapper Kanye West who makes the biggest impression. Songs like the old-school charmer "I Want You," which recalls West's work with Alicia Keys on "You Don't Know My Name," and the buoyant hip-hopper "Strawberry Bounce," built around a Jay-Z sample, return the attention to Jackson's music, where it belongs.

* They gave it 4 1/2 stars out of 5

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Life Is Like A Dick - When It Gets Hard, FCUK It!

Life Is Like A Dick - When It Gets Hard, FCUK It!

Life Is Like A Dick - When It Gets Hard, FCUK It!