FACT MAGAZINE: "The six songs that prove Janet Jackson did it best, and did it first"

[SonofBaldwin]

Oldie but goodie:

 

The six songs that prove Janet Jackson did it best, and did it first

Written by Rob Pursey on Tuesday, May 19 2015

Even after all this time, Janet Jackson is inevitably forced to retain ‘sister of Michael’ as part of her CV.

For those of us who truly love R&B and soul music, though, she will forever be one of our most cherished performers, and the artist whose catalogue and influence shines brighter than ever. I’ll readily admit to the fact that I’ve made the statement “Janet > Michael” to people as a means of testing their musical character. Whilst I wouldn’t seriously hold this as a firm belief, if a person’s reaction isn’t to think this argument in any way outlandish, then they’re definitely on the side of right.

With any discussions regarding Janet, we should remember that she spent the bulk of her career working with the greatest of all time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the production geniuses who steered her work peerlessly through the ‘hip-hop soul’ sea change of the early 90s. These years claimed many a victim: Bobby Brown, Al B. Sure, Aaron Hall and others were swept aside as 80s soul and swingbeat morphed into what we currently enjoy as R&B. Janet, on the other hand, released perhaps her most defining work in this period (1993’s self-titled album, janet.) as if she was fresh out of the box.

A key factor in Janet’s music from the 80s was her embracing of tempo and joy (particularly with lead singles), a sound that reflected the brasher, more grandstanding times that her brother, the market leader, defined. However, with the 90s fully underway, Janet’s re-emergence was with the subtle, mid-tempo ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’ and a video about as far away from wireless headsets and shoulder-pads as you could go. The second half of janet. contains songs, particularly ‘The Body That Loves You’ into ‘Any Time Any Place’, where Janet delivers the kind of loose, plaintive vocal that’s always been credited to Aaliyah when discussing the modern female R&B landscape, despite this album arriving almost a year earlier. She repeated this on The Velvet Rope, where more ethereal songs like ‘Anything’ are pretty much the blueprint of the R&B that we now listen to.

Although Brandy will forever be the signifier for the ‘deep cuts’ tag, Janet has an even better claim to this title, often tucking away quiet storm gems like ‘Feels So Right’ and ‘Truly’ right near the end of albums. As she’s also been totally unafraid to switch moods from energetic club records to slow-jams (a far cry from some of the one-note R&B albums this decade has brought), her career could easily be compiled as either a flawless club collection or a slow-paced bedroom album – and both and both would annihilate all competition. The ATL bass-pop lane that Ciara exists in? Janet did it first. Those breathy, slow placed jams of Tinashe and FKA twigs? A 20 year-old concern for Janet.

Most crucially of all, although Janet embraced instrumental experimentation, she never relied too heavily on the production movement of whatever time she was working in (despite work spanning collaborations with everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Kanye West). Instead, her authenticity came from her vocals, and she mastered the art of sitting in the pocket of the groove like nobody else. It’s impossible to listen to Carly Rae Jepsen’s recent vocal on ‘All That’ without immediately thinking of mid-80s Janet, and the distant, cool essence of many modern singers is something that Janet fostered long ago.

In short, Janet Jackson (with, of course, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) remains one of the key architects of the modern R&B sound, and with a new album on the way, has a catalogue that simply demands to be revisited. Her 15-year, five-album run from 1986 to 2001 in particular is one of the best in all music. It’s a thankless task trying to pick key records from a career that’s so extensive and so loved by us soul addicts. So here’s just five (one from each of those aforementioned albums, plus a bonus) that I will always feel both musically and personally significant.

SONGS: http://www.factmag.com/2015/05/19/janet-jackson-best-songs-new-album/