VoicesCarry said:

Hmmm, you're being more than a little selective, but I'm gonna let it slide.

midnightmover said:

Well, I'm not going to write a 10-paragraph essay for you detailing every single thing she's said about her collaboration with Rene. The point of my comment was to illustrate that Janet gave Rene credit for his collaboration on her most critically successful album concept to date, and she gave him that credit long before 1997.

Janet, in fact, has given more credit to Rene than Jimmy & Terry have. They said he was a) never in the studio and b) they barely saw him for the duration of that album's recording.
[Edited 1/16/08 10:05am]

VoicesCarry said:

Damn, I gave you a reprieve and here you come again. It's almost like you want me to go at it with you. You're on very shaky ground here, so I'd advise you to let it go.

midnightmover said:

If you want to have a logical debate based on facts, then bring some facts to the table, because that's what I've done.
[Edited 1/16/08 10:09am]

MikeMatronik said:

"It's about to be a, WHAT, girl fight!!!"

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, I'm done. This is silly and pointless.

Back to matters of importance: Feedback has now outsold Call on Me's entire run at the digital format.

VoicesCarry said:

Message to sosgemini. You can see here that I've got no choice but to get into this, since this guy is begging for it, so skip over this post. I tried being nice.

Question: Did Rene co-write songs with Janet before 1997?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Did Janet speak about this in interviews before 1997?
Answer: No.
Question: How in the name of God, can you call that "candid"?

Over to you.

midnightmover said:

You get to have the last word. I would like this to be a positive thread and not degenerate into mindless back-and-forths. I have already stated my position on this matter.

VoicesCarry said:

REALLY? That's what's up!

love the cover.

Timmy84 said:

worrrrrd

VoicesCarry said:[quote]

midnightmover said:

Than she was probably being kind! I don't doubt he influenced her writing and was maybe more vocal about it when it came to TVR. Sounds like the kind of deal where some singers tell the writers about their lives and are influenced to write certain songs for them based on that...I assume Rene influenced her. AFY, as much hate as it gets, proves Janet can co-write an entire great album with Jimmy and Terry. BTW, they weren't together before "Control", where they?

VinnyM27 said:[quote]

VoicesCarry said:

they started dating during Control and i belive got married after the RN1814 Tour.

ehuffnsd said:

Yep. Rene's first involvement on a Janet project was with Rhythm Nation.

VoicesCarry said:

i distinctly remember an interview with rene around the time of the divorce drama (2000?) where he said exactly this:

"I wrote 37 songs."

not "co-wrote," not "collaborated," "wrote." who knows.

badujunkie said:

i dunno. unless JJ/TL/and JJ can prove that they all sat in a room together and came up with the ideas and Rene was no where to be seen will we ever know. if JJ just showed up with lyrics and handed them over and no one saw her write them there will always be speculation.

badujunkie said:

Dude was mad when he didn't get all the millions from the divorce settlement!

ehuffnsd said:

Personally I could give a fuck who wrote 'em, they were great songs regardless.

Timmy84 said:

i agree. i hate the whole music snob bit of the whole who wrote what when it comes to music. in the end it's the music you remember not the writer.

badujunkie said:

I believe it! That's why all her songs sound like JJ & TL songs, not Rene songs. That's why Rene has written for other artists before and after his time with Janet! It's all clear to me now.

The creative process behind Control is well documented. JJ & TL had most of the songs prepared for Sharon Bryant, who turned the project down. Then they chose Janet from a list of A&M artists that head of A&R John McClain had given to them. They sat down with her in informal settings such as diners and listened to her talk about her life, and the three adapted the lyrics for Janet's experiences.

They turned in the album and John McClain told them to go back and come up with another uptempo like "Nasty", so "What Have You Done For Me Lately" was written and recorded from scratch.
[Edited 1/16/08 12:06pm]

ehuffnsd said:

It sure don't take away Janet's greatness. Her biggest strength is that she's an ENTERTAINER and she sung on the songs that were catchy enough to be memorable hits. Who gives a shit who "wrote" on a POP record? LOL! Wasn't like they were on a quest to be great songwriters!

Timmy84 said:

Pop song writers don't get enough credit. they have to write songs thatt appeal to everyone. they can't just write off as a song that doesn't do well to people not understanding their art, it's because it's a bad pop song. dance and pop have to be the hardest field to write for.

i don't like the cover - especially compared to the excellent photos she's taken recently

ehuffnsd said:

True. Pop has been overlooked in the terms of rock, jazz and soul though there have great written pop songs, lol.

Janet has changed her myspace default picture, its now the album cover...
and shes changed her name from janet jackson to janet

Timmy84 said:

i'm supicious of people who claim to hate pop music, they probably hate puppies, kittens and babies too.

VoicesCarry said:

Janet told Rolling Stone, "Rene' has been my co-writer on almost all my songs since Rhythm Nation but refused to take credit. He wanted to prove that he wasn't with me to take, but to give. I appreciated that attitude, but I also saw that it was leading to feelings of fraudulence-on his part, not mine. On The Velvet Rope, Rene's name appears for the first time as a co-executive producer and co-writer. Just as it's wrong to claim undeserved credit, it's wrong to deny credit when it's deserved."

http://www.angelfire.com/...on/a5.html


I hope this put this non-sense to bed and we can further discuss all that's happening with Janet now, Not Janet Then

Janet Set For Return to Form

NEW YORK -- She may have long ago established herself as one of the most successful divas in the pop music industry, but Janet Jackson still admits that growing up the youngest sister of Michael Jackson was hard.

The last of the nine Jackson children, Janet was only a toddler when her five elder brothers started recording number one hit singles as The Jackson 5, giving her a lot to live up to when she made her debut album in 1982.

"I was still coming out of their shadow, or at least felt I was when I did 'Rhythm Nation'," in 1989, she told Agence France-Presse in a recent interview. She only felt she had made it with her 1993 album "Janet," which sold 20 million worldwide.

"Finally when I did 'Janet' I felt, ok I've arrived. I finally made it all by myself to this spot, no coattail hanging, none of that. I felt good about it at that point," she said.

But growing up in the shadow of The Jackson 5 also gave her a rich musical education from a young age, she says, adding the experience helps explain the variety of music in her albums.

"I was exposed to so many different styles of music and that stemmed from having so many brothers and sisters. Everybody was listening to something different and it all rubbed off on the youngest one for sure," she says.

More than 20 years after releasing her first platinum-selling record, Jackson is hoping her 10th studio album "Discipline," due out next month, can mark a return to form after her two most recent albums saw disappointing sales.

"Discipline" seems to slide effortlessly from house to pop and more soulful slow tracks.

Due out in the United States on February 26, the album is being billed as classic Janet, mixing dance beats, pop and slow tempo tracks.

"My music's always been mixed like that. The only thing that I didn't do this time around, which I'll probably do on the next album, is to do a rock record," she said.

"There's nothing new that I haven't already done. I know where my lane is. I'm not trying to veer too far off the beaten path," she added.

The music industry is already predicting the album could reverse a downward trend in Jackson's career that started with the "wardrobe malfunction" that saw her breast being exposed live on television during the 2004 Super Bowl.

But she rejects any idea that the album is a long-awaited comeback, as some in the industry have suggested, saying simply "I never went anywhere. I think a comeback is when you've been gone and you actually come back."

Even if her last two studio albums "20 Y.O." in 2006 and "Damita Jo" in 2004 failed to see the massive success of "Rhythm Nation 1814" from 1989 and "Janet" in 1993, both albums still sold more than one million copies worldwide.

"The music business isn't quite doing what it used to. There are certain people that are doing pretty good numbers but still not the kind of numbers we used to do back then," Jackson said.

"If this is the album that takes everything back to the way it used to be that would be great and I'd be excited that it's mine."

Jackson, now 41, admitted a decade ago to suffering from depression, self doubt and having self-esteem issues, something she says is now long behind her.

"I'm in a much, a much better space. I still have my moments when I go back into my little hole but it's never for long. It's never the way that it was and I think we all have days like that."

She talks candidly about picking herself up. "It really starts with myself first and foremost," she explained.

"I had to see myself in a different light for one, to start to like myself, when I didn't before, to learn to love myself, to stop letting myself get into situations in relationships that weren't very healthy for me."

The title track from her 1986 album "Control" opened with an affirmation stating "it's all about control...control of what I say, control of what I do," but the singer admits that over the years she has loosened her grip.

"I guess being older I've realized that we're not really the ones that are in control. It's truly coming from God. He's the main one that's in control of it all," she says, adding that independence is more important for her.

One theme that has remained constant in her albums, and is present in the new record, she says, is a strong sense of her sexuality.

"I think the last album was very sexual too. It just turns out like that. I don't set out to say 'I'm going to make a sexual album.' It just happens that way really."

Jackson says she is constantly approached by people who say their children were conceived to one of her songs, most popularly tracks like "Velvet Rope," "Would You Mind," and perhaps most appropriately "Any Time, Any Place."

"It makes me feel great because that's what it's all about. It's creating music that moves people and puts them in a certain mood and that's the correct mood that you want them to be in," she said.

She says she hopes "Discipline," the title track of the new album and a slow soulful hip-grinder with breathy vocals, will follow in that tradition.

But when not being approached by fans, she confides, the pressure of being a public figure can get too much, especially with the media's obsession with celebrities.

"It's definitely worse now than it has been in the past, but I think also a lot of celebrities want it that way," she said.

"I think there are those that really do shy away from it and then there are others that love the attention, so any chance they can get they're not going to try and avoid it. You can avoid it a lot of times," she added.

"But you have moments when you just want to have your down time and kind of be alone and kind of blend in with the rest of the crowd and then somewhere out of nowhere [the paparazzi] come along."

"When you come to a red light, they jump out the car and surround your car and then jump back in their car once the light turns green. It becomes too much at times," she admitted.

"I think there should be certain guidelines where it can get too dangerous, and that's where it has to stop."

Copyright 2008 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.