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TOGETHER AGAIN: JANET JACKSON
January 19, 2008
CLOVER HOPE
Breezing past a table of talking suits, Janet Jackson makes her way to the not-entirely-private backroom of New York's Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar, with her chef, Cheo, in tow. The narrow rectangular wooden area boasts two slits for doors, and a bench lines one wall. Jackson sits with her back facing the entrance.
On this brisk January afternoon, a charcoal gray peacoat keeps her cozy and black thigh-high Yves Saint Laurent platform boots keep her chic. As is her custom, she has slimmed down quite stunningly (and rapidly) in time for the release of her 10th studio disc, "Discipline," her first project since defecting to Island Def Jam (IDJ) from Virgin last summer.
You could call it a you-know-what. But don't.
"I think a comeback is when you leave and then you . . . come back," Jackson says with a laugh, requesting a few packets of Splenda from the waiter for her green tea. "People are always quick to use that word 'comeback,' but I never went anywhere, really."
Arriving Feb. 26, "Discipline," Jackson insists, does not put her in the same camp as Mary J. Blige or Mariah Carey--it's not her "Breakthrough," nor her "Emancipation." But given the commercially disappointing sales of her preceding Virgin sets??004's "Damita Jo" moved 999,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and 2006's "20 Y.O." stalled at 648,000--there was a vanishing act of sorts that warrants all the comeback talk.
"There's a great anticipation for the record," says IDJ chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid, who executive-produced "Discipline" with Jackson. "I feel that there's a welcoming from people in general, whether it be in the radio community or in the media. We would be wrong not to note that there's a different level of excitement going on with Janet right now."
The excitement comes courtesy of her new Rodney Jerkins-produced lead single, "Feedback." After a round of underwhelming singles from her past two albums, the song has been gaining momentum at urban and pop formats, thanks to its robotic bassline and voice-modulated effect tailor-made for the clubs. It debuts this week at No. 42 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart with 44,000 downloads and at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100.
" 'Feedback' is reminiscent of the drum pattern of 'Rhythm Nation' but it doesn't sound like it. It's a 2008 version," says Def Jam A&R director Shakir Stewart, who worked on "Discipline."
The record was leaked to blogs in late December, after which radio quickly picked up the scent. "Janet is one of those timeless artists. She's capable of making songs for a wide variety of audiences," says Deon Cole, music director of urban WPEG Charlotte, N.C. "I think this single kind of takes you back to what Janet normally does. She's an artist that can make those songs that can make you dance. This song is definitely one of those feel-good, make-you-get-up-out-your-seat, maybe dance-on-the-table-a-little-bit type songs."
This is exactly the reaction that IDJ was banking on. "When you look at blogs and critics that didn't favor her previously, they're loving her now, citing the return of Janet," IDJ VP of marketing Ashaunna Ayars says. "We're getting adds at top 40 urban and rhythmic stations without even sending out a physical piece of product."
If "Feedback" breaks into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, it will be Jackson's first such hit in that region of the chart since 2001's "Someone to Call My Lover" peaked at No. 3. "Nothing sells music better than good music, so I think 'Feedback' has done a good job getting people's attention. And then she looks amazing, so that visual's been helping," says Ayars, whose marketing team followed up the Internet chatter with photos of Jackson looking as svelte as ever in a futuristic black latex catsuit. "Dancing is a popular thing and she's the architect of that, so we've given fans a song that they can dance to. They can create their own choreography."
Heavier on dance tracks than seductive jams (Jackson's other forte), "Discipline" is classic Janet. The title track is one of her typical frisky bedroom cuts, featuring lyrics like, "I need some discipline tonight/I've been very bad" and "Daddy, make me cry."
Yet, there is an air of newness to the album that is partly the result of Jackson creatively straying from her longtime go-to production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
"I was hoping we could do something together, but sometimes you have to explore and kind of kick yourself out of the nest," Jackson says of her decision to escape her production comfort zone. "It was something that I needed to do for myself, but I think [Jam and Lewis] felt it coming, too, 'cause I kept working with a different producer here or there."
Stewart agrees that Jackson was in need of a fresh direction. "She's made a career of going to the same two producers and whatever environment she's been going to, it's become routine," Stewart says. "More than anything, I was excited that she was open to working with people that she hasn't worked with. The producers have come together and taken it retro, but also fast forward to the future."
In addition to production by Jackson's longtime boyfriend Jermaine Dupri, Island's head of urban music, "Discipline" also features tracks by newcomers the-Dream and Tricky Stewart ("Umbrella," "Bed"), Lil Jon, Stargate and songwriters Ne-Yo and Johnta Austin. The beats and lyrics that these contributors initially presented to Jackson were, serendipitously, true to her choreography-based roots.
"I never had to tell them, 'No, this is what it should be,' " says Jackson, who stopped rehearsing for a tour in support of "20 Y.O." to focus on the album. She was also in the middle of shooting her third starring film role, in Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?," which opened at No. 1 at the box office last year. "I felt like they really did their homework and whatever they felt a Janet song was?
