Just like in summer when I don't have to work, my sleep schedule is all screwed up these days. I've been awake at 3 a.m. and sleepy at 10. I think I need work to have better sleep! Somehow, though, I don't think that's why Janet is getting no sleep here (wink)...
The last single off of Janet Jackson's highly successful Rhythm Nation album was written about a different kind of strife than what we have today. Though the lyrics reflect the darker, sadder sides of society, the overall theme of the song kinda holds true today, albeit in a different way. Thusly, Ms. Janet's latest world tour beginning in 2017 was dubbed The State of the World Tour, and it fits. Nuff said. Here's Janet...
Well, it's been just about two weeks now since the release of Janet Jackson's new song and from the sounds of it, this one's a winner! Entering the Billboard charts from the get-go, Miss Janet scores her first Hot 100 hit since 2015's No Sleep. And the song is nice and catchy, and with a video to match...vintage Janet! Here's Made For Now...
Well, this turned out to be a nice week for new music. Of course, the biggest news was the release of Ariana Grande's Sweetener, but none of the new songs on the album match the intensity of its' first three singles. And so you won't find any of them in this week's spotlight, but you will see and hear new stuff from Janet Jackson, Calvin Harris with Sam Smith, and other great new tunes to whet your appetite. So without further adieu, here we go...
Promises - Calvin Harris, Sam Smith
One of the most interesting new music tracks of the week comes from Calvin Harris, featuring the beautiful voice of Sam Smith on vocals. Promises is Smith's first foray into dance music since guesting on Disclosure's 2013 Latch, and to me this one is way easier to get into. I usually shy away from Smith, mostly because I'm not a huge fan of ballads, but this one is oh so good. Check out Promises...
All I Am - Jess Glynne
I love the sound of Jess Glynne's voice and I almost always love the inspirational/fee-good vibe to her songs, and this new one's got both. Check out All I Am...
How Does It Feel - M22
If you love a big dance song with strong female vocals, then this is a song for you. British dance music duo has come up with a big one featuring the powerful vocals of one Miss Hayley May. Great vibe on this one...check it out...
Made For Now - Janet Jackson, Daddy Yankee
Janet Jackson is back in a big way with a somewhat surprising and pleasing new single (possible album in the works??!!!). This one's got the feel of a vintage Janet tune, happy and catchy, and the addition of Daddy Yankee into the fold will surely expand the listening base of this one. The two debuted the tune on Jimmy Fallon the other night, but there is also a video. Check out Made For Now...
Exit (The Wrong Way) - Marsheaux
Ooh, I love this one. It's by Greek synth-pop duo Marsheaux and it's got the feel of an 80's synth-heavy club jam. Love, love, love! Check out Exit (The Wrong Way)...
To commemorate the Super Bowl and its Halftime Show featuring Justin Timberlake yesterday, fans of Miss Janet Jackson held a #JanetAppreciationDay and we're following suit this morning. I watched Timberlake's performance last night and I can honestly say I was underwhelmed. Now I have no idea whether or not Justin reached out to Janet to join him, as he should have done, but her presence was not seen or heard and that's just wrong. Justin Timberlake received no consequences from Nipplegate and Janet's career took a nosedive as a result. I, and many other Janet fans, think she deserved an invitation. Ah well, enough griping! Here's Black Cat...
This wasn't supposed to happen, but it turned out to be one of those things that afterwards you couldn't imagine not happening. You see, I used to be a huge fan of Janet Jackson, but over the past several years my devotion to her had faded. God, I remember a time when I looked forward to new Janet as much as I looked forward to anything new from Madonna or P!nk, but sadly for me, and a lot of others, too, those feelings of excited anticipation had long since gone away.
I think maybe it was the famous nipple incident at the Super Bowl. Not that I agreed with any of the sort of horror that marred that whole thing. In fact, I thought it was ridiculous! Nevertheless, Miss Jackson's star has never been the same since and that's a real shame. She became somewhat shunned and as a result I never even gave her albums Damita Jo or 20 Y.O. a chance. It wasn't until 2008's Discipline that I even lukewarmly paid attention to her again.
So late in 2015 Janet came out with her latest album, Unbreakable, and my friend Sean had me listening once again. I agreed to go to her show supporting the record, which I liked but didn't love. I hadn't seen Janet in concert since the 2001 All For You Tour, during which I actually got to meet her (and had a bad experience in the process!). We bought the tickets and then she cancelled. No bueno!
The Show
When the buzz about Janet's current State of the World Tour came around, my interest was definitely piqued, but not enough to buy a ticket. Then my friend Gary, just a few weeks ago, asked if I wanted to join him to the Barclay's show. He had an extra ticket. Hell yeah!
As the day for the show came closer, I started to become more and more excited, but I didn't get really excited until Gary and I rushed in to our seats right as the show was starting...
Prejudice----------NO!
Ignorance-----------NO!
Bigotry------------NO!
Illiteracy----------NO!
Right from the get-go it was a love-fest! After a typically big opening, Miss Janet appeared onstage to thousands of cheers and immediately broke into two classics, both from the Rhythm Nation album. It was hard to find a decent recording of both The Knowledge and State of the World, but just to give you a taste, here's the former...
And so it began, a two-plus hour spectacle that enthralled nearly everyone in the building, including both myself and Gary. The first hour or so before the show's first interlude was a veritable mà nage of cherished hits from a very storied career. For myself, and I am sure many others in the audience, this was a very pleasant trip down memory lane as Janet whipped through such standards such as Nasty, Miss You Much, Control, What Have You Done For Me Lately, Escapade, All For You, When I Think of You and Love Will Never Do (Without You). Much to my delight she added tunes she probably hasn't performed in years, such cool stuff as The Pleasure Principle, Alright and You Want This. Wow, talk about revved up!
The second part to the concert was full on slow and then sexy. After an instrumental interlude of the beautiful Again (to which the entire audience sang.), Janet returned to the stage for some slow jams and some downright sexy goodness with such tunes as Where Are You Now, Come Back to Me, The Body That Loves You, Twenty Foreplay, Got Till It's Gone, That's the Way Love Goes,and Throb. Before the next interlude, Janet wowed the audience by getting sentimental, as big brother Michael appeared on a huge screen behind her and she delved into the first verse of their hit Scream. The sentimentality continued on Together Again, as the star of the evening gave an I miss you shout-out to MJ. The crowd went absolutely wild!
Another short interlude came next before Janet came out to address one of her male dancers tied to a chair as she gently, then forcefully belted out an electrifying performance of What About Us. The classics If and Rhythm Nation rounded out the set before Janet introduced the band members and dancers and exited the stage as the super-satisfied crowd begged for more.
The encore set was a little bit more of an exhalation than a big ending. Miss Jackson performed Black Eagle and Well Traveled, from her recent Unbreakable album, and sandwiched in between came a call for a New Agenda, and a medley of Damn Baby/Get Lonely. By the time all was said and done, Janet had given her audience what they had come for, and more. The buzz from 18,000 satisfied fans continued out onto the hallways and into the streets afterwards. As for Gary and I, well, we're still trading lyrics and singing songs three days later.
Here's one of those surprise songs Miss Janet performed the other night, and a very welcome one, too! I just had to share this classic video. The dancing...woof! Enjoy...
Sometimes it takes a concert to rekindle some love. I saw Janet Jackson last night at Barclay's Center in Brooklyn and oh man, it was a two-plus hour love fest down memory lane. Admittedly I've strayed away from listening to Janet much over these past few years for whatever reason, and after last night's show, I am regretting it. I had truly forgotten what a talent she is and always was. So for the next few days I will be helping you rekindle some Miss Janet love as I relive last night's performance in my mind over and over again. Here's one of y all time favorites, from her 1993 janet album. Enjoy If...
Tonight I will be seeing Ms. Janet Jackson perform for third time in my life and I am officially excited! The idea that today is Hump Day, too, fits in most perfectly with the State of the World show I'll be seeing later, as Janet has definitely had her share of sexy, humpy jams, including this one from the classic Velvet Rope album. Here's Go Deep...
In May of 1993, Janet Jackson released one hell of a monumental record, surely one of her all time best. The album, janet, is a 28-track set full of a wide assortment of R&B jams, groovalicious grooves, and sometimes sensual, sometimes playful interludes. This, the first single off the album, hit the #1 spot on the charts and stayed there for eight weeks, making it one of the biggest hits of the year. Check out the smooth That's the Way Love Goes...
Many of you may not know this tune, from Janet's 1997 album, The Velvet Rope. It's a funky little ditty all about freedom, freedom to love whomever you love. Like many other strong female recording artists, Miss Janet has long been an advocate of the LGBT community and she even won a GLAAD Media Award for this album and the supportive tone it takes of the community. In a Pride Month in which the struggle we still face has tragically given us the awful truth that we still have a long way to go, voices of support from everywhere are always welcome. Check out a cool fan-made video of the jam, Free Xone...
Tired of injustice Tired of the schemes The lies are disgusting So what does it mean Kicking me down I got to get up As jacked as it sounds The whole system sucks
Peek in the shadow
Come into the light
You tell me I'm wrong
Then you better prove you're right
You're sellin' out souls but
I care about mine
I've got to get stronger
And I won't give up the fight
With such confusions don't it make you wanna scream
Your bash abusin' victimize within the scheme
You try to cope with every lie they scrutinize
Somebody please have mercy
'Cause I just can't take it
Stop pressurin' me
Just stop pressurin' me
Stop pressurin' me
Make me wanna scream
My theme song for the day...classic and oh so true!
Janet Jackson's brand new album, Unbreakable, is out and so far this music lover is giving it a resounding thumbs up! Here's a funky lil jam from the set featuring Miss Janet's sultry vocals over a nice, jamming bassline and some rapping thrown in by Misdemeanor herself, Missy Elliot! Ooh, this one's hot!
I spent a good part of yesterday with my friend Sonny, who is a big Janet fan. Since we were in the car for awhile, and since we were talking about Janet's new album and tour (which we're both going to!), I decided to put on Miss Janet. Admittedly, I have not listened to her in a very, very long time. Even more recently I kinda sorta dissed her new song and video, No Sleep (It is growing on me!).
Well, I spent a lot of time in the car even after Sonny and I parted ways and I spent the time listening to songs and snippets from her entire catalog and I lived through some pretty decent memories, too! Aw, singing along to songs like Nasty, Black Cat, Someone to Call My Lover, and all the others was pure joy! But this one, oh this one...Runaway is one of my favorite Janet happy tunes. Janet has always had many different styles, down n dirty, sexy, soft, R&B, jazz, rock, but these types of pure sunshine in a song are amongst my favorite (Together Again, All for You, etc.).
In this one, recorded especially for her 1995 Design of a Decade set (It was originally supposed to be recorded with brother Michael, but he preferred to do Scream instead!), Janet takes us on a relaxing, exotic, and exhilarating trip around the world. Awesomeness!
On Friday, Janet Jackson completed the first part of her much talked about comeback with the video for the new album's debut single, No Sleep. Like the song, the video is nothing special, and very reminiscent of her classic That's the Way (Love Goes), Not to say that I hate it...on the contrary, the song is starting to grow on me, and the video is pleasing enough. The tune's got that classic Janet, head-bopping groove that we've all come to know and love, and the video is great if you like looking at Ms. Janet's beautiful face flitting around a very cool apartment. But that's about it, except for an appearance by J. Cole, who ads a little rap interlude into the groovy mix. To me, however, this is all nothing new, and I would think that a big comeback such as this one should herald in something fresh. What do you think? I'll let you decide for yourself...
Well, we knew it was coming and yesterday Janet Jackson finally released a new song from her as yet untitled (as far as we know!) forthcoming album. Well, it's been a loonnngggg time, seven years to be exact, since Miss Janet has put out anything new, and in this case, what is old is new again. The new song, No Sleep, reunites the singer with friends and longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and is a sultry, sexy groove taken right out of stuff from her glory days. If you loved Janet then, you'll surely love her now. Take a listen...
With yesterday's big announcement out of Janet Jackson's camp, I thought I'd do a little resurrecting of an old piece I wrote for Yahoo Voices. You see, I used to do a lot of musical "top ten" lists, on all sorts of things, from artists to themes and more, and they always got great page views. I've been contemplating re-posting several of my old pieces, as they are no longer found anywhere on the Internet, and this is an opportunity for my opening.
With new music coming out very soon from Miss Janet, now's a great time to revisit some of the songs that made her the superstar she is, and here are my choices for her very best. Of course, there's much more to the Janet catalog than what appears here, and I'm sure that some of my picks won't match yours, but please read on, just for fun, and if there are songs I didn't include, feel free to leave a comment...
Straight out of the very large shadow of her big brother,
Janet Jackson emerged in the mid 1980’s to achieve her own status as a bona
fide superstar. Over the last two-plus
decades, Miss Jackson has amassed an incredible array of music, adding her own
voice to the thread of American culture.
Though her success has waned in recent years, (ostensibly ever
since the backlash against her “Wardrobe Malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl),
Janet Jackson has continued to entertain us with her keen aptitude for making
great music. It’s difficult to pare her
catalog down to a top ten, but the following is my personal best of Miss
Jackson. I’ve included the popular and
the not so popular, the ballad and the up tempo, the happy and the hopeful. Surely some will hearken memories in your own
minds.
10- Feedback – Janet’s most recent hit from 2008’s
Discipline album reached #19 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and #1 on its Hot Dance
Tracks. The song is a throwback to past Jackson
songs, with up tempo beats and great vocals to match.
9- Son of a Gun – As with many Janet Jackson songs, this one
reflects her love for the music she grew up listening to. Oftentimes, she’s employed the use of
samples, lyrics, and even guest vocals by the original artist to make her
homage instantly familiar to the listener.
Son of a Gun, coupled with its prelude Clouds is loosely based on
Carly Simon’s hit You’re So Vain. Ms.
Simon provides original guest vocals on both tracks, and its bass-driven beat
is an irresistible sensation
Unfortunately, the use of vulgar language in the chorus didn’t convert
well to a radio-friendly version (which featured the likes of Missy Elliot, as
well) prevented the tune from becoming a successful hit. It’s a great song anyway!
8- Again – This ballad, off the 1993 album, janet, is a
beautiful love song that’s easy on the ears.
The tune was featured on the soundtrack to Poetic Justice (in which
Jackson starred) and garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Original
Song.
7- (tie) When I Think of You / Escapade– (Yes I know this
is a top ten list, but these two songs, to me, are similar in nature and I just
couldn’t decide between them.)
When I Think of You – This song is classic Janet Jackson
from a younger, more innocent period in her life and career. The fun hit was the third release off of her
1986 Control album and was her first #1 single.
Escapade – Much like the previous song, Escapade is
another fun ditty that’s simply irresistible.
The carnival-like music of the song and its catchy chorus make this one
a fan favorite.
6- Black Cat – This one showcases the rocker side of Miss
Janet, with memorable guitar riffs and blazing vocals. Off the Rhythm Nation set, this fan favorite
reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and is always enthusiastically received in
all of her shows.
5- Got Til It’s Gone – Though not a major smash by Janet’s
standards, this song is an innovative veneration of Joni Mitchell’s hit Big
Yellow Taxi. This is yet another
example of Janet’s reverence for the wide variety of music she listened to
growing up and its arrangements are created to update the song to accurately
reflect the sounds of the day. Featuring
a guest appearance by rapper Q-Tip and a groove reminiscent of That’s the Way
(Love Goes), this one’s a Jackson classic in my eyes.
4- Nasty – Who can forget this naughty tune from Janet’s
1986 breakout Control? The song
typified the popular sounds coming out of Minneapolis at the time and begat the
catchphrase, No, my first name ain’t baby…It’s Janet! Miss Jackson if you’re
nasty.
3- Together Again – Although the music to this #1 hit, from
1997’s Velvet Rope, is upbeat and danceable, the reasoning behind its
composition is not as pleasant. The song
represents the dream of a day when Janet will be reunited with the many loved
ones in her circle lost to the specter of AIDs. Together Again hearkens within all of us a relevant yearning to be
together once again with people we’ve lost.
2- That’s the Way (Love Goes) –
Like a moth to a flame, burned by the fire…
My love is blind, can’t you see my desire.
So begins the sultry groove that garnered Janet a Grammy
Award for Best R&B Song in 1994. The
tune is a feel-good song from beginning to end and surely belongs towards the
top of any Janet Jackson fan’s list.
1-Love Will Never Do (Without You) – This irresistible
charmer from 1991 was an unprecedented fifth Top Five single off of the
previous year’s Rhythm Nation album. Coupled
with the typical Minneapolis sounds made popular by Prince, (taken to further
heights by Prince alum and the album’s producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis),
and Janet’s nasally vocals, was a memorable black and white video (produced by
Herb Ritts) and featuring Antonio Sabato Jr. and Djimon Hounsou, two popular
male models of the time. The video was
stylistically produced and is as memorable as the song.
Talk about an announcement coming out of nowhere! I mentioned in a Song of the Day post of Janet Jackson's Feedback last month that she had tweeted about a new album and concert tour coming soon. Well, the time is now! Janet's official website posted an announcement this morning that the Unbreakable World Tour will kick off its first leg on August 31st in Vancouver, British Columbia, followed by 35 more shows throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The tour will be in support of the singer's new unnamed album, which, according to the announcement, is due out in the fall. The first sets of tickets will go on sale next Monday, June 22nd through LiveNation. American Express cardmembers already have dibs on the shows beginning today, June 15th through Friday, the 19th before the full sale on Monday. Ooh, I am officially excited!
Check out Janet's website below for full details on this fantabulous announcement.
