Sohh Soulful: Polow Takes Control Of Janet Jackson's Sound, "My Focus Is Gon Be The Club"


Producer Polow Da Don, who recently launched his own label Zone 4, spoke exclusively with SOHH about music he is producing for Janet Jackson's forthcoming CD on Island Def Jam.

"Music is different from the last time she was 'it,'" Polow told SOHH. "I want to put her in the clubs because that's where the kids register what's a hit. We can have the radio hits all day with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Jermaine [Dupri]... a lot of people can do that for her. But my particular focus is going to be like... the club." [Watch Polow Interview Here]
Polow has produced recent pop hits, including Ciara's "Promise," Fergie's "Glamorous," and Nicole Scherzinger's new single "Whatever You Like" featuring T.I.
As previously reported on SOHH, Jackson recently left Virgin and signed with Island Def Jam where her boyfriend, Dupri is now president of Island Urban.

http://www.sohh.com/artic....php/12127
[Edited 7/20/07 10:05am]

Except, you know, she didn't.

banks said:

Hes just the HIP guy at the moment that every one will use till they get played out like Pharrell and Timbaland etc... Im not crazy about anything this guy has done yet, even with NICOLE who i love, that song and its production is awful!
Hes rumoured to be doing a track with Mariah too, but does he really know what CLUB music is, i dont associate Club with Ciara and Fergie, thats pure POP, if Janet wants to get into the clubs again, work with Paul Van Dyk or Junior V.

VoicesCarry said:

call on me got some good radio play

I think the only thing he’s done that I sorta like is Fallen by Mya and Promise by Ciara. Other than that

badujunkie said:

On urban formats only. It bombed at pop. And no one downloaded it, so there went its chart points down the toilet. She needs a cross-format smash to go any higher than #19 on the Hot 100 Airplay.
[Edited 7/20/07 10:25am]

why janet? why?

VoicesCarry said:

point taken - you should work in the music industry fo sho

JackieBlue said:

All he did on "Fallen" was freak the beat from Pharcyde's "Running Away." That's what these so-called producers do these days. Find a tight beat from a lesser known hip-hop record and jack it.

Polow, I bet looking at Swizz Beatz is like seeing the Ghost of Christmas Future for you. Make your money now.

As for Janet, it's getting to the point where the kids who are in the clubs now may not have been BORN when Control came out. She's only got so much time to try to appeal to the kids. Many of her long-time fans, like me, would rather stick to her prior work, which won't sound as flavor-of-the-month and dated as her new stuff.

namepeace said:

I should have known. Figures that's why I like it.

JackieBlue said:

I didn't know he did Fallen...

i prefer that janet work with Jimmy and Terry....

they produced her best albums... Control to All For You

TotalAlisa said:

you mean Control to Velvet Rope

badujunkie said:

Exactly Rockwilder co-produced some songs on All for you.

Monte Moir and Jellybean don't count as outside producers because they are from the Flyte Time / The Time gang

MikeMatronik said:

JIMMY produced songs on AFY that I really liked

TotalAlisa said:

yes they did

MikeMatronik said:

actually the rockwilder tracks gave jimmy and terry a bit of a run for their money at that time

namepeace said:

she needs to start appealing to one fan base she has been ignoring for a bit. And alot of that is probably because of JD.

Madonna, Cher, Kylie, all owe the longivity of their gay audience. If she ignores them for much longer she'll never get them back.

ehuffnsd said:

Believe me, Janet will always have her gay audience. What she has been ignoring is the mainstream pop audience that Rihanna is exploiting so well at the moment.

VoicesCarry said:

Both Madonna and Kylie's fanbase is mixed

MikeMatronik said:

Madonna and Kylie are smart. R&B just does not sell internationally. So they both go and make pop albums and sell gazillions across the rest of the globe. America is not the deal-breaker anymore.

VoicesCarry said:

That was seen with madonna's singles from COADF in the US. Only Hung Up was a hit on the pop charts.

Madonna also has a huge latin fanbase

VoicesCarry said:

American market has been dead for awhile.

lets see, janet has her r&b/urban fanbase, gay fanbase and pop/fan base(with which she was the most successful). Even when she made all for you, it had a pop flavour to it and it worked wonders for her. Pop with hints of r&b and dance is what she does best, not hip hop

alphastreet said:

gay fanbase=pop and dance.

POLOW DA DON?

Sounds like a character from an early morning kids TV show?

Perhaps the dude second from left

alphastreet said:

I agree...it was weird seeing janet do hip-hop....

i like her doing RnB but not hip-hop

TotalAlisa said:

it seemed so fake and force, that horrible call on me, it made her look like a poser

Whenever someone produces for a Ciara or a Rhianna, I just think they are practicing until they can work with the real Janet Jackson, so I think he's ready now.

And yeah, Control is already older than most of these kids in the club and they can't remember Rhythm Nation either.