But on Unbreakable, her first album on her own label, Rhythm Nation Records, Jackson sounds unguarded and open in ways she hasn’t in years. So it’s a surprise that on her first album since his death-produced once again by Jam and Lewis-the 49-year-old delivers her most MJ-sounding release.
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Janet Jackson has postponed her Las Vegas Unbreakable tour dates following doctor’s orders.
And that’s exactly it: Jackson’s album, “Unbreakable,” is a reminder that dance music is more than fast, loud electronic beats pounding to the floor. This is especially moving on the “Broken Hearts Heal”: Not only do its lyrics focus on resiliency in the face of emotional trauma, but the lush, snaps-and-strings-driven R&B instrumentation isn’t a far cry from MJ’s mellower moments.
“You see I’m not the kind of girl you got to babysit, no, no, if you have things to do, I understand”, she sings, most likely about her beau. She offers up the album’s best vocals on the defiant “The Great Forever“, which takes on critics, a favorite pop-star target (and a recurring theme for the Jacksons in particular).
A pop comeback on her own terms.
Maybe that comes with time or new perspective. Twenty-five years later, those problems persist.
She wisely closes the album on an upbeat note, the giddy “Gon’ B Alright“, which is clearly influenced by the Jackson 5. Working with songwriters and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for the first time since 2006’s 20 Y.O. The fact that Janet is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ought to be a national scandal. Since then, she’s received BET’s Icon Award (very much so deserved) and launched her world tour, which finds Ms. Jackson in a familiar place: on a stage, where she belongs. Artists from Beyonce to Britney, Pink to Usher, FKA Twigs to Tinashe have cited Janet as a primary influence. Remember, at her career’s onset, Janet was managed by her famously overbearing father, Joe Jackson, a major reason nothing on this debut sounds funky – or sexy.
“Unbreakable” is a contradiction – at once sophisticated and silly; danceable and melancholy; affirming and haunting.
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Janet makes up for that lack of intimacy with her most sonically diverse set since 1997’s quirky, hypersexual The Velvet Rope.
