Janet Jackson, the youngest member of the Jackson family had been a part of the usual constellation of stars among the media for quite a while. This had started with her rise to prominence in the later 70’s. Janet had been a huge hit not unlike her siblings involved in the “Jackson 5” such as Michael Jackson himself. Aside from her career in television, Janet had also become a massively popular musician and pop icon. Janet Jackson was everywhere and everyone knew about her. While time went on Janet remained at large, though she later fell off of the radar around 2010. How could a celebrity pop icon like her fall off the radar? More importantly, what is so important about Janet and why is it that her disappearance matters?
Janet Jackson Young – The 70s
Janet was born as a member of a rather large family. This was a family of ten brothers and sisters, the Jackson family. Later details on the parents of the Jackson’s started to come in. The Now that had to be quite the bathroom line in the morning! Janet had later detailed that Joseph Jackson, her father, had kept himself away from the family in an effort to remain detached going so far as to ask his children to refrain from calling him their father. The whole Jackson family had been Jehovah’s Witnesses at the time as well. Janet had remained in the background for a short while her brothers formed The Jackson 5 and stared to top the charts. While it was not quite Janet’s ideal career choice at the time she had gone down the path of an entertainer just the same as her siblings. Also like her siblings, Janet had her kick off when she was only seven years old when she performed at the Las Vegas, MGM Casino. Now that’s not to say that Janet went full blown entertainer, though her performance was quite a feat, especially at the young age of seven. Janet had still pursued her alternative choice of acting and the like.
Janet Jackson’s Big Break – Prime in the 80s
Her break came in 1976 when Janet had started acting in The Jacksons. Airing every Wednesday for thirty minutes a pop this television show included every one of the Jackson siblings, and ran from the summer of 1976 up until spring 1977. Every single one of the twelve episodes that aired featured a special guest celebrity some of whom were: Ed McMahon, Redd Foxx, Sonny Bono, and the immensely popular Betty White. On top of this a multitude of unique songs were performed every episode, ranging from about four to six songs every airing. Many of these songs went on to become favorites of the Jacksons such as “I’ll Be There” and “I Want You Back”.
While the series did not necessarily last very long it certainly made the entire family one great big sensation. Just a short while later Janet landed a position as the leading role in another television show “Good Times”, this is where she played the character of Penny Gordon Woods. This series lasted a great while longer though Janet had only stayed involved in the show through seasons five a six. The series had been based off of other popular television shows such as “Maude” and “All in the Family”. In September of 1979 Janet landed another leading position in the television sitcom “A New Kind of Family” though the series was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1980 there hadn’t been too many commendable aspect of the show and as a result it had only went on for 10 episodes and concluded airing on January 5th, 1980. Janet had gone on to act in a few other shows like “Diff’rent Stokes” where she stayed for three seasons and “Fame” landing a spot once again for one short season. This marked a pause in Janet’s acting interest and she switched back into the gear of making music.
Joseph Jackson had later worked out a deal for a 16 year old Janet at the time. This deal was a contract with A&M Records which allowed her to produce her very first album simply titled, “Janet Jackson” which she had released on September 21, 1982. The album had primarily been comprised of R&B and pop genres. The product didn’t come into light solely from Janet and had also been worked on by a multitude of other musicians and songwriters who are also accredited for their efforts on the album. The primary songwriters had been Angela Winbush and Rene Moore as they were responsible for the majority of the lyrics involved in many of the songs on the album. Others who were involved in production were Foster Sylvers, Bobby Watson, and Jerry Weaver. The album wasn’t too well received. In fact it had only garnered two stars or so when it came down to most popular critic reviews.
All the same the Album allowed Janet to further develop her musical career and show that she could in fact branch off from her career in acting and try new things. The album didn’t even sell too bad as it had managed to rank 63rd place on the Billboard 200 making about 300,000 sales in all. Janet’s second album titled “Dream Street” followed the first album, it came out two years later and didn’t do much that the other album hadn’t and received ratings just as dismal and sales just as low. The album’s single however, “Don’t Stand Another Chance”, performed decently and was placed at the 9th most popular song on the Billboard R&B singles. Janet’s father was not pleased with the turnout in sales at the time of either albums and had expressed his disappointment with them. Following the two albums Janet had shown her affection for James DeBarge, who was a soul singer at the time. They later became engaged but their relationship would come to an end relatively quickly and the next year they had been divorced.
Decline of Janet Jackson – Where is Janet Jackson Now in 2018?
Due to the poor turnout of Janet’s two albums she had decided to break away from the funding of her family, specifically her father. This time, in 1986, Janet had wanted to do things herself, her own way. After signing on with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis the two and Janet had only taken six week to release her third album under the name “Control”. Releasing on February 4th 1986, if Janet had already made her big break into stardom this album had certainly been her big break into the music industry. The album had taken influences from a vast variety of different music culture resulting in new sounds and vibes that simply drew people in. Janet was able to draw her performance and lyrical writing from the prior events surrounding her divorce and separation from the rest of her family and use them to drive the album home. Control was praised for including somewhat more edgy themes which had allowed Janet to stand out as a more mature woman and musical artist in the eyes of the masses opposed to being seen as the youngest little member of the Jackson family. The album was enjoyed by many critics and listeners alike. Five songs from Control came to top the Billboard 100, and the album itself went platinum five times selling 14 million disks. That is 46 times the amount she had sold off of her previous album. Control had also essentially set the bar for many of the music videos and things of that nature which were to air on MTV due to Janet’s superb dancing capabilities. Needless to say, Control set records, some of which go unbeaten to this very day, and may well have been considered a defining point in music history, especially so for pop artists and the like.
Just two years after the release of Control Janet released her fourth album. Publishers at the time had wanted a direct addition to her previous, record setting album though, at the time Janet had different views. As a result “Rhythm Nation 1814” was released. Janet had taken a somewhat different approach as she had turned away from the previous themes of the prior album and instead she focused on the concept of uniting the people and social issues. The basis for this had been decided due to the various hate crimes and the like appearing on the television at the time. The lyrical choices Janet had decided to incorporate into the album gained her further renown and she received high praises for them. This second great success in a row resulted in Janet not only being seen as an adult, and talented songwriter, but also as a role model for teens and people of all ages to follow.
Rhythm Nation released on September 19,1989 and quickly became the bestselling album in 1990. Sales had once again skyrocketed resulting in Janet’s second, immensely successful album. Rhythm Nation went platinum six times, beating the record of her previous work by one and had also sold upwards of twenty million copies, again topping her previous album, this time by a whopping six million. Among the ludicrous amount of other “tops” and appearances on lists involving the prefix “best” , the album had also set another record which to this day goes unbeaten; Rhythm Nation had an outstanding seven songs appear in the range of fifth to first place on the Billboard Hot 100. The albums accomplishments could go on for paragraphs on end but needless to say, the album was a smash hit, and an outstanding second shot.
Later that year Janet had gone on a World Tour leading a vanguard for her new album. True to character the tour was also incredibly successful setting records for the speed at which her tour spots had sold out. Keep in mind at this point in time Janet had only been 23 years old and was already dominating the music industry. After her tour Janet received her own star placed in the Hollywood walk of fame just like many other music idols. Just a few of the many stars include Michael Jackson, the Bee Gees, The Supremes, Celine Dion, and John Lennon. Janet had reached a point at which she could not ignore her impact on the music industry and the daily lives of the masses and in an effort to give back she had set up a charity scholarship titled the “Rhythm Nation Scholarship” which she would use to donate some of her fortune to different educational institutions.
After a short break of three years Janet had made another return releasing her fourth total album under a new record company, Virgin Records. Janet’s signing with A&M had finally ended and she was ready to strike gold with the new batch of record industries rich with money, lining up to get her name under their rule. So a roughly 35 million dollar deal had been worked out between Janet and Virgin Records and the rest is history so to speak. The young adult had released another self-titled album simply called “Janet”. The album had almost been as much of a success as her previous work but was just ever so slightly less so. This isn’t to say it wasn’t yet another smash which had almost come to be expected from Janet. The album was another chart topper but any artist would be hard pressed to overcome her prior success.
Another reason as to why the album may not have done as well could be attributed to the more adult themes it had included. The primary statement of the album had revolved around Janet announcing her openness to sex and the like, effectively making Janet a sex symbol and a form of role model at the same time. This, in a sense, almost sounds contradictive. The same year Janet also took a step back into the film business with her appearance in “Poetic Justice”. Janet was the leading role and a few of her songs had also gone into the film. The plot of the movie had been based on themes of depression and family. While the film itself didn’t do too well in the eyes of critics, Janet was praised for her acting and, of course, for the music which had been incorporated into the film. Poetic Justice was also a box office hit coming in first place during its first week. The film later went on the produce a great deal of earnings, 27 million dollars, in fact, which was about 14 million dollars in earnings as the budget for the film had been 14 million dollars. Not a particularly bad turn out at all. Janet had remained sure to keep herself busy and the proceeded to go on another world tour.
The “Janet World Tour”, which had span 125 shows in total wasn’t as huge of a success as her history defining tour in 1990 and had even received some negative feedback, with many noting a decline in Janet’s singing skills. Janet had however been highly praised for her increase in dance and entertainment talents. While Janet had been on tour claims that Michael Jackson, her brother, had been involved in acts of child sex abuse and Janet had taken to her brother’s side and defended against the accusations, another possible reason for a decline in sales. Later Janet went even further by doing a collaboration with her brother to create Michael’s single “Scream” which was on his album titled “HIStory” and was a direct response to the accusations and general hate that the two had received from the masses due to Michael’s scandal. Scream set its own record due to costing 7 million dollars to create, thus making it the most expensive music video in existence. After their collab Janet went on to releasing her album “Design of a Decade” In 1995 which featured her lead single at the time “Runaway” which was yet another record setter coming in third place of the hot 100, this had been the very first time a female had done so. Janet then renewed her contract with Virgin Records for just about 80 million dollars, which set another record making her the highest paid musician, ever, in history.
In 1997 Janet had released her darkest album which tackled themes of societal issues like domestic abuse, homophobia, and homosexuality. The album had been directed towards far more mature audiences than her previous album which had been known for being somewhat edgy, “Janet”. This was partially due to issues within Janet’s personal life. She had been battling with anxiety and depression. The album was once again a huge success, topping charts, but again less successful than her last. The album had also made Janet yet another icon, a form of vanguard for the acceptance of homosexuality. Janet later appeared in another filmed in 2000 called “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps are All for You” and then another album called “All for You” while both ventures were relative success including Janet’s tour for the album, there wasn’t all too much in the way of further developments.
What is Janet Jackson Doing Now in 2018
Five years later in 2005 Janet had been elected to perform during the 38th super bowl and perform many of the artist’s greatest hits. Justin Timberlake also appeared as a complete surprise to viewers, there was however an even greater surprise which had occurred during their performance of “Rock Your Body” Timberlake had made a choreographed action during the song which had involved tearing open the front of Janet’s costume, while it had only been intended to show Janet’s bra and little of it at that, an accident had occurred which showed far more than just Janet’s bra. This accident had also been during live television of course and millions of viewers had gotten a peak, intentionally or not, of Janet’s cleavage. Questions were abound as to whether or not the event was secretly intentional but after everyone involved was fined there could be no more evidence to induce steeper penalties.
Still the stigma followed Janet for quite some time as many people did believe she intended on this display occurring or just felt that now she’d be bad business. While Janet had even released an album most of her music was essentially banned from radio due to her incident. The album was titled “Damita Jo” and this ban affected the two later albums she had released as well. Janet had continued to produce albums for some time after, the ban was eventually removed, and she continued to top charts. She had continued to do this until 2009 when her brother, the king of pop, Michael Jackson had died of drug overdose in June. She had openly expressed her gratitude to the public for its support and mourned his loss. Janet then returned to acting in the film “Why Did I Get Married Too?” and then again in “For Colored Girls”. After the pause from music Janet had once again returned for yet another tour and then began to start donating large sums of money after becoming one of the richest individuals in the word.
2015 brought Janet’s decision to create another album and bring about another tour. Her album was released on October 2nd, 2015. It had been titled “Unbreakable” and has once again received a solid stream of great reviews. Janet also released her own record label, titling it after the album which made her into the massive success she has become, “Rhythm Nation Records” . Janet has changed the face of the music industry inside and out, she has brought waves of change, and emotion to all of her listeners and she too this very day has not shown any signs of retirement. Now 49 years old Janet is sure to keep topping charts as she has done all her life and she truly has displayed to the world that as an artist and an individual she is more than just “Unbreakable”.
ank gazette review thank you for the talk about janet jackson 80’s -2016 star almost fading away i just saw call on me the video from the janet y20 thank you for noticing kendra bethune janet jackson and new edition fan from the 83 era most of the time you just see control,nasty and the pleasure princpal.