Jody

I didn't include Cherelle because while she was popular, the 4 I listed were more successful at the time.

I didn't inlcude Taylor Dayne or Paula Abdul because I consider them more pop than r&b, though Taylor could have done any style of music she wanted to with that voice.

My opinion-I like all 4 ladies, but Pebbles comes in at a distant 4th place. I know Janet was more influential, but I love Karyn's and Jody's stuff too. I think if Janet had a better voice, I would have picked her over Karyn and Jody.


Does anyone know why Janet is the only one of these 4 to have had continued success? I mean Jody and Karyn were better singers and had great producers too.

I understand why Pebbles didn't last long but the others???

JackieBlue said:

Me too. I love a most of her new stuff.

I liked Janet & Jody.

mimi2 said:

I never understood either and had asked this awhile back. Janet fans seem to think Janet beat everyone back then and in a way she did, but that doesn't mean they were all below her, they had her beat in other areas and put out work that made it seem like they were going to last forever

alphastreet said:

i never thought none of the others would last long, they all rode the wave of control.

dseann said:

I like Miki's version better than, say, Basia's, but it's a distant 3rd behind Aretha and Stevie (my fave).

lowkey said:

They may have been inspired by Control, but Janet was also inspired by them by the time Rhythm nation came out. As much as I love RN1814 and think it's her best album, the Miss You Much video reminded me of Jody's Still a Thrill, Karyn's Secret Rendevous and even NKOTB's Right Stuff. And style wise, Jody and Karyn dressed better though they looked very "jackson" too while being like that.

I think that Janet not going all out and being tomboyish made people love her and want even more from her, which helped her blossom with the janet. album. But I feel bad too, cause Jody had some awesome material on her third solo album with the songs I Want You and one of my favourite I'm the One You Need, there's no excuse for why she lost her popularity after that. That stuff is right up there with the janet album and her dance skills challenge janet's at times.

alphastreet said:

im sorry but i see nothing from RN remotely similar to jody or karyn white, and i never saw jody do any kinda dancing besides a few soul train moves for me to say she's a good dancer or not,its ok now to put these chicks on the same level with janet,but reality is janet's career>>>>>those other chicks.

Since we're now comparing dancing,

Obviously I would say Janet was superior to the other 3. A lot of artists in the last 20 years have gone on to copy Janet's style.

Pebbles wasn't much of a dancer. She shook her stuff a little here and there, but nothing complicated.

Jody was a good dancer, but her style was very different from Janet's. While Janet started doing big choreographed numbers, Jody did flowing freestyle in her videos/performances. I like both approaches.

Karyn was a very good dancer. If you look on youtube at her videos/performances, she mixed some freestyle with smaller, but still complicated choreographed numbers. So her dancing was kind of a mix between Janet and Jody.

alphastreet said:

Amen. But of the four, you can say Pebbles was the only one that failed to match the success of the other three.

And Cherrelle's music somehow paved the way for those four.

Y'all do know Pebbles is Cherrelle's first cousin?

lowkey said:

Watch the Still A Thrill video. I bet the RN1814 directors were inspired by that. Janet had better routines though of course, no question about it. Jody was just a better freestyler
[Edited 7/18/08 0:13am]
[Edited 7/18/08 0:13am]

Timmy84 said:

How? Pebbles was just as successful as Karyn White. Actually, their careers are strikingly similar. Both had 4 #1 hits (compared to Jody Watley's 2) and an additional 2 top-5 hits (although Jody had 6).

DUH JANET

FOLLOWED BY KARYN AND THEN JODY

I DON'T EVEN LIKE PEBBLES....

Harlepolis said:

Hilarious! What she's saying is that she wants to come back as a stone cold bitch who knows a good one-liner when she sees it. I love it!

AlexdeParis said:

I think you're speaking of the R&B charts. Karyn was more successful on the pop charts than Pebbles. Album-wise, Pebbles did better, though. I'd say they're about even
[Edited 7/18/08 7:10am]

VoicesCarry said:

Yeah that's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion, Alexde, lol.

I never heard of Pebbles. It's an offturning name. Isn't a Flintstones character caleld Pebbles`?

Out of these 4 it's Janet, simply because I admire her Control album. But talent-wise others should be above her on the list...

This cover always gave me a stiffy:



Never owned an album by any of them, but music-wise, I liked Watley's singles best.

It's a shame how Karyn didn't have continued success. She was totally on a roll and quit while still on top. I mean, that song about domestic violence was so deep and more meaningful than most r&b songs out there, I guess we'll have to thank Brandy, Monica and Toni Braxton for that as much as I like them too, they made safe r&b/pop stuff.

Also with Jody, I love all the singles from her first album, was only feeling Real Love from her second album and friends is alright, and then she was awesome again for her third album, but after that I don't really know her stuff though I liked her Borderline cover, and remember the buzz about her 1998 single with Rakim with very little airplay.

And you'll hate me for this, but the janet era was nothing Jody, Karyn and even Paula Abdul didn't do already in the late 80's and early 90's.
[Edited 7/18/08 10:05am]

alphastreet said:

MCA dropped Jody after Affairs of the Heart flopped (too bad, it's a fantastic album), so everything after that didn't have the push of a major label.

Her first album is her best simply because they focused on giving her non-stop dance grooves and no slow trakcs to kill the mood.
[Edited 7/18/08 10:08am]

mancabdriver said:

What do you mean you don't like Pebbles? Didn't you wanna ride in her Mercedez?

VoicesCarry said:

I like her doing dancy stuff better too actually

And you'll hate me for this, but the janet era was nothing Jody, Karyn and even Paula Abdul didn't do already in the late 80's and early 90's.

alphastreet said:

How so?

VoicesCarry said:

Look at Jody with the curly hair in Real Love, Janet looked like that in the Janet. era. Janet could have easily made a video like I'm the One You Need or The Way I Feel About You in the janet. era, as there were similar outfits, hairdos, vocal stylings etc. and a lot of the If choreography reminds me of Paula's Cold Hearted choregraphy

Don't get me wrong i love the janet.era but I'm just so tired of diehards acting like no one did anything similar before.

alphastreet said:

I think me, you, and da prettyman are the only ones showing love for jody's
third album affairs of the heart. I have the cassette. Call on me and the
first single were the jams. I have to pull it out later on today. I remember
liking the third album much better than her second album. Only real love and
lifestyle were highlights for me. And like you said friends was just alright
for me. I dug a couple of her latter day singles like your love keeps working
on me and off the hook.

alphastreet said:

Never heard of the diehards saying that When people talk about the janet. record, it's usually about the quality of the videos and the music. Sorry, but I really don't see either Jody or Karyn turning out If, Throb, That's The Way Love Goes, etc., just as I don't see Janet turning out Still a Thrill. They each had their own specialties.

Anyhoo, I think a lot of this is nitpicking. I disagree about the Cold Hearted choreography. If is a classic that to me stands on its own, and I've never looked at it and thought of Cold Hearted, which is also a classic.

Janet also had curly hair for the Control era, so...ultimately those were the popular hair and clothing styles of the period, which all 3 ladies helped popularize.

phunkdaddy said:

I said it's a fantastic album a few posts up !

Sorry my bad! Welcome to the Affairs of the heart Party