I also think Janet has a bit of a different audience than Kylie, Annie, Britney, etc. None of those have much of an urban fanbase. While not always successful in her attempts, Janet tries to make sure that urban audiences understand their place as her CORE audience. While many of you guys didn’t care for songs like “So Excited” and “So Much Betta”, they were fairly well-recognized among urban audiences.

It’s seems analogous to how Madonna appears to understand that pop is her CORE audience.

Despite the records that made her a force to be reckoned with, it is always interesting that the pop community always seems to be the LAST to give Janet credit (and still do so begrudgingly) for doing anything but will praise and uplift others to no end…..

but “rock with u” is one of the best pop songs i’ve heard these last few years. i still listen to it a lot. the video clip was great too. it’s a shame it didn’t get much attention.

but apart from this song, janet is pretty dull to me…

It’s clear that you are a Janet fan, and there’s no arguing with a true believer. I actually like Janet, and think she has produced a number of great pop singles. But for the sake of discussion, I will respond to your post.

The ladies I mentioned (Madonna, Whitney, Kylie, Mariah, Annie) all evolved both musically and image-wise. I never said that all them evolved in a good or even successful way, but they all changed over time. “Vision of Love” Mariah is not today’s Mariah. “How Will I Know” Whitney is not today’s Whitney. And most non-Americans know that Kylie has changed just as much as Madonna over the years. (Most Europeans would not consider her late 90s hits to be her “artistic peak” — that would probably be her mid-90s brush with alterna-pop.)

On the other hand, you could pretty much put any Janet single — say, “All for You” from 2001 — on to the “Rhythm Nation” disc from 1989, and it would fit right in. That’s because her music never changed. Janet just repeats herself again and again. She doesn’t seem to have any evolving musical image of herself or her work, at least compared to other long-successful pop stars. So, it’s not really a surprise that her career has waned in recent years.

I’m liking the song. I do think she had better in the “old days,” but this song sounds fun and catchy. The video almost reminds me of a Kylie video though… But, I do think she’s deliberately throwing in Michael imagery and stylings into the song. The references to the Scream video, the non-syllabic grunts and sighs… they sound pretty deliberate to me.

Well said. Janet’s voice is weak. Her success largely came about using the same formula that many females seem to use: make “sexy” videos and have a good production team.

These women are horrible image artists rather than knowledgeable musicians or vocalists.

I would have agreed, if not for a few things.

Whitney, Kylie and Mariah haven’t evolved at all. Whitney’s music is the same as it always has been, but worse (the only great song on her new record is Million Dollar Bill). Kylie has always been brilliant but after her artist peak from the late ’90s to the early ’00s, her creativity fell off; the ‘X’ album is generic and sounds like a pastiche of her earlier dance albums. Mariah is a joke at this point, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is a good effort but she hasn’t moved forward creatively since Butterfly.

Janet hasn’t done anything new since All for You but that was 2001, not 1988. Every album of hers from Control through All for You has a totally different identity and message. The Velvet Rope, released in 1997, was her artistic peak and can go toe to toe with any of Michael’s work; I think it is better as an overall work than anything Maodnna has done including Ray of Light.

Janet has never made her career about Michael, and I don’t see why she would start now.

Maybe this comeback will work for her, but I find it hard to believe that the timing of her “new” release is an accident of fate — attempting to resurrect one’s career on the wave of publicity surrounding her brother’s death is just in bad taste.

I doubt she’s like their father (may he go to hell).

I don’t like much of Jackson’s music some here, some there and really never cared about his personal live-still don’t-but their father just makes me sick to my stomach in a way it’s never been sick before.