Its discussions are polished with the vague idealism of someone who has repeatedly sheltered herself from the world throughout her career (between projects, Janet is just not visible). Instead, the topic most frequently discussed on Unbreakable is social justice. Given all of the ground she has covered-from S&M to bondage to public sex to singing with a dick in her mouth-she’s perhaps run out of kinks to explore in her music. Many more choose vibe over insistent hooks (see the first single “No Sleeep,” where Jackson sounds positively somnambulant during the verses).Īnd what of the “lots” that Jackson has to talk about? It certainly doesn’t involve sex-for the first time since 1993, there is not one explicit sex jam on a Janet Jackson album. Some Unbreakable songs don’t have much by way of choruses (particularly material on the album’s second half like “Lessons Learned” and the stunning “Black Eagle”). “Dammn Baby” and “2 B Loved” both interpolate DJ Mustard’s skeletal and bouncy approach to melodic hip-hop, an unrelentingly sunny style that recalls vintage Jackson at her most ebullient. The mellow Unbreakable is largely unconcerned with pop trends, and when it is, it’s just because they make sense when infused with Jackson’s vibe. Solving the unsolvable problem of aging in pop, it turns out, is as easy as not treating it like a problem but an opportunity. (It’s not like Jackson, a millionaire who married a billionaire, needs the money at this point, anyway.) In 2010, Dupri said, “Janet is just trying to figure out her landscape.” In 2015, she has. The woman who was once, per her ex-boyfriend and –producer Jermaine Dupri, no longer interested in making albums because they just weren’t selling, has shifted her focus. I hope you enjoy.” This one’s for the people-not all of them, but those who are still interested in what Jackson might have to say. “Hello,” says Jackson on Unbreakable’s opening, title track, radiating humility. She has, after all, had plenty of time to think about it. Jackson, who watched her last three albums flop and has had only one single in the past 10 years reach the Top 20 single of the Billboard Hot 100 (“Feedback”), has seemingly come to terms with her reduced marketability. Produced with longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the independently released Unbreakable is a sigh of comfort stretched out over 17 tracks. The most arresting thing about Janet Jackson’s first album in seven years, Unbreakable, is how relaxed it sounds. Its clearest statement comes between the often excruciatingly trite lines-the throw-everything-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks ethos is so prominent that the album’s primary aesthetic is desperation.Īnother survival tactic is to just chill the fuck out and talk when you are ready. release of the Super Deluxe Edition), but on it she has less to say than ever. Rebel Heart contains more songs than any Madonna album (23 on the U.S.
Her cause is at least as self-serving as it is noble, and ultimately ineffective-Madonna’s biggest hits these days are antics, not songs. Madonna has been doing that, going as far as to make cultural ageism a talking point during her media tour for this year’s Rebel Heart. How should a pop diva grow older in public? When your career is based not so much on virtuosic vocal ability but charisma, X factor, taste, and performance, where do you end up? What is the “age appropriate” equivalent to singing standards for the artists whose output is rooted in the dance pop of the ‘80s? How does the artist who is characterized in part by her command on culture and ability to communicate with the masses thrive when the masses stop listening? How do you make pop music when you know it has little chance of actually being popular, per the ageist standards of the music industry?
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