Written by:
Stephanie Schoeder
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this Issue of Curve:
18#1
Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008— 4 p.m.
With a “listening session” scheduled at L.A. Reid’s office at Island/Def Jam Records to hear Janet Jackson’s latest album (her 10th studio album) Discipline, to be released Feb. 26, I was both excited and apprehensive. A bit nervous to be sure about delving into the mysterious interior of the urban music world that Def Jam Chairman Reid oversees from his chamber at the label’s offices on the 28 floor of Worldwide Plaza in Manhattan. The session was a prerequisite to interviewing Janet the next day, another exciting item on my celebrity journalist’s list to have anticipatory anxiety about….
No worries though. I arrived at the appointed time, with about a dozen other journalists straggling in after me, reporters for VH1.com, Essence, People, and other publications and outlets of which I was unsure. I was the only dyke from the lesbian press there. I had on my boots and Levis and fit in pretty well. All of the women, I noticed, were wearing boots of some sort, from my scuffed cowboys to quilted beige winter boots to slim zipped up black spikes to immaculate black leather riding boots. It must have been the uniform of the day: boots and jeans for the women, jeans and sneakers for the men, with the listening audience comprised of a majority of people of color.
Reid was ready to fire up his fancy computer-generated tracks of Janet—he said he would play nine—when he noticed one young reporter typing on her Sidekick and ground the session to a halt, singling her out. When she replied that she was only taking notes, Reid resumed his position and jammed the room full of vintage Janet. The first song, “Luv,” ricocheted off the walls of Reid’s office and bounced all over the comfy leather chairs and couches on which we had all plopped, on arrival.
“Feedback,” the first single to be released off the album was number two. I had seen the video of “Feedback” just that morning. It features Jackson with her sexy, scantily clad athletic body gyrating, choreographically speaking, on another-planet type environment interacting with “aliens” of some sort. It really didn’t make sense to me, but it’s a music video after all.
The rest of the lineup Reid played for us consisted of “This Can’t Be Good,” “Rock With You,” “Tonight,” “The Greatest X” (about love lost, who can’t relate to that!), the title song, “Discipline,” “Rollercoaster” and “Let Me know.”
I was grooving to the very loud music—a 5-foot speaker was situated right behind the seat I had chosen—and surveying Reid’s office. It was all brown and white décor. A mod brown coffee table piled low with coffee table books about music and fashion. A brown and white porcelain Cartier ashtray along with another chunky glass ashtray…Tiffany or Swvarsky Crystal, maybe even Stubenglass?
The back beat was making my seat vibrate, not such a bad feeling, I just have never heard music quite that loud in any other forum, even New York City clubs and this was an office about the size of my Brooklyn studio apartment.
I could see the lower Manhattan skyline out the window, the day fading to a beautiful dusk. A brightly lit LCD phone panel next to me had 20 industry-types on speed dial. There were black and white photographs of various musicians displayed effectively around Reid’s office; the photo next to me was of Reid and Mariah Carey along with two other unidentifiable individuals. Jay-Z and other rappers and hip-hop stars’ photos were also featured prominently.
As my body took in the music and my mind the lyrics of “Tonight,” with the provocative opening line: “Somethin’ in the air has got me feelin’ like I want it tonight…” the beat gets down and the lyrics about getting down proceed, “I want to give you something you won’t forget/ I don’t want to be alone/ I want you to keep me warm,” I noticed all sorts of vases and other vessels, all brown or white, lining the desks, tables and shelves. The vocals moved octaves higher and I imagined Jackson’s strenuous dance moves—or those of her audience at some club where a famous—or wannabe—DJ is spinning the house remix of “Tonight.” I think to myself that all of these tracks are intentionally made specifically to be remixed for the dance crowd.
Oh and then there was the scented candle that was burning through it all. It was white and I think it was supposed to be vanilla. The last song ended and Reid, decked out in his tailor-made brown suit and slightly tinted thick black-framed glasses, asked if anyone wanted a reprise. The majority wanted to hear “Feedback” and “Tonight” over again, so the vibration continued. It was just past 5 p.m. and I had an appointment on the other side of town at 5:30.
Then the session was over: the publicists thanked us, Reid thanked us. I went up to his desk to thank him personally. He smiled and winked.
Now it was matter of prepping for Jackson the next day. I had asked all my friends and colleagues who knew anything about Jackson to email questions to me so that I could compile a somewhat relevant Q&A and sound intelligent when I spoke to her. Of course half a dozen other people would be on the phone as well, but being a publicist myself that didn’t bother me.
I did some homework and found these interesting factoids: Jackson was named, in 2007, one of the 20 richest women in entertainment by Forbes Magazine and E! Entertainment Television. She ranked number seven on the list. Janet Jackson is, according to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, the most-searched person on the Web. Ranked by Billboard Magazine, Jackson is the second most successful female artist in pop history.
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008—2:30 p.m.
So, I’ve come up with a list of questions and refined it all morning. It’s time to talk to Janet Jackson. Then a publicist emails me to let me know the “Jackson camp” is running about 15 minutes behind and she’ll call me in about 15-20 minutes with a call-in number when it’s my turn.
Now, here is Jackson with a very small voice on the other end of the phone. She sounds not like I imagine, a very powerful and powerfully sexy woman, but like a little girl, a lost little girl in fact. I ask about her current musical influences. She says she has of late been inspired by Brazilian jazz and different Indian sounds.
What does the song “Discipline” mean, I ask. “There are different meanings of Discipline, the most important of which is discipline and focus in my youth, sending myself off to work at age 10 or 11 and not having my parents there. I had to wake up early and get myself ready and get to the studio all by myself. It’s also,” Jackson says quietly, in her tiny, almost inaudible girl’s voice, “about going into the studio and recording and writing different melodies. And about touring and the whole process behind it. What everyone sees—the fashion during the stage shows, the order of the songs, the choreography, I am involved in every aspect of that, which I think is unusual for a performer. Usually they are just told to stand here and move there and do this and do that.”
Jackson says it’s not about control but, rather “I want people to understand that it’s all me, it’s coming from me spearheading every aspect of my shows and my music and my performances come from my heart to you.”
Jackson seems surprised by my question about life after 40 (she’s 41). “I guess I’m kind of a late bloomer, I’m just not really at that point yet, to look back and reflect.” Well, what about women peaking sexually in our 40s? Janet perks up a bit: “Yeah, it’s as if sex isn’t supposed to happen anymore as it did in our 20s. If we’re at our peak, why not do it as long as it’s there to enjoy?” Jackson is apparently enjoying her 40s along with longtime boyfriend Jermaine Dupri (head of urban music at Island) about whom she will only say, “We really understand each other and have a true connection, a real intimate bond.”
Then the heaviest subject of all, the weight issue. “I don’t let it bother me because I don’t pay attention to it. In fact, when I went on Oprah (a segment about stars and weight gain and loss) I hadn’t even seen those photos of me (in the hats and baggy clothes). Of course my weight goes up and down, what woman’s doesn’t? It’s really just human; around the holidays or around my cycle, there’s an extra 10 pounds right there. I’m just more under the microscope than others.
About her large lesbian following and huge gay male fan base, Jackson says “They see how much I love them.” And about lingering rumors about her being lesbian or bisexual. Jackson dismisses the notion, “I don’t care. Those rumors will always abound. It doesn’t bother me.” She’s certainly special among us queers, lesbian or not. In fact, Janet Jackson will receive a Vanguard award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation during its 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, to be given out this spring for forging efforts to make an more inclusive society. In the same vein, Jackson was awarded the Human Right’s Campaign’s Humanitarian Award in 2005 for her charity work raising funds for HIV/AIDS organizations. She says that while she does not support one organization in particular, her philanthropy plays out in many ways. “I have said lots of times that I think we all have a job to do on earth and my job is to help people and I haven’t done enough by any means, but I am trying in every way I know how.” Jackson says she supports AIDS organizations, orphanages, nonprofits that work with underprivileged children and other efforts.
Who will Jackson vote for in 2008? Well she’s kinda been out of the loop recording and promoting “Discipline.” “I don’t know really. And I’m truly ashamed when people ask me because I haven’t really been connected to politics or heard anyone speak. I certainly have a lot to catch up on,” Jackson sounds a bit embarrassed.
As for Discipline, the song and the album, “It’s classic me, but with a modern twist, very happy and very sexy,” she concludes.
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