POP!'s Top 63 JANET JACKSON Songs

I am entertaining this evening so will not be able to debut until much later tonight :(
 
Every time out is :( it’s always been a favourite here, I’m still surprised it bombed so spectacularly. And obviously WHYDFML out is :o
 
Devil said:
Every time out is :( it’s always been a favourite here, I’m still surprised it bombed so spectacularly. And obviously WHYDFML out is :o
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Its low US peak (#125!) was attributable to the fact that it was only eligible to chart at the end of its run when airplay-only singles were finally allowed. Not that it performed well anywhere else.
 
No major omissions on my part to be honest. I understand the importance of '... Lately' but it's just not one of my favourite Janet tracks. If anything, most of the songs that have so far been dismissed (for e.g. 'SEXhibition' and 'So (s)EXcited') I would probably rather listen to any day.

But anyway let's get back to POPETTE.
 
POP! said:
Shall we have a breakdown of the album representation?

Janet Jackson - 0
Dream Street - 0
Control - 5
Rhythm Nation - 10
janet. - 10
Design of a Decade - 2
The Velvet Rope - 9
All for You - 9
Damita Jo - 6
20 Y.O. - 1
Discipline - 5
Unbreakable - 2
Other: 4

rhythm nation dance GIF by Janet Jackson
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whitney-receiving-award.gif



Me & @POP! right there
 
63. "State of the World"
Rhythm Nation (1989)
US Radio Chart #5

Instead of suicide he cries himself to sleep
What is happenin
To this world we live in?
There's got to be a better way-ay-ay!



I do love some woke Janft, and this fulfills that perfectly with a New Jack Swing flair, and also superior to its counterpart "The Knowledge". It received a soft-release as the eighth(!) single off Rhythm Nation and managed to make top five airplay in America with no real push or video. QUEEN

The Shep Pettibone remixes are also on Spotify and are fabulous.


62. "Rollercoaster"
Discipline (2008)

You do it to me every time
I get on your roller coaster ride



Evidence that Janet can make anything into a sexual metaphor, including amusement park rides. The first half of Discipline is loaded with bops and this is no exception. I would have released it as a single had the campaign not been derailed by Island refusing to promote it.


61. "New Agenda" (feat. Chuck D)
janet. (1993)

African American woman
I stand tall with pride



The janet album generally moved on from the social commentary that Rhythm Nation explored so heavily. But "New Agenda" re-visited that theme with a more hip hop driven sound that was markedly different than what we heard before from Janet. There are prominent 70s era samples from Stevie Wonder, Kool & the Gang, and Average White Band. She recently performed it for the first time since the janet world tour at the State of the World Tour in 2017.
 
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60. "Better Days"
All for You (2001)

I'm about to change my vibe
Today the sun's gonna shine



One of the several underrated moments on All for You. Critics give the album flack for lacking the introspection of The Velvet Rope, which is a fair critique, but Janet was clearly trying to avoid the demons she explored on that previous album in favor of carefree post-divorce FUN. "Better Days" is a rare candid moment from the album that acknowledges that, and ends the album on a personal but uplifting note.


59. "What'll I Do"
janet. (1993)
#9 UK (b/w "Whoops Now"); #14 Australia

What'll I do for satisfaction?
If you take away, away your heart?



The superior track of the "Whoops Now"/"What'll I Do" release, in my opinion. This was Janet's first stab at a cover. It is mostly faithful to the original with the 60s rock/soul influence that climaxes into her belting out the "Boy I love ya! wanna hold ya, neeeaaaaarrrr YEAHHHHH!" She is clearly more confident here than we've heard on the previous albums, and venturing outside her comfort zone. It ain't essential, but it's fun!

The Dave Navarro remix puts a nice spin on it too, although I prefer the original.


58. "Feel it Boy" (with Beenie Man)
Tropical Storm (2002)
#9 UK, US #28

Forget everything and everybody
Boy let's just have a party
Me and you



This takes me back to the summer of 2002, Janet's hook completely sells the track. This collaboration was certainly marred by Beenie Man being a big fat homophobe. Janet apologized and said she would have never recorded the song with him had she known. For what it's worth, it semi-flopped outside of the UK, where it performed decently. I do remember it getting quite a bit of play on MTV/VH1 etc, but this and "Son of a Gun" pretty much marked the beginning of the end of Janet's imperial era.
 
I wrote that whole "Feel it Boy" write up as Shaggy not Beenie Man until I realized they were different :o :D
 
very much here for new agenda and what'll i do.
feel it boy was always mediocre at best.

i have a very soft spot for because of love so i'm sad it hasn't made it. shame about no sleeep too - i love that [/lisa]. as for what have you done for me lately - that one's just iconic.

too much all for you (and discipline) but i'm guessing it was your first/second janet album, pop?
 
Suedey said:
The Because Of Love adlibs & vocal arrangements are everything.
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exactly. i was watching one of those compilations of janet backing vocals today and she's so good at that.

sidebar: there's something about can't be stopped i quite love but the way it was shoved at the end after all that silence has always made it feel like an afterthought. i hated it when artists did that!

scream i appreciate as a song - you can't argue with the production or their delivery, but i just don't love it and never have the desire to play it. they were fantastic in the video though.
 
the pleasure principal said:
very much here for new agenda and what'll i do.
feel it boy was always mediocre at best.

i have a very soft spot for because of love so i'm sad it hasn't made it. shame about no sleeep too - i love that [/lisa]. as for what have you done for me lately - that one's just iconic.

too much all for you (and discipline) but i'm guessing it was your first/second janet album, pop?
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I became a fan at some point between All for You and Damita Jo. but i think I investigated the albums in chronological order (aside from the first two, obv). My janet cd broke in HALF in my backpack and I had to buy it TWICE.
 
the pleasure principal said:
i don't think i've listened to the first two albums more than once, have i. surely there's something decent on there?
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The first isn't bad. Nothing that stands out as a 10/10 or anything though. The less said about the second album the better.
 
Hate is a bit too much, I just don't feel it. :unsure:

There are other 8 RN obvious songs to come, wondering what's the 10th one. o_O O_o o.O O.o
 
I was thinking the 7 first singles + The Knowledge, but here for some surprises.
 
57. "Someday is Tonight"
Rhythm Nation (1989)

I want you so bad I can taste it



Arguably, the first Janet sex track is this sultry gem complimented by subtle moans and delicate vocals. Unlike her later attempts at this genre, there is a beautiful romanticism to it. It crescendos into an extended brassy outro, and then finishes off with Janet having an audible orgasm. Lovely!


56. "R&B Junkie"
Damita Jo (2004)
#101 US R&B Chart

We could bounce, skate and rock
Play that old school I like, yeah



"R&B Junkie"s charms took a few years to win me over, but it's a fabulous throwback moment on an album that occasionally veered toward too much to then-current R&B trends. It was pegged as a fourth single until Virgin abandoned the album, but it managed to attract some radio play anyway and hit #1 on the (Bubbling Under R&B) chart. She gave a fabulous live performance of it at the BET awards that year with "All Nite":




55. "What About"
The Velvet Rope (1997)

What about the times you said you didn't fuck her
That she only gave you head
UH!



Thematically this was an unofficial sequel to "This Time" from the janet album. It feels more traumatic than its counterpart, and its flamenco guitars grow into a climactic rock chorus that unfolds into one of her finer middle eights ("Don't want to live my life in misery, don't tell me you did it cause you love me, I don't believe..."). She made the interesting choice of performing it at the VH1 Fashion Awards shown above, instead of performing one of the biggest hits of the year ("Together Again") or her then current single ("Every Time"). This was rumored to be about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky at the time(:D) which Janet denied.
 
So that's the one. Some of those videos are blocked for me, but not that I need them anyway. :wink:
 
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