The latest photos of Janet!
Janet attended boyfriend Jermaine Dupri’s pre-Grammy event in Hollywood last night. The party at the Central Hollywood Lounge is in advance of tomorrow’s 50th Annual Grammy Awards which are to be aired live on CBS in the United States and at 9pm on Monday Evening on ITV2 in the UK.
Janet put in a surprise appearance at LA clubnight Tigerheat at Arena last night with celebrity gossip columnist Perez Hilton. This is what he had to say about the event:
How do we say this delicately????
It’s JANET JACKSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When we told you yesterday that we had a surprise celebrity guest that we were taking with us to LA club Tigerheat, we undersold it a bit.
Janet’s not just a celebrity. She’s a fucking superstar!
We got to spend time with her and chat, and she does not disappoint.
She’s nice, sweet, normal, inspiring, professional and generous. Plus, she’s even prettier in real life, if that’s possible!
We got to listen to J’s entire new album, Discipline, and it’s everything you would have hoped for. She describes it as “classic Janet,” and it is that and more!
Janet went with us to visit the gays (and all our fabulous fierce females that came after we tipped you all off that a surprise was in store). Miz Jackson wanted to thank everyone for their support.
AND, she played four new tracks for the very lucky clubgoers!
They loved it, and they loved her.
The place went wild for Janet. It was truly awesome.
Thursday night was just one of those dreams come true!
“How do you define an icon”…
Janet Jackson herself appeared on stage tonight at her album launch party at the New World Stage in New York. After an introduction from Antonio ‘LA’ Reid inviting us to “Sit back, relax and enjoy”, he walked off stage and that is exactly what we did. A wall of vision and music enveloped us, immersing us in the gritty Electro, Soulful R&B sounds that make Discipline yet another seminal milestone in Janet’s inspiring musical career. The voice-over asks the question how do you define an icon: the next hour and a half provides us with the answer. Janet Jackson, superstar, singer, & actress: an icon. Whilst one of the songs teases us with the lyric “Give me something I won’t forget”…
If you had never met this lady you might be surprised at just how down to earth, beautiful and humble this international superstar is, she is truly awe-inspiring and was so genuinely taken aback by how much her fans, critics and industry peers adore her. The album is reminiscent of much of Janet’s old sounds but at the same time takes an entirely new and fresh approach to her music. A source at Universal, Janet’s record label, commented during an exclusive phone call with Janet Love over the weekend that this album is “pretty special and really quite simply exceptionally good”. He also noted how different it is from her previous work. From tonight’s launch party it is totally evident that he was completely correct. From the soaring and breathy Greatest X to the body thumping beats of Feedback, there is something for everyone in this album, it honours her previous incarnations whilst bringing something entirely new to the table.
After we hear the up-tempo Hip-hop tones of The 1, featuring Missy Elliott the lights on stage go up and out steps LA Reid with a very petite lady, a beautiful familiar face, the lady herself. Miss Janet Jackson. During the Q&A a Compare from a top US music magazine, Blender, steps in to ask Janet what her motivation is for such a diverse and sexually charged album, she looks down then straight back up, gives a wry cheeky smile and replies “I love life and I LOVE sex”. What she is in fact saying is a reference to the overtones of innate sexuality in us all which is reflected in the album. Janet never fails to push the boundaries in her art and performance, and tonight was no different. As we entered the very funky urban venue we were greeted by Janet-esque models dressed as dominatrix, clad in black PVC and leather whips. They much like the album were stunning, evoking excitement and intrigue about what the album promises. This is paralleled by the breathtaking album artwork and photography featuring a multitude of alluring black and white shots of Janet in provocative poses. Truly a sight to behold, keep checking back only at Janet Love as we post these in the next few days.
The Jackson family are infamous for their music reflecting their upbringing and personal experiences and Janet’s latest offering is no different. It is self evident from the lyrics on this album of just how much this lady has been through. The title track Discipline is in some ways reminiscent of her strict upbringing, Janet herself says “as a child I had to be disciplined and learn self control”. She goes on to state that “I love my tennis and I love dancing, it allows me to be playful but it also teaches me to be disciplined”. This has patently provided her with a great deal of motivation and inspiration to create some of these very raw and personal tracks the true emotion of which is laced behind a façade of lively electro-dance vibes. Other top songs from the new album include the repetitive and raunchy Can’t Be Good, which is an upbeat ballad and Never Letchu Go a powerful love song with an electro-guitar back beat, both fraught with the struggles that love brings.
Rock With U, penned by Jermaine Dupri, and was inspired by her more (in)famous brother. When prompted she states “Brother Mike inspired me”, joking that we might know him, “…he’s a very famous dancer”. Just a reminder of her playful, loving family oriented attitude. Before she walks off stage she jokes “I’ve had to leave the kids at home tonight, I love you all”.
What has Janet done for us lately?… As promised she gave us all something we won’t ever forget by producing an inspired album which is set to blow us away from February 25/26, when it goes on sale across the globe.
Remember to keep checking back in the next few days as we update Janet Love with more exclusive news, lyrics and photos from Discipline and the exciting NYC Launch Party!
In a new interview with Parade Magazine, Janet has said that it was her parents insistence on work, self-discipline and her mother’s faith that moulded her character.
The magazine’s website also features 10 new photos of Janet which can be seen below along with excerpts from the interview.
Photos: Jack Guy
Janet Jackson is one of popular music’s biggest stars, having sold more records than any female recording artist–with the exception of Mariah Carey. Publicly, she is the sexy songstress with a knowing wink. Privately, she lives a very different life.
Janet Jackson, in reality, is not like her public persona. She is more the modest, upright, self-disciplined woman her devoutly Christian mother raised her to be.
On Her Working Childhood“My parents have close to three acres at home in Encino (Calif.), and tons of trees in their yard,” Janet tells me. “We children had lots of chores. On Saturday morning, we’d get up and rake the entire yard. Then we’d take out the garbage. When my brothers were on the road, I’d be the one taking out the garbage because my sister La Toya would say to me, ‘Mother wants you to do this.’”
Janet is the youngest of the nine Jackson siblings.
“I’d think, ‘I’m sure doing a lot of the chores all by myself,’” she continues. “When I’d ask Mother, ‘Do you want me to do this myself?’ She’d go, ‘No, baby, I said for both you and La Toya to do it.’ La Toya was putting all her chores on me!”
“But I’m thankful for all the chores we had to do around the house,” she says. “I think that’s one of the things that helped us stay grounded. As a child, I had to get up early for school or work. I’d get ready by myself. I’d set my alarm to wake me up very early in the morning, and be off to work, the family driver driving me every morning. I did it alone, my parents never coming in to wake me up. By age seven, I used to comb my hair for performances, just pull my hair up into a bun. Granted, it wasn’t a very intricate hairstyle. Still, to be that responsible and disciplined at age seven is unusual.”
“After school, I’d come home and get in the kitchen and cook up a meal for myself,” she boasts. “Because I was too little to reach the oven or the stove, I’d stand on top of a swivel chair, cut up onions, garlic, butter, chicken or a little steak and put it in foil and make it. We children worked and still went to school. Mother made sure we still had a little playtime.”
On Staying Grounded and Doing Your Best
“Mother always talked to us about keeping our feet on the ground,” Janet recalls. “Be thankful. Success is a gift from God. That doesn’t necessarily mean that what you are doing right now will last forever.”
“When I was younger, I thought you had to be in control of your own life,” she says. “That takes a lot of discipline, hard work and focus. You just can’t let it all fall by the wayside. Later on, I learned that God is really in control of everything. But you still have to put your best foot forward and be the best you can possibly be.”
“I feel everyone is put here for a reason,” she states. “Everyone has a calling. I always thought my real calling was to help other people.”
Janet Jackson has long been active in supporting charities, especially those dedicated to helping the victims of AIDS.
On Her Faith
“Jehovah’s Witnesses was the religion we were raised under,” Jackson says. “I’d get up on Sunday mornings, go to the Kingdom Hall, go again on Thursday night and go to book study on Tuesdays, because that was my mother’s routine.”
“I believe in God. I feel that spiritual connection. But, most of the time, I didn’t pay attention in the Kingdom Hall. I was asleep. I know that’s awful. I was so tired, so busy, so knocked out, I’d fall asleep. My mother would hit me on my thigh to wake me up. ‘Baby, wake up!’ she’d say, ‘Wake up and close your legs! You have on a dress!’”
“So, I’d wake up and close my legs. A few minutes later, somehow I’d be asleep again and my head would fall back and my legs open up. Mother would nudge me.”
On Growing Up in a ‘Religious World’
“Being a Jehovah’s Witness, you grow up in a very religious world,” she continues. “But as a kid I loved Prince and The Time, one of my favorite groups, and would listen to them all the time even though you’re not supposed to do that.”
“When I was 16, I was promoting my first album and I went with Mother to see The Time’s concert with Prince. I did not want to sit next to Mother because I knew they were dirty. I was trying to be cool and calm, but oh my God, I was sweating bullets! How am I going to sit at this show and watch Vanity Six and Prince and The Time and sit next to Mother?” She laughs. “She’s going to think, ‘Good Lord, what is my baby into? She really needs more of God in her life! Where did I go wrong?’ I could just hear Mother blaming herself for everything! Luckily, I got someone else to swap seats with me so I was able to enjoy the show and have the same great time I would’ve had if I were there without Mother.”
Read more about Janet Jackson in the February 10 issue of PARADE.
A new photo of Janet has emerged on the internet. It appears to be taken during the same photoshoot as the photo used on the cover her upcoming album, Discipline. The source of the photo is not yet known.
In an interview with the UK’s Touch Magazine, Janet has revealed that she left Virgin Records because they wouldn’t continue to support 20 Y.O and her desire to release the song Enjoy as a single.
She also details how boyfriend Jermaine Dupri surprised her on Valentine’s Day last year with a romantic dinner at the Atlanta Aquarium.
The magazine is out now and excerpts from the article can be read on Janet Love.
Thanks to Touch Magazine.
HOW JANET GOT HER GROOVE BACK
Words: Paul McKenzie Pictures: Debbie BraggOk, let’s go. Sitting comfy? You’d better be. This one’s a good ‘un. But before we begin a few house rules.
Rule number one. Ms Jackson doesn’t want to talk about her older brother. You know that older brother. The one who sang Thriller, did the moonwalk and broke every record on the way to becoming a global phenomenon.
Rule number two. No chit chat about weight issues. Well that suits me fine. This is TOUCH, Britain’s leading urban magazine, not Weight Watchers Today. For what it’s worth, the 41 year old I see before me is a sexy size 10 with curves in all the right places.
And finally, rule number three. Do not mention the infamous Superbowl ‘wardrobe malfunction’. Hey, no worries, I wasn’t gonna go anywhere near that subject. Why? Because I’m still miffed that Justin got away with the whole darn blown-out affair while the media and the evangelicals gave Janet hell. Not fair.
So pull up a seat with me at the world famous Trump International and listen in on the most famous girl in pop/R’n’B, as we talk about love, life, music and the infamous split from Virgin Records.
Janet
We got a glimpse of Janet’s talent when she came into our world via the small screen and the hit TV sitcom Good Times. All good family fun. We got to know the singer Janet back in 1986 when she came at us with her multi-platinum album Control. The album made her a bona fide superstar. She was no longer Michael’s kid sister. Her follow up album Rhythm Nation 1814 was pop R’n’B perfection. Looking back on those classic albums, Janet says “When we set out to do those albums we were just kids, Jimmy [Jam] and Terry [Lewis] were babies they were only 22, I was only 18, we were all babies, just babies in the studio. We were just doing what we loved, creating music that we loved and never knowing they would be classic songs, classic albums”. The albums lived long into the night and went on to sell a staggering 22 million copies worldwide.
Control
In 1993 Janet signed to Virgin Records. The good times continued. Her self-titled album Janet sold 13 million worldwide and the 1997 release The Velvet Rope notched up 8.3 million worldwide sales. Then sales take a ‘dive’. Though even in this ‘slump’ Ms Jackson clocked up platinum trophies for the next three lesser albums All of You, Damita Jo, 20 Y.O. In 2006 cracks in the relationship appeared and the strains started to show. What went wrong at Virgin? Janet explains “I wanted to release another song [Enjoy] but unfortunately I didn’t have the support of the record company, we didn’t see eye to eye and I only had the support of the urban department, not the company as a whole.” The creatives who had signed Janet had exited, the money men had moved in. “Everyone expects you to do the numbers that you used to do, and no-one nowadays is doing those numbers”.
Shocked at the lack of support, Janet split from a company that she had previously thought of as family. Her upset is palpable. “It hurt a great deal, not to bad mouth Virgin because I’ve never been that kind of a person, it was my home for 10 years and it felt like family. A new group of people came in, got rid of everyone and I was like, what’s going on here and it hurt a great deal. You know I’ve heard people say, ‘You keep the lights on in this place, you shouldn’t be going through this’.” And they were right, Janet deserved better. It’s probably safe to say that Virgin’s personnel have been removed from her Christmas card list.
So Excited
We move on. The good times are back and Janet is so excited. She’s signed to Def Jam, a stellar label that has her long-term boyfriend Jermaine Dupri at the helm. But don’t make assumptions, it wasn’t her beau who made the moves to sign her, it was all-round super producer LA Reid. The Chairman of the Island/Def Jam music group, Antonio ‘LA’ Reid jumped at the chance to sign her. “Janet comes from a bloodline, with heritage. I’ve always been a fan. In my mind there was Janet and there was Madonna”. You can’t stop him now. Mr Reid is on a roll. “Madonna may have exercised more creativity in imaging, meaning she probably did a better job in recreating her image, but I think Janet for my taste made the better records”. His final words on the relevancy of Janet Jackson are worth a listen. “Janet still lives in a relevant way, in other words she still surrounds herself with people who are close to whatever it is she loves. Her boyfriend [Jermaine Dupri] is one of the top producers in the world who does hip hop, R’n’B and pop music, her friends go to clubs and they dance, so she is surrounded with popular culture. She is always living in the new, there is not going to be a new dance that Janet doesn’t know about, there is not going to be a new song that Janet doesn’t know about. She is always going to remain relevant so for that reason I believe in her. To me the fact that she has been in the market since the mid-Eighties, and she can still hang with Ciara, Rihanna, says ‘my god, this is a true star”.
Discipline
What do we make of the new album? Some critics at the recent London playback dubbed it ‘the same old Janet sound’. Pity the poor fools who don’t know the difference between a ‘classic sound’ and an ‘old Eighties sound’. LA Reid played me seven tracks in his swish New York office. The tracks ranged from good, The Greatest Ex Ever to the excellent Rollercoaster. But one track, This Can’t Be Good is a cut above the rest. The Ne-Yo penned mid-tempo ballad is knockout stuff. That one I’m keeping close and sending to my sweetheart with a loving kiss. When I tell Janet this, she smiles and says “I think he [Ne-Yo] is very talented, he’s definitely a fan of the family, you can hear it in the songs. I can tell he is a fan of my brother’s and it was nice to know that he can create something so close to you”.
That’s The Way Love Goes
Not only is Janet excited about the new album and the planned tour, the twice married singer is truly, madly, deeply in love. Jermaine Dupri is the lucky guy. This really might be the one. As the 14th February approaches Janet is waiting to see what Jermaine has in store for her this Valentine. Last year’s effort was pretty special. “Jermaine did something really sweet,” she all but gushes, “We have a place in Atlanta and there is a fantastic aquarium there. Jermaine had it closed off for the night and we had the whole place to ourselves. We had someone to take us round, then we went into one area and there was a whole place set for dinner with candles and everything in front of the belugas, which are like dolphins but the size of whales”. Smooth JD, real smooth. So what sounds would Ms Jackson choose when night falls and romance is in the air, “R Kelly or maybe jazz, Miles in his blue period,” she laughs. There’s that smile again.
Time flies when you’re having fun. It’s hard to believe Janet Jackson has been in our lives for over 20 years. It’s hard to believe that our afternoon together has flashed by. We shake hands. She’s flashes that fantastic smile. I count a zillion perfectly formed white teeth. I tell her it’s the most perfect smile. “It’s too big,” she giggles. It’s that laugh again. The fun is back in her life. She’s happy. She’s got her groove back. Finally, life is good.
Janet will receive an honour from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in recognition of the work she has done for gay rights. The awards will be held in at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on April 26th 2008.
Janet will receive the Vanguard Award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 26th at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Janet has been a long-time ally of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. In 1997, the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum applauded her exploration of sexual orientation issues in her top-selling album The Velvet Rope, which also received the award for Outstanding Music Album at the 9th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Janet has also been recognized for her work around HIV/AIDS activism by AIDS Project Los Angeles and the Human Rights Campaign.
The Vanguard Award is presented to media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Past recipients include Charlize Theron, Antonio Banderas, Eric McCormack, Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, and Whoopi Goldberg.
You can purchase tickets to this event by visiting www.glaad.org/mediaawards or call (877) 519-7904!
A new promotional photo of Janet has been released on photographer Mark Liddell‘s website. Click on the image the left to enlarge.
The artwork for Janet’s upcoming album, Discipline, has been released to fans via her official mailing list. The black and white image features Janet wearing beyond elbow length gloves with the words “JANET” and “DISCIPLINE” written on each arm. Click the image to the left to enlarge.
Janet appears on the cover of next week’s Billboard Magazine. Janet will also be appearing on the cover of future editions of Essence Magazine and Rolling Stone.
