In May 1993, Janet Damita Jo Jackson released Janet, a collection known by fans as “Janet. period” because of the stylized spelling of the album’s title. It was a massive success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and selling over seven million copies in the United States. It sold 350,000 copies in its first week alone and set a record for the highest first week sales for a female artist at that time. It spawned seven singles, including “That’s the Way Love Goes” and “If,” and earned Jackson a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. It remains her highest-selling album to date.
Her famous family name had been credited with the blockbuster success of 1986’s Control and 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814, so dropping the surname ‘Jackson’ was a declaration of independence. The 27-year-old singer had something to prove, and she delivered. With a record-breaking $40 million contract with Virgin Records freshly signed, Janet gave the early 90s music landscape an electric jolt, establishing Ms. Jackson as a sex symbol and providing the blueprint for every dance diva that followed – from Brittany to Beyonce.
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Janet was a musical behemoth – a summer blockbuster that towered above other releases in the summer of 93, a lineup that included grunge darlings Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana. It generated hit after hit for two years, a wave that subsided in late 1995 when “Whoops Now” was released.
The album features 28 tracks and runs over 75 minutes, ranging from rap to opera to house to rock to some of the smoothest R&B ever recorded.
Janet’s ambition and scope were the culmination of a long-term plan begun in the mid-80s to be her own woman and fully explore her sexual identity on her own terms.
The Janet era was sexy, empowering, fun, and the soundtrack to many gen-X girls’ college life. “That’s the Way Love Goes’, the album’s lead single, would become the definitive song and sound of this era and the most significant single of Jackson’s career – notching eight weeks at number one.
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But it was the second single that made people sit up and notice. If isn’t slow like its predecessor, but it’s slinky as hell. In fact, it’s downright sleazy. It explodes from the gate with hurricane force. Powered by heavy, distorted riffs, this dance track packed the club floors that year. Janet’s voice becomes the central groove of the song as electric guitar shreds across the verses. Her Rhythm Nation is in full swing, serving her carnal pursuits.
Six of the album’s singles reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat that was only matched by six other albums, including Jackson’s own Rhythm Nation. The third single, “Again,” for Jackson’s film debut, Poetic Justice, was nominated for Best Original Song.
A seven-time platinum album in the U.S., Janet has sold 14 million copies worldwide. In attempting to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, Ms. Jackson firmly established herself as one of pop music’s most iconic performers.
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