Janet, Janet Jackson - 20 Y.O.

Never Too Late : Rediscovering the Brilliance of "20 Y.O."

Revisiting "20 Y.O" right after suffering "Discipline" is truly a revelation. For the last year, I've had "20" play at some point or the other, but it never really caught on. I was tempted to dub it a colossal waste of space (and really, from many angles, it is), but having lived with "Discipline" for over a month, anything from Janet's back catalog is going to look like a winner.

"20 Y.O" was ahead of its' time, I'm afraid. The cool sampling, the album length, and the obvious singles it contains, would have done excellently if released in 2008. At the time, they chose the wrong single ("Call on Me") and a terrible album cover, and the album tanked. But is the music bad? Not at all. Of course, if you were to compare this to either "The Velvet Rope" or "Rhythm Nation", then its definitely nowhere near the peaks of those albums, but for what its' worth, this is infinitely better than either "All for You" or even "Damita Jo" (which by the way, is a totally underrated album as well).

The best thing about this album is the sampling. I don't know where the producers got these from but it WORKS. Prime examples are "Do it to Me" and "Get it Out Me" which have that timeless Janet stamp on them, but the real standout is the stellar "With U", which is perhaps her best slow groove since "Someday is Tonight" on the 1814 album. And that's the great thing about this CD. After two albums of `filler' songs, here is an album that has one strong track after the other. EVERY one of these songs could have been singles. And they are all worthy repeat-playing.

Be warned though, that the charms of this album aren't instantly visible or accessible. It takes a couple of plays to get into it (reminiscent of her Velvet Rope album, in that regard), but within three spins you will be singing its praises. It's a pity I took this long to really get into it, but I now consider it an essential Janet CD - almost up there with `janet' and "The Velvet Rope" in terms of greatness. Yes, the songs here are ALL about love, and the social/racial themes are gone, but still, you can't fault her for musical excellence. All the songs here are worth knowing.

If you were disappointed by "Discipline", get this record. Three and a half stars.
March 27, 2008

"20 Y.O."-The 20th Anniversary of Control

Just 2 years ago, Janet was still struggling to find her way back to the top of the music world after the disappointment of "Damita Jo" and the whole Superbowl aftermath. After the stress of brother Micheal's trial and during her down time, Janet gained an unprecedented amount of weight. Luckily, Janet managed to loss a jaw dropping 60 pounds just in time to celebrated the 20 years of success since her breakthrough hit "Control". It feels like yesterday when a 20-year-old Janet at the time declared herself Ms. Jackson if you're nasty in 1986. Apart of the celebration was the release of Janet's 9th studio album, "20 Y.O." in honor of the 20th anniversary since "Control". With Janet's long time hubby, Jermaine Dupri, who a year ago, produced Mariah Carey's career reviving comeback in the form of "The Emancipation of Mimi", Janet promise a full on dance album, reminiscent of her past work not only from Control but all her work from the past 20 years. Unfornately, "20 Y.O." is only half of what Janet promises as it's has only a few dance tracks while the majority is mixed of r&b jams and hip-hop influenced tracks. The album can be summed up like this:

20 Intro-Janet sums up her 20 year career yet just want to have fun this time.

So Excited-A solid r&b/hip-hop club jam that has rapper Khia chanting a very catchy hook after each hook. While is a good song with a greater video, it's nothing too thrilling-3.5/5 stars

Show Me-A throwback track that mixes r&b beat with the electro funk 80s. It's a fung song and Janet chants to all ladies towards the end that very reminiscent of "Nasty".-3.5/5 stars

Get It Out Me-Janet starts to experiment on this track mixing African drums with an high tempo dance beat and more 80s-like arrangements in the background. This is essential what Janet is great at!-4/5 stars

Do It 2 Me-An intense r&b groove that has Janet singing with such assertiveness and excitement. This is pretty much the answer to Damita Jo's "My Baby", which is a very good thing.-4/5 stars

This Body-An edgy rock/hip-hop track that has Janet singing about what exactly a man should do when they see her on a magazine. It's a pretty creative song and the mysterious rap solo towards the end adds to the song's intensity.-3.5/5 stars

20 Part 2-Daaaaaa, deeeeeee, daaaaaa, deeeee, daaaaaa...lol.

With U-An bouncy mid-tempo r&b track that is basically Janet's version of Mariah's "We Belong Together" and Usher's "Confessions". While a good song, JD doesn't really separate Janet's version from the other 2, which is sad.-3.5/5 stars

Call On Me-The lead single which is a sweet and cutsy r&b ballad that has Janet teaming up with Nelly. Another okay song, but I usually skip this one.-3/5 stars

20 part 3-Janet and her friend Lanette joke around before the next track.

Daybreak-An upbeat dance track that's 2006's "Escapade". It's nice track with sparkly sound effects that add a fast paced r&b beat, and Janet, even at 40, actually captures the innocence she once had during the song.-4/5 stars

Enjoy-2 words....Classic Janet! This is the best song I've heard from Janet in years! From the wonderful beat, to the touching lyrics, not to mention, one of Janet's best vocal performances since...well...ever! To this day, I still think it's a crime this wasn't a single!-5/5 stars

20 part 5-Janet calls her astranged lover, telling him she misses him.

Take Care-One of Janet's best ballads as she manages to capture the vunerablity of "Come Back To Me" and the sensuality of "Any time, Any place". Janet's voice caresses the soothing beat and breakdown is catchy.-4.5/5 stars

Love 2 Love-Channeling the music of Prince, Janet sings soulfully throughout this neo-soul love ballad. Janet strains her voices yet it sounds emotional.-4/5 stars

"20 Y.O." may not be much of a celebration of Control, but it's a solid album full of infectious beats and nice ballads. Although as head prodcuer and with Jimmy and Terry being only minor producers, Jermaine could have done better for his girl. Many critics again bashed the album for it's sexual nature when in fact, it's Janet's tamest album when it's comes to sex. Also, the album gets critized for it's title implying that Janet was declaring herself a 20 year old so she could keep up with her much more youger rivals, which is complete bull. The album like "Damita Jo", suffered in sales, selling only 1 million copies and peaking at #2 on the BB charts. Yet again, Janet earned herself another #1 dance club hit in the form of "So Excited". I personally find the album superior to "Damita Jo" but will Janet ever get the comeback she deserves? March 11, 2008

singing is bad like her acting

I am a very big fan of janet and this album was the worst. As someone else mentioned all her beats sounds the same. March 2, 2008

Janet Looks Better than Ever...

Well, I purchased this CD and I just have to say that although I'm a HUGE Janet fan (and I think there's a gene passed down cause my 18 month old daughter loves Janet too lol), this CD just didn't do it for me.

Janet looks incredible, and I think her voice sounded great. Personally she keeps on getting better with age. But, I'm not sure where she's going musically. We'll see. But, overall the material on this CD just didn't appeal to me.

The songs I did like, no one else probably did, cause I'm weird that way. lol.

Overall there weren't enough club bangers on this album.

Here's My Review...

So Excited - Of course this song is HOT and I really love it.

Do It To Me - I'm sure no one else gets it, but this is one song that I actually love off the CD.

Enjoy - This song is amazing...and I love it. The music is incredible and fun. It makes me nostalgic for when I was a teenager too. So cool how everything is wonderful and you just go and go and go. It's all about fun.

Show Me - This song wasn't bad...it just wasn't all that. It's up-tempo, but I just wasn't feeling it.

Get It Out Me - I did not get this song. I didn't appreciate the beat, melody or lyrics. I couldn't get anything out of it.

This Body - On almost every CD since Black Cat Janet has had a rock song on her album. I have loved each rock song! Each one has taken it to another level (Black Cat from RN, What About and You from TVR, Trust A Try from AFY, and Sexhibition from DJ was kinda rockish). I really felt like This Body was the "wannabe" rock track. But, it felt amateurish. I believe I've produced a similar track with my husband's beat machine back in the 90's. I hate to be so harsh. I love Jan...but I'm sure she would want me to be honest with her.

Daybreak - A fun song...but it's so similar to Enjoy. I really like the song, but I would have made a different choice for the CD, like I said, it's so similar to Enjoy.

Take Care - Slow baby making song...in classic Janet style. But, I just didn't appreciate the melody AT ALL. The music was okay...but nothing special.

Love 2 Love - I will ditto the comments above for Take Care. The same applies to Love 2 Love.

Call on Me - This was a really cool song, and was popular among the younger folks...teens and such. But, for me (I'm 37)...I thought it was a bit young for Janet. And also I thought it stopped short of being a great song. I think if Janet took the melody to another level it could have been better. Cause honestly I LOVED Nelly's part of the song. He shined.

With U - I actually really like this song. Very cool song. Slower tempo love song.

Well, that's it...so out of 11 tracks I liked 6. So that's five tracks I really didn't like. So the album gets 3 stars from me.
February 29, 2008

what a bonus

Well , its been a while since janet released this album and I am still enjoying it! it is way better than "Damita Jo" and "All 4 U" , BUT not close to "Velvet Rope" or "Janet"...i think the weakest track is "call on me" which kind of spoiled the whole album - the remixes of that song are so much better than the album version.
I prefer the 2nd half of the album much more than the "upbeat" tracks in the first half ( although i really like "So Excited" ) , but the best tracks are actually the 2 bonus tracks ( I think from the Japanese edition) , "Roll Witchu" and "Days Go By" and dont understand why they were left off the US and UK versions.( And I didn't like any of the US covers much either !!!)
Here's hoping tomorrows "Discipline" will become the next Janet classic...







February 25, 2008

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