So Excited - 6
Show Me - 9 (reminds me of Prince's Love - but better)
Get It Out Me - 5
Do It 2 Me - 3 (awful!)
This Body - 4 (ditto!)
With U - 7
Call On Me - 4
Daybreak - 8
Enjoy - 9 (the obvious highlight)
Take Care - 8 (reminds me of 24 Play)
Love 2 Love - 7 (love her vocals on this one!)

MattyJam said:

yeah!!! ya know what..normally i love the opening of janet's albums but the closing is whats working me over this time...these songs (while similiar to previous janet slow jams) have warmth and maturity to them that i've never heard from her...

a couple times i thought, "wow...she is going all anita baker on my arse"...

enjoy - 10
daybreak - 9
with u - 6
love 2 love - 6
get it out me - 5
so excited - 5
take care - 5
this body - 4
call on me - 4
show me - 3
do it to me - 2

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[Edited 10/1/06 14:45pm]

sallysassalot said:

I was thinking this song was written as Janet was reminising about an event in her childhood or something.

jayaredee said:

you know what? that totally makes sense and i missed that tie in to the interlude just before it. good call!! (i'ma go rearrange my numbers...)

TommyRoss said:

I never liked her? I own all her albums. Who said I never liked her?

So Excited--8.5
Show Me--7
Get it Out Me--8.5
Do it 2 Me--9
This Body--5.5
With U--10
Call on Me--8
Daybreak--7.5
Enjoy--9.5
Take Care--8
Love 2 Love--9

Do It To me is growing on me more and more! I think most of the tracks on this record are growers.

jayaredee said:

1) If she says on Oprah it will be the "last" time she talked about it then going on NBC less than a week later and talking about it again totally blows her credibility. Who knows? Maybe she was contractually obligated. Maybe the big Oprah push she gave her had some strings attached...ie "Janet, if I'ma devote a whole hour to your 40 year old ass, only tell ME about the Super Bowl."

2) It's a very Jackson-esque tactic. Talk about something ONCE, and then move on. The reason she didn't go to the Grammys in 2004 was because they asked her to apologize AGAIN on air. Michael told her "you've already apologized." So she didn't do it. Period. They're savvy those Jacksons. They've been dealing with media as a family for decades.

badujunkie said:

Oh i certainly understand that. Since she made the statement on Oprah saying that it would be the final time to discuss it, she should keep her word. But i was thinking maybe she shouldn't have made that promise at all and instead just go through with the interviews this time around while promoting the album and just set the record straight and begin a clean slate the next time she releases an album.
I know she wants this to be a comeback and all, but she's got to wipe the slate off first.

badujunkie said:

Yeah, they've been very successful at shining in the media spotlight these last several yeras, haven't they?

I really don't think Janet will discuss the Superbowl again... unless someone non-threatening like Larry King brings it up in review a decade later.

I like Janet's new CD!

I think she should have released it with the bonus tracks though. They're both brilliant, and they outshine a lot of the 'crunk' material that made the official release. I've been playing "Roll Witchu" quite a bit.

Tessa said:

Hmmm...he was acquitted from a child molestation trial and she's set to debut at number 1. I'd say their damage control abilities are OK.

todd305 said:

How are these bonus tracks available? Japanese import?

Moonbeam said:

yep...the itunes version features one of them

MikeMatronik said:

She should have just kept them on the regular album. I still have them from the original leak but if they get released on future singles or something i will purchase them.
It's odd because both tracks are 2 of the strongest imo.

jayaredee said:

The same happened with DJ's japanese bonus tracks...

badujunkie said:

I dunno know about that. It's more in the court of public opinion that they are both still sort of controversial. I'm not so sure if Janet's rep is ever going to recover, and I'm not so sure about Michael's either. Unfortunately, I think that both Janet and Michael don't make it very easy for people to be at all sympathetic. I admire Janet's pride, but pride is a double-edged sword. It can sometimes be a weakness as well. There is nothing wrong with accepting responsibility for some of the negative-- or at least maybe acknowledging some responsibility. With the "wardrobe malfunction," for example, what would be wrong with saying the SB may have not been the best venue to try a costume reveal? It it was indeed a mistake, there was always that huge possibility that something could have gone wrong. And with Michael, just the fact that he seemed to put himself in a bad situation time and time again...Well, he did that. Nobody else. But most of what I've heard from Michael and his team are blaming everybody else for having an opinion about it. I've never heard Michael even admit that he was putting himself at risk, regardless of his good intentions. Well even that sort of behavior from an average Joe would raise a few eyebrows, so why should Michael be any different just because he is a Jackson? It's not always everyone else's fault. There are reasons for misunderstandings on both sides of the issue.

You've NEVER heard Michael admit that he put himself at risk? He's said it at least 3 times in the last couple of years.

Ellie said:

No... actually I haven't. I remember seeing his attorney, Mesereau, on Larry King and also Jermaine after the acquittal defending Michael's slumber parties with children... sleeping in the same room if not in the same bed.

The fact of the matter is that any other adult having sleepovers with boys or girls in the same room even--well that behavior is going to be suspect. It's just not a good idea. So it's just not Michael being persecuted is what I'm getting at.

I don't want this to become a MJ discussion--I was just really using that as an example. But I guess I'm talking about the he had already been accused of child molestation before his trial, but that wasn't enough to change his behavior because he in his mind wasn't doing anything wrong which he may have not been--but still that sort of behavior is suspect from anyone. It's just a trend that I've seen in Michael, now with Janet. Now maybe he does understand, but it took the possibility of being convicted to make an impact.

With Janet... I'm torn in a way because she is obviously projecting the image that she wants to the public. She should be free do what she wants artistically. And some fans are buying it. But a lot of people --casual fans or potential fans just see her as the woman who exposed her breast at the SB for stunt, and now is lying about it being a stunt, and won't even entertain discussion of the incident except on Oprah. I've read stuff like, she hasn't learned her lesson... I've read stuff about her lying in regard to her weight loss.. Lying about the reasons for gaining it. blah, blah blah. From my discussion with people and from what I've read on other sites, many don't believe Janet about anything anymore and no longer respect her as an artist because they have lost faith in her message--because they can't separate the artist's persona from the art itself. That's the truth even though a lot of Janet's fans don't want to hear it.... just like Michael's fans didn't want to hear that maybe he might have some responsibility for creating the mess he was in.

As far as the music... like I said, I'm ok with it. It's not my favorite, but it's not bad. However, apparently a lot of former fans, casual fans, and more pop-oriented fans prefer a less urban type sound from Janet than this cd. I'm on the fence about it because I respect an artist's freedom to create what he/she feels or wants. Plus, I'd be willing to accept Janet even doing a jazz cd. However, I'm not so sure if all fans can accept Janet without the dancers, without the pop-type tunes to which they have grown accustomed and expect. Her persona bugs me only to the extent that I wish she would be a little more candid about things other than her sexlife... but that might just be Janet.
[Edited 10/2/06 6:42am]

I'm just saying, he HAS said it was a mistake to put himself at risk. Not Jermaine, not Mesereau. He said it on the Geraldo interview right before the trial started and again on another video message on that website set-up during the trial, and I'm pretty sure in another written statement after the trial.

badujunkie said:

they're hardly the public darlings they were 10-15 years ago.

If Janet Jackson spent as much time creating her new CD "20 Y.O." as she did losing weight, posing for every magazine and talking about sex with boyfriend Jermaine Dupri, she might have had another front-to-back winner on her hands.

But once the fog is lifted, once the hoopla and hype subside, all we're left with is another Janet Jackson CD, and not one of her best (one must reach back to 1997's "The Velvet Rope" for that). Even Jackson's post-Super Bowl flameout "Damita Jo" looks better by comparison.

Jackson's new album is conceptualized as a celebration of her breakthrough "Control" album of 20 years ago and her evolution since then -- hence the title "20 Y.O." She opens the disc with an interlude featuring snippets of various "Control" hits, underscoring the fact her "20 Y.O.'' songs aren't of that flawless caliber.

There's also some spoken mumbo-jumbo about how she's covered so much ground topically in her career, and even uncovered a bit. It's the CD's sole wink-wink acknowledgement of her Super Bowl fiasco. Advertisement

The CD is touted as her return to dance music and having fun, which doesn't quite explain the set's first single, "Call on Me," featuring rapper Nelly. It's a sweet, laid-back and unremarkable re-entry for a singer who really needed something more explosive to set her right, something like the Herbie Hancock "Rockit"-ridin' romp that is her "So Excited."

Over the course of what amounts to 11 songs once you subtract the interludes, intro and outro, the whispery singer breathes over her usual stew of frothy tunes such as "Show Me," "Enjoy," "Do It 2 Me" and "Take Care."

Most of the rest of "20 Y.O.," songs such as "This Body" and "Get It Out Me," are glorified filler that fail to make the record an event, which is what her CDs used to be.

The songs, while proficient, fail to hit you over the head the way Beyoncé's tracks do. In fact, Jackson is finding herself competing with her younger contemporaries -- the Beyoncés, Ciaras, etc. -- who understand that today's commercial R&B tastes are heavily hip-hop influenced. That fact has mostly passed by Jackson, who has gone out of her way to not do what they do, to continue on her own path. And there's something to say for that -- something like "what were you thinking?"

She avoids top beat crafters such as Rich Harrison, Swizz Beatz and Rodney Jerkins, and relies on her old standbys Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.

But Jackson has a new player in her game now, Dupri. He proved there is a Santa Claus for Mariah Carey, emancipating her from being pop's best punch line. He gives Jackson a few hot tunes, but not nearly enough, considering all the hits he has placed elsewhere.

In the end, inexplicably, "20 Y.O." at times comes off as dated as that unfortunate Y2K-inflected.

Interesting review.

Krytonite said:

I disagree with this review. I am enjoying the entire cd. This Body and Get It out of me are HOT tracks IMO. Janet, just do your thing and be you, dammit.

PrettyMan72 said:

That's the problem. Janet aint doing her thing at all. She's being JD's puppet for what he believes will be a big hit.

As the review said, what he did for Mariah can't be done for Janet. And it's true being that they're different artists altogether.

PrettyMan72 said:

the problem being that she has no thing and that there is no her.




.
[Edited 10/3/06 9:50am]

Wow. I'd heard the criticisms and kind of doubted them. I've never been a huge fan, but I've always liked her and at least thought she was a very consistent pop artis. Until now. This album is garbage. Really the biggest letdown of the year.