TwistedElegance™

Not excited by the length of the tracklist but can't wait to check this out.

I went to a cinematic screening of Purple Rain last night and it was amazing. People applauding and even dancing in the aisles by the end. It was kind of surreal.

There was a blind item? When was this?

The new order:

Beyonce > Lemonade > 4 > I Am... Sasha Fierce > Dangerously In Love > B'Day

I don't know. Just a thought.

Didnt Jimmy all but confirm it?

I'd like that too. God, I love Graham Norton. He is by far my favourite interviewer. He always brings the best out his guests. We have nobody here on TV that can do that.

I think the pop songs will arrive in time and she will eventually come full circle as an artist. I was never here for her interviews. 

I always saw it for her. And I believe this will be the era that certifies her as a legend.

That's an incredible achievement.

Yep. 

I guess we should prepare for the fact that if it's been remixed then some of us won't like it and will wish the video was for the original. I just wanna see it.

I'm about to go and watch Purple Rain, at the cinema.

She came through. 

Take Me Away soars. I don't get the same experience with 2BL.

Looks like someone on her team spun the Janet wheel of things to say.

It is. Personally, I'll be glad to move to 2002 and lose the bias. All For You is not a worthy winner IMO. Doesn't Really Matter surely wasn't either.

Our runner-up for 2001 is Usher with his mammoth ballad, U Got It Bad. The second single released from 8701, it was written by the singer and frequent collaborators Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. R. Kelly also receives a co-writer's credit thanks to the short adaptation of Fortunate (a hit he wrote for Maxwell) during the song's second verse. Discussing his hit records with Complex, Dupri told the publication: "I learned from Nice & Slow that people wanted that. Nice & Slow was a big record, but we only made one. We went into that album saying, we got to make another Nice & Slow. What I did with U Got It Bad was take it to the next level, make another version of that. U Got It Bad was basically just another version of Nice & Slow with me trying to repeat and just make a better version." Setting success as a goal sure paid off, with the song shooting to number one in late 2001, and returning to the position after Nickelback's month-long reign with How Your Remind Me ended. As previously mentioned, Usher was the only male solo act to achieve a number one that year, and he did it twice - after the Jam + Lewis-produced U Remind Me reached the summit in July. The song is particularly memorable for its video which featured love interest Chilli of TLC. Directed by Little X (Nelly's Hot In Herre, Iggy Azalea's Fancy, Drake's Hotline Bling), it depicted the singer tied up in knots, unable to escape the image of her, and scored heavy rotation on music networks. The song became Usher's third No. 1 on the Hot 100, and reached the Top 5 in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

The breakdown ~ U Got It Bad reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 and places 2nd with a voter average of 8.72.

• 10 - Dammn Bu & hotboy06
• 9 - Game, Jarrylf, kennita jo, LyricalLesson & __VelvetKnowledge1814
• 8 - DarkStormSC, RedSimba & Stealth
• 7 - TwistedElegance

 

[Written by Dammn Bu]: It is ironic that this Grammy Award winning smash hit the top hit #1 on Singles Rate: 2001 the same week it peaked at #1 for 7 non-consecutive weeks, 15 years ago. In fact, the song was the first song to advance to number one by a female artist in the new decade. Janet seems to have a lot of firsts, but let’s not go into that.

Fun fact: the song made radio music history when it was added to every pop, rhythmic and urban radio station, dubbing Janet as the “Queen of Radio”. No other song at the time was able to achieve that in its first week until Lady Gaga’s Born This Way (which only broke the record due to a radio deal).

One thing I remember about this song at the time was that EVERY TIME I went for the food shop, the supermarkets would play it multiple times throughout my time in the store.

Billboard called it “a vitamin shot in the arm for the airwaves”. Entertainment Weekly labelled it as “a frothy butt shaker and skilled throwback to old-school disco”. Even Rolling Stone added to it’s acclaim, “swirling on the dizzying energy of a disco-era sample”. The most surprising of all, to me, was NME (who can be very snobbish to pop music) who called it “a faultless funk affair”.

As mentioned earlier, the song peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 for 7 non-consecutive weeks. But it also peaked in the top 10 in the world’s biggest markets, including the UK, Australia and the overall Europe chart.

The vibrant and fun video was directed by David Meyers and would mark the beginning of a frequent working relationship. Dave went on to direct Feel it Boy, Just A Little While, I Want You and most recently No Sleeep (and supposedly Dammn Baby). The video added to her legendary collection of music videos as the sexy Queen of Pop would dance effortlessly with a 2D cartoon backdrop. And just like her previous classic enigmatic hits Rhythm Nation and If, the video came full with a brazen and energetic dance break – something we have all probably tried to imitate, but never duplicate.

Another fun fact: Anticipating by Britney Spears received heavy comparisons to All For You by critics due to its similar production/arrangement. This isn’t the first time the White Janet was compared to the original innovator (Britney has paid reference to Janet throughout her career).

The breakdown ~ All For You reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 and WINS the competition with a voter average of 9.63.

• 10 - Dammn Bu, DarkStormSC, Game, hotboy06, Jarrylf, LyricalLesson, RedSimba & Stealth
• 9 - kennita jo & __VelvetKnowledge1814
• 8 - TwistedElegance

 

No one else can wear hats? Or did Janet patent having her photo taken side-on? 

That video is awful.

The tour looks solid, with some big surprises for me in that set list. The reaches in here are... expected.

At this point I don't see Adele sweeping the Grammys. Hello might get some glory but 25 has lost momentum. Beyoncé could be a serious contender.

Now there are reports he died from AIDS after being diagnosed six months ago. It's nothing more than unidentified sources at this stage though.

It's taxing but ultimately worth it.

 But it's so dreamy. 

Start with the covers from it and ease your way in. 

The Jungle Book 

Grandma