40 is the new 20

Janet Jackson's latest album claims that she's (musically? spiritually? mentally?) 20-years-old, but the funny thing is that she doesn't sound a day over 10. Janet has apparently decided that her pop tenure has bought her the right to a prepubescent sense of frivolity. Like every Janet album since 1989's Rhythm Nation 1814, 20 Y.O. starts with scene-setting babbling: "There's something to be said for not saying anything...I've talked about a lot of things, what do I talk about this time? I've covered a lot in my 20 years. And I've uncovered a lot in my 20 years [zing!]. But I want to keep it light, I don't want to be serious. I want to have fun."

The fun rolls out in a three-song suite that, since we're being juvenile, reminds me of a scolding my literary hero Ramona was once given by her father (via her grandmother): "First time is funny. Second time is silly. Third time's a spanking." (Except proud-bottom Janet might like the latter too much.) The point is the fun of "So Excited," "Show Me" and "Get It Out Me" comes at a cost – there are dollar signs behind Janet's smile. Fun doubles as a bid for relevance in today's R&B because it's propelled Jermaine Dupri's trusty 808 drum machine. There's a static dynamic in the increasingly dire trio -- monochromatic melodies are shrouded by metallic beats. It's hard to pay attention to little else than tsking snares, sub-bass that lets out a doofy "Duh" and clapping that might as well be from the hands of Janet's legion of unquestioning fans, what with the low-end thrust forward the way it is. It's sort of like when an amazing ass is in your face and for a while, it's the only body part that exists. This is R. Crumb & B.

It's not that you can really blame Janet for getting behind the 808 – the brutally simplistic time-keeping click-pound has taken over as the sound of now, in what can only be a response to the spacey and unreliable skitters of and inspired by Timbaland that ruled before. And it's not even that "So Excited," "Show Me," and "Get It Out Me" are unpleasant, per se – they're just more business savvy than musical (Dupri usually shows more of a mastery of blending the two into pop), and nothing ages you like desperation. Of the three, "Get It Out Me" verges on crude – it's yet another retread of Afrika Bambaaata and the Soul Sonic Force's "Looking for the Perfect Beat." Could someone please buy Dupri an Egyptian Lover album so that he'd have a new electro source to gank? (That said, "Get It Out Me" could spawn a wonderful video – picture it: Janet dances from doctor to doctor in search of the one who can remove this horribly stubborn splinter lodged in her ass.)

That three-song stretch isn't the last you hear of the 808 – it also cracks through "Call On Me," which in the context of the album, reveals its brazen mediocrity that I never wanted to admit was there. But it's that same drum machine, under the sole control of Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Janet, that makes "Daybreak" as delightful as it is. Without it, "Daybreak" would be unbearably treacly, what with its sneaking-out theme ("I'm like a lil kid," says Janet in the no-shit statement of the album) and series of "Escapade" chimes that bleed into each other like a cavalcade of ice-cream trucks going around Janet's head as she's nestled in bed (is there anyone else in pop music who'd think to work the melody of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" into a track, much less, get away with it?). Even better is "With U," a ballad in which the 808 finally does exactly what it's supposed to and merely puts Janet on an even playing field with her competition. In another time, the beats would be quieter (mimicking finger-snapping like in "Let's Wait Awhile," for example), but it doesn't matter because what comes through are indelible melody, Janet's trademark multi-ply vocal layers and, most importantly, her sweetness ("Baby it's forever and I really mean to / Make you feel as special as I see you, baby"). This summer, when the only track we'd heard from 20 Y.O. was "Call On Me," I'd hoped that Janet could come back with something along the lines of the "'We Belong Together' of dance tracks." That she didn't doesn't matter – this is the "We Belong Together" of now.

If "With U" and "Call On Me" were swapped on the track list, the last half of 20 Y.O. would comprise the most consistent 5-song stretch that Janet's ever committed to record. "With U," "Daybreak," the steppy "Enjoy" (her most disco moment since "Together Again" or maybe even "Young Love," which was released back when she was, y'know, -4), "Take Care" and "Love 2 Love" are assured enough to make you forget that Janet's working off the biggest slump of her musical career. These songs simply glow. "Take Care" is as structurally brilliant as anything she's done – it's a baby-making track a la "Funny How Time Flies"/"Lonely"/"Anytime, Anyplace"/"Anything"/"Would You Mind"/"Warmth" but without the stuffy, sometimes dull rigidity of those songs. "Take Care" dozes in and out of choruses and verses so that it's hard to tell what's what, and most spectacularly, hits a bridge at only the 1:30 point. It's like it's too good not to climax early. "Love 2 Love," meanwhile, is the most forward-thinking torch song to grace R&B since Aaliyah's "I Care 4 U," with its Homogenic beats, breathlessly shifting synths and that bizarre, single bar in the second verse that breaks into live drumming. Both of these tracks are focused on sex, but neither are over-the-top. I don't mind Janet being as smutty as she wants to be, but you know, after you've simulated (?) singing with a cock in your mouth, where else is there to go?

These tracks wisely and consciously scale back and thus, are in conversation with what came before them in Janet's career. This kind of dialog with the past was the aim for the entire album, but as a response to Janet's previous work, it falls short (a few interludes that sample Janet's catalog aren't enough to achieve this end during the album's inferior first half). But if it doesn't quite enrich what we know of the past, what mean to today's R&B? Not very much, either, really – Janet's always had a way of recognizing trends (as Tim Finney sharply pointed out recently on ILM, "it's rarely acknowledged that The Velvet Rope featured perhaps the first non-Timbaland tracks to start jocking the late 90s R&B sound in a major way"), while fostering a brand that's all her own. She's been making the same album (at least in structure) since janet., and so, if you like her, the Janetism (giggle, giggle!)-filled 20 Y.O. comes off as a variation on a theme. If you don't, it's repetition of the most indulgent sort (repetition as self-celebration as a lack of ideas). Is she getting older or better? Split in half as it is, the only answer that makes sense is: a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B.

[This review was inspired in part by a conversation with Bill, who knows more about Janet than I ever will. Also, here is where I found the lovely and subtle Crumb shot.]

Comments

[abcdefg]

I effing loves it. You are blogenius.

Have you read this yet?

http://seriouslyomgwtf.blogsome.com/2006/09/26/project-runways-laura-bennett-is-a-jealous-btch/

Interesting stuff... I wonder how it will play out...

[A_Fan_Here]

Please pass the tommy-toes.

[Matt]

Actually.....Ramona's father's grandmother always used to say it to him, and while he's driving the family crazy during "Ramona and Her Father," he's lost his job and is quitting smoking and taking careof Ramona after school, he gets annoyed at Ramona and says that to her.

But you got the quote correct.

And Kudos to you for being a fellow fag who loves Ramona.

[Rich]

So right, Matt -- I fixed it. Thanks.

[joy]

If you can photshop.

[Penny Woods]

Great review, especially since when it comes to this album, I'm figuratively banging my head on a wall over how this album feels like it's Damita Jo 2.

And I still do not see how those super-crazy Janet fans could actually like this album enough to recommend it to others.

I completely disagree with your sentiment that if you love J, you'll love the album. I grew up worshipping her and I find this album to be her weakest by far. The second half is littered with low-grade Anytime, Any Place wanna-be's and the first half is Janet on dance music autopilot. You once gave a certain diva grief for littering her album with lyrical cliches but let Janet get off scott-free with them. I know the days of If and Got Til It's Gone are long past but I refuse to settle for second-rate material in place of the greatness we know she's capable of.

[david]

why the hate for DAMITA JO? i think of the sex era janet (93 - present. god. long era.) albums it is the best... adventurous, sexy, and smart. but all that said, 20 Y.O. just sounds lackluster to me. there aren't any "moments" on the album; you know, like the ones we have come to expect from Miss Jackson. it sounds, as you said Rich, like she had dollar signs in mind. considering the record is on tap to do 340-360 this week alone, she could get her wish... but unless this album has a bonafide pop smash in it, this album won't have legs. roll on the second GH collection, then...

[Darren]

"Ramona and Her Father," ah the memories.

[Eric]

As far as Column A and Column B go, the only two songs I really like on the album are "This Body" (ugly new Janet) and "Do It 2 Me" (tangy old Janet).

[bobeotm]

The album is definitely a two halves album. While I think one half of the album is both a brilliant take on past Janet archetypes and brilliant based on the songs own merits; the other half is a bit too heavily influenced by JD and a "gotta make a dance hit" mentality. I think "Take Care" is the shining star of the album, even though its slow song status will curse it to be a skip-over for many. "Enjoy" is a new take on the traditional Janet "happy songs" (songs like "Runaway" "Someone To Call My Lover" etc).
Even the more paint-by-numbers 80's inspired opening trio isnt bad given the current landscape of R&B. "Get it Out Me" is by far the worst song on the album, the vocal performance is just bizarre.

Overall the album is good, the "baby making songs" are sexual without being over the top, the dancable tracks are decent, and none of the songs feel like filler (which is an achievment in and of itself by modern standards of RnB).
From my experience with Janet albums, and (more importantly Janet Fans) is that people latch on to a particular Janet look or sound or album and then everything she later does that isnt that exactly is automatically bad. People who loved the sensual songs of the Janet albums, hate every sexy song she makes after that, simply because they arent the the same style. People who latch on to dance songs from the Control album, arent into any of her later stuff. You cant please everyone .

I dont know why people diss the Damita Jo album, it was actually pretty good, and when into a pretty new direction for her music. It didnt do well mostly because of the superbowl incident a couple of months prior. Anyway thats my two cents on that album.

[Stephanie]

I think you're the only person that can paraphrase Beverly Cleary in a Janet Jackson review and have it be both relevant and funny.

Here's the thing with 20 YO...what's with the shitty singles? Everyone who has heard the album has said that there are tracks that should have been released as singles over Call on Me and So Excited. So what gives? Between the choice of singles and the direction of her marketing blitz ("Hey guys! I'm still sexy! Look at my tits!"), I'm left wondering who in the hell is calling the shots, and what the hell are they doing???

[Ben]

Forgive the ignorance, but which track did she simulate singing with a cock in her mouth?

[bobeotm]

I agree with Stephanie, the album is far better than what the singles would allude to.

[James Derek Dwyer]

Excellent writing. damn... and true. That cd is a gumball machine.

[Kikko]

I'm with Ben, I want to hear the dickmouth song.

[Michael]

I watched her on Oprah (don't judge me...you never know when Nate Berkus might be on) and I kept thinking, "Speak the fuck up!". And she marveled that people think she's shy. People applauded her every whispered banality. I don't get her. Oh, and her performance was dialed in. It's Oprah for chrissake, and you're not gonna juice it up a little?

[DonnyB]

I'm also with Stephanie. I can't believe no one mentions "Do It 2 Me." That song is unlike anything Janet has ever done, and while the structure falls apart a little at the end (they barely bother with a bridge), it's still a hot example of how to create an urgent dance track even if you're an artist without an ounce of angst left. (But my opinion won't mean much as "Call On Me" is slowly, slooowly growing on me, but why, oh why, is Nelly not only on the track, but singing?)

And yes, what was this blowjob song?

[fashity]

the blowjob song is Warmth
listen to that song and follow it by 'Moist'..
Damita Jo was soo underrated to be..shit I even think Velvet Rope is underrated
on DJ there was some great songs:I want you,My baby,Thinking bout my ex,like u dont love me,r&b Junkie,damita jo..all lovely songs
And The Velvet Rope is just a masterpiece

[Shannon]

Rich, I swear to god if I didn't already sell my sould to my gay best friend and you to your straight best friend, I would be the first person in line for the spot (Of course we could work out the Baltimore-NYC long distance thing later).
The fact that you referenced Ramona Quimby makes me giddy with happiness.
Do you remember when she squeezed(?) all of the toothpaste out of the tube into the bathroom sink to see what it would look like and Beezus told on her and their mom made her save it and use it all?
Fuckin' Beezus. She was just mad cause she was the ugly sister.
Man, those were good times.
All hail Judy Bloom. And you too. :)

[Casey]

Girl, R. Crumb and B?! No, you did NOT! (LOL!)

[sean]

Good heavens....who let him in?

[Pop Muse]

"nothing ages you like desperation" - perfection. i dont believe a lyric on that cd, not one.

and i really dont want to hear her sing about sex at 40 yrs old. plus, you aren't allowed to have sex for at least a month after major surgery and lord knows she's on that table at least three times a year...

her cd sucks balls.

[Tracy]

I love Janet new album so much I have been listening to it since I bought. There's a lot of hot tracks. I love her song with Nelly. I think this is Janet best album.

[jackejett]

wow. what is all that above about?

now i forgot what i was going to write.

so if 40 is the new 20
i assume that 50 is the new 25...
or is 50 just to fucking old to even listen to.
since i have turned 50, i think i have lost all touch with the youth. i hate being old.
hate it. i am just 3 years younger than mark foley.
i don't want to be a pervy.

jack e. jett
www.jackejett.comj