Jump to content

Janet Jackson's New Cd


Soulstation1

Recommended Posts

Positive review from 'The Guardian'. 4 stars out of 5.

(Virgin)

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

she was on letterman last night, i missed it

Unlike the last time she appeared on CBS, Janet Jackson was bleeped by censors Monday while talking to David Letterman - for saying "Jesus".

The exclamation, made in apparent exasperation as Letterman asked the singer about her famed Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction", was edited out for broadcast, a show spokesman said.

http://msnbc.msn.com/ID/4625289/

Edited by Claude
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's pop and it's production. Different rules, different goals, different standards, different everything apply. It's nowhere near as easy as it looks/sounds, not to get it right. In the game she's playing, Janet has done some superb work. I've very much enjoyed her brand of ear-candy in the past.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i still love me sum janet, i still wish i coulda seen both boobs.

Look ma, no hands .... oops

janet_jackson_1.jpg

Bet you wish you would have been the "assistant".

Is it known who was, BTW?

I think it's her boyfriends...she's sooooooooo cute. :wub:

....but I don't own any recordings of her music. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why did she name the album after a jazz(y) singer?

Yeah, Damita Jo was an engaging jazzy pop singer. I saw her perform at a Catskill hotel when I was verry young, around 40 years ago. There's no apparent connection between Damita Jo and Janet Jackson that I can see or hear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...