Janet Jackson
The Velvet Rope

THE REVIEW

We have a special need

To feel that we belong

Come with me inside

Inside my velvet rope

Janet Jackson, Velvet Rope

Through this review, I intend to close (for the moment, there might be further occasions in the future) my personal and subjective analysis of the diverse musical world of Janet Jackson, an artist I have come to appreciate and esteem for her talents, completely disregarding any scoop, gossip, spicy story, useless and pernicious elements that diminish the artist as a creator of works, pieces.

Although not following a strict chronological order, I intend to enclose The Velvet Rope within a "trilogy" of albums also including janet. and All For You, a trilogy that in itself does not aim to group these albums by themes and sound. I believe these three works represent the peak of Jackson's musical journey, illustrating her growth and artistic maturation, a consequent evolution of the sounds and themes to perform. A peak between the first two albums, still slightly unripe but already quite rich and valid (Control and Rhythm Nation) and the latest works, harshly hit by fierce and mischievous critiques that have affected not so much the works themselves but reflected on some scandals or pseudo-scandals that I don’t believe I need to recall.

The Velvet Rope comes to light at the end, or almost, of a long battle by Janet against depression, of psychophysical "breakdown," a drama that on more than one occasion has not failed to attack and torment great artists and great bands that in some cases have seriously wavered. Rope is the light after a long journey in the darkness: now Jackson summarizes in a great and valid album the mood, or rather the moods that have deeply marked the singer. Through careful and deep introspection of her subconscious, Janet questions her weakness, her fragility, that physical and moral collapse that led her to carefully and minutely examine life beyond the spotlight and the glamorous life of the Artist. The album becomes the mirror of the soul, uplifted but still partially fragile, to which the singer fully expresses themes such as sexual freedom, the concept of race, love, non-violence, interpersonal relationships, abandoning her mind and her music to scandalous truths and searing realities such as sadomasochism, anger, pain, sex. A particular, effective reflection that directly hits the main target, that is, the mind and heart of the listener.

The times of janet. seem far away: the musical and textual explorations concerning sex and carnal love contained within that album, already very heated in themselves, here become hyperbolized, surpassing any barriers and impositions, directed towards the absolute freedom of body and mind from concrete and abstract ties and shackles.

And the sounds also tend towards greater and more decisive heterogeneity: from the New Jack Swing of janet., it begins to veer towards richer and denser sounds, ambient, chill-out, Hip-Hop, Dance, Trip Hop, even inserting flashes of that emerging electronics that will gain enormous echo precisely at the end of the '90s and will interest great works of as many great colleagues of Janet. In short, a beautiful cauldron of sounds and melodies that will guarantee the album a compactness and richness. Adding the musical heterogeneity to the lyrics, equally profound, almost mystical, an unrepeatable work will emerge, a great masterpiece that has been able to disrupt and unsettle any austere and severe music critic.

Let's begin. The aforementioned Velvet Rope already deserves an honorable mention, being a particularly innovative track, mixing an "explosive" electronic introduction with mature R&B wrapped with strains of ambient and chill-out sounds. Innovation reaches its peak with the first single Got 'Til It's Gone, a song that can be counted among the first modern R&B and Hip-Hop productions, ranging between the black and dirty Rap and the sweeter and brighter Rhythm & Blues.

Together Again is unanimously considered the album’s flagship, as it represents its greatest commercial triumph on an international level: a highly enjoyable dance-oriented track which, in the form of a commercial song, catchy and easy to dance to, tells the sad truth linked to the death from AIDS of a friend of Janet. A simple, immediate tribute to AIDS patients and to all those defeated by the "plague of the 20th century."

A light and calm R&B/Hip-Hop frames My Need, enriched by Janet's melancholic and nostalgic voice, as well as subtle but present background orgasms. (The connoisseurs of Janet's music will certainly know that this is not a big novelty: In janet. (1993) "vocal excitements" and the like are contained in tracks like Throb, ed.). You mixes Pop/R&B/Soul with substantial traces of Rock, accompanied by a vocal tone first rough, weakened and tired, then suddenly distorted, dirty and angry.

Applause for I Get So Lonely, the third release of the album, a ballad with a strong Jazz/Soul flavor with delightful Pop/R&B shades; Go Deep has the ability to mix a new and more contemporary R&B/Hip-Hop with the already established New Jack Swing, while for Free Xone, it is necessary to praise a musical experimentation suitable to musically concretize themes concerning homosexuality: a sine wave of Hip-Hop, Jazz, Chill Out, Ambient and R&B prevails over Janet’s voice, which limits itself to perform, slightly rapping, few but direct phrases and words.

An ambient, fresh, summery, Mediterranean introduction is repeatedly abruptly interrupted by a pulsating and energetic rock chorus, here is an effective synthesis of What About.

Let's move towards the album's conclusion: Every Time is a very romantic ballad, comparable to Again, slightly sad and nostalgic, while Rope Burn validly resumes the R&B/Jazz/Soul blends already applied to other tracks.

The album, whose commercial performance, although with 10 million copies sold worldwide, will be slightly lower compared to previous releases, can boast, due to the great richness and vastness of sounds and themes addressed, enormous approvals from various Rolling Stone & co., definitively certifying Jackson's talent and creativity. Meanwhile, with the temporary end of depressions and psychophysical declines, these serious and edgy themes will be somewhat shelved in order to give space to greater conceptual and musical frivolity: these intentions will shape the successor All For You, the last great roar of Jackson before the consequent "moans" of the 2000s, which, as known, have dimmed, at least in the general consciousness of the broad public, Jackson's ardor and her music.

Will they be poorly packaged products or the influence of bland scoops that have irreparably destroyed the credibility of this performer? Who knows!