Bailey Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 http Janet Jackson performing at the American Airlines Arena in Miami on Sept. 20.Credit Rex Features, via Associated Press AdvertisementContinue reading the main story Continue reading the main storyShare This PageEmailShareTweetPinSavemoreContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyFamous people, for all the money and cars and clothes they possess, like to claim to really want one thing above all else: privacy. Even in a world where ubiquity has more staying power than mystery, even in a world where a meddling publicist may leak a client’s whereabouts to the paparazzi, there are still stars who project an urgent need for discretion, as though they think we might like them less if we knew they crave the attention.But rarely does this desire for privacy come out of actual shyness; the prospect of a shy pop star — even more than their TV and movie counterparts — is sort of incongruous. Unless the star is Janet Jackson. On the release of “Unbreakable,” her 11th album and first in seven years, this may be her most striking characteristic, one that runs counter to the let-it-all-hang-out social-media mandates weighing on young pop stars today (and Janet seems forever young). When she married Wissam Al Mana, a Qatari businessman, in 2012, few but her most dedicated fans even knew they were dating. (A previous marriage, to the Mexican music video director Rene Elizado Jr., was kept secret for eight years.) Her preference for concealment even extends to her clothing: Her Unbreakable Tour costumes have caused a small uproar on Twitter, not for how much they revealed, but how little. She has been covered from ankle to wrist, appearing in white drop-crotch pants and a long-sleeved top; the days of that fabled 1993 Rolling Stone cover, on which she appeared topless save for a pair of anonymous hands, or the Super Bowl performance, in which Justin Timberlake exposed her breast due to a “wardrobe malfunction,” are long gone.Jackson grew up in the public eye, but she developed her career steadily and gingerly. Famous at the age of 10, the mystery shrouding her personal life is even starker in contrast to the hyperpublic life she previously lived as the youngest child of pop music’s first family and the even more public lives that she watched her brothers endure. As her father’s alleged abuse of his children became widely known, Jackson’s resolve for independence seemed to redouble. Her breakout album, “Control,” centered on themes of self-reliance (“What Have You Done for Me Lately?”), power (“Nasty”) and individuality (“The Pleasure Principle”). It was a gateway to feminism even for those of us who were children during its ascent up the pop charts. “Got my own mind/I wanna make my own decisions,” she declared in “Control” — a thesis of autonomy that set the mood for her whole career and a generation that followed. Jackson’s identity has been relatively consistent through her entire career, even when her contemporaries (Madonna springs to mind) and family members have spent decades in endless cycles of reinvention. She has never had to explain her intent outside of her music: Take one look at how she attacks her choreography with that iconic furrowed brow or how she delivers her more aggressive songs with steely eyes and an actor’s sensibility for expression, and it’s clear enough. Even her sex-symbol status, defined in part by a girl-next-door niceness, emanates strength in its expression in the way that her songs have always put her own agency at their locus. Songs from “Funny How Time Flies” in 1986 to “No Sleeep” in 2015 are sexy because her desire is unmistakably her desire: lust mitigated by a full spectrum of emotion, an aspect of her music but not its defining point. In lieu of a personal brand, that must-have in 2015, Jackson commands a personal empire built on what looks, from the outside at least, like simply being herself.Continue reading the main storyWrite A CommentAdvertisementContinue reading the main storyAdvertisementContinue reading the main storyJackson has never avoided potentially alienating subjects — “Control” and “Rhythm Nation 1814,” the albums that set her career path, explored feminist liberation and social justice, which set them apart in the pop-music landscape of the mid-1980s to late 1980s — but she has explored them subtly, crafting a quiet kind of power. Even her speaking voice, breathy and sweetly pitched, is the softest in her family; it is arguably her most-mimicked trait, particularly among the current crop of young, experimental soul singers. Wisps of her slow-burning desire can be heard in the music of the Weeknd, Ciara, Tinashe and Jhené Aiko, among others. But “Unbreakable” reinforces that these disciples have not trumped the master. Jackson’s longtime collaborators, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who, with Jackson, comprise one of pop’s greatest trios, have spent their careers perfecting the placement of her lithe vocals in the mix, letting her drive the electro-funk, soul-inflected hip-hop, watery ballads and, especially, the restrained sex jams. The production here is remarkably modern, with vocal house and triple-time sub-bass and gloopy dance synths that will surely be at home on London pirate radio and corporate American pop stations alike.On “Dammn Baby,” Missy Elliott raps in the style of vogue-ball commentators, a nod to the underground gay and trans culture where Jackson’s music thrives. On “Black Eagle,” Jackson sings a loving ode to the Black Lives Matter movement, reminding listeners to “just remember when you’re overwhelmed/dream and take some time to love yourself … it could be you on the other end, you never know.” The songs gesture to the communities that have drawn strength from Jackson’s music for years, a tacit acknowledgment that she knows that she has been fueling us all along. And by burning a slow, steady wick, she implicitly suggests that the shy pop-star archetype might turn out to be the most enduring of all.://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/magazine/janet-jackson-shy-pop-star.html?_r=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaeh1213 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Love that people are really talking about and analyzing her music/career... And finally giving her the respect she deserves! But get the songs right! Missy is on BURNITUP! (Duh) not Dammn Baby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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