Janet should go back to her roots and do a sit-com or some form of television.

People just aren't feeling her as a music star anymore. If Rhianna had done Feedback, that song would have been #1. I don't think that has to do with promotion, it has to do with who young people are listening to.

Oh, and that woman is hardly fat. I wish I had a body like that...and I'm over a decade younger!

Meloh9 said:

He has nothing to do with how the record was promoted.
My point is, it's NOT THE PROMOTION.
THE ALBUM IS GARBAGE.

She left Virgin after 20YO for the "promotion".
It wasn't the promotion. The albums have been GARBAGE under JD's leadership/production.

ButterscotchPimp said:

so you are saying that everything that dont sell is garbage? 20 yo or discipline was far from garbage imo, i just think janet has had her time as a big time record seller,she should focus on making albums for her fans now instead of trying to reach these young kids and continue to tour.janet is in a no win situation, she's not judged by the same standards as the other pop stars of her age group she is expected to still sell records like the 20 something 'it' girls.

audience1 said:

Ummm. . . Mariah didn't change her style outta choice her voice weakened and she can no longer hit those notes on key in the right pitch with a good tone. That's why she started doing all that whispering shit. But, hey, she's still better than 99% of these chicks out here now. But her voice is a shadow of what it was 10 years ago.

lameless said:

there are still people feeling her or else nobody would be excited about her current tour,why should she give up putting out new music just because she no longer sells millions? as a prince fan do you want him to hang it up because he dont sell like justin timberlake?

She has to change everything at this point. Its great to say that she is in "control" of her future, but for the most part POP stars need some kind of guidance, i dont think anyone here thinks Janet will go indie and put cds out herself, pop stars by tradition dont have that kind of drive within them, they need labels and promo. But the "blame game" has to stop, its like back in the 90's when i heard Daryl Strawberry blame everyone around him for HIS taking drugs until he finally looked in the mirror, janet needs look around and see why these records havent caught on, there is a common thread with why they arent working.

Is it possible that her time is passed and that it's time for her to accept that? The music biz is not what it used to be and Janet should focus on the things that she's best at like live performance? Shit, even Sinatra had to accept that he was no longer a perennial hitmaker and retool himself to focus on what was most marketable, his live performance skills.

lameless said:

Perhaps it has to do with the ageism that is permeating throughout the "new" music business?
Rihanna sucks to me. Her voice is nasally and she is stiff as a board and has 0 stage presence. And you are right - it would probably be a bigger hit in her hands. It would be so not because Rihanna is a better artist than Janet, because she isn't. It would be because she is young and cute and what's "in" and that seems to matter more now in pop music than it used to.
Up until the early 90s, there was room for artists like Cher as well as the newer artists at the time. Nowadays, almost all of the pop artists fit a mold. Ageism is rampantly unchecked in the musical community. Its mainly because most of the so-called "artists" you see are teens and post-teens. While its not her greatest work, I think "Discipline" is a better record than "20 Y.O." and it wasn't promoted properly. Feedback was a strong start and if promoted right, her record could have had more momentum.
[Edited 9/22/08 17:30pm]

lastdecember said:

I've heard brothers say they would have snatched Britney up the way she looked last year ... there was nothing wrong with her.. and there's definitely nothing with Janet..

SCNDLS said:

i agree 100%,but i dont think its fair for people to say she should give up making music,she can make music and sell it on the internet if she wants long as her fans that still wanna hear new janet music get the opportunity to get it

lowkey said:

Of course she should continue to make music but she needs to be realistic about the current situation in the biz and accept where her career is at. It's all about setting expectations. Everyone is not waiting for her albums with baited breath like they used to and nothing is going to bring that level of anticipation for the "event" album back. It's a different age now. And if she's gonna get her feelings hurt cuz her sales fell off maybe it's time to move on to something else. I think she should set up shop in Vegas a la Celine, Elton, and Cher, and do the damn thang and cash in at the same time. But these continued failures are just bringing down her earning potential.

Actually, I never know of the music industry ever courting artists over 40 years old. Popular music was always a young person genre. Older artists do get lucky every now and then because maybe it was the right style and they had better promotion because they were, oh I don't know, coming off of a tragedy or an eight-year wilderness after a nasty divorce. Right now if you have a successful tour and you were over 40, you're still a success.

It's just that the 40, 50-year-olds are not shit-hoppers. That's what it is.

SCNDLS said:

well i really dont know how realistic janet is or isnt about her career,she has seemed pretty nonchalant with her last couple of releases imo,remember during her 20 yo 'promotion' she hardly talked about the music at all,i dont know for sure if the finger pointing is all her idea or the people around her.she just hasnt seemed really driven about her last 2 albums, she was out there working hard during the damita jo era.she seems excited about this tour and from the reviews from the people thats seem it (cant wait for the garden show), she's back on her game.

lowkey said:

Even though I have no desire to see her live again, she's a great entertainer and I think she should focus on that instead of trynta compete in a medium that's substandard anyway.

Maybe Janet should seek a lucrative long-term deal and set up shop in Vegas.Celine Dion,Cher,Toni Braxton....they all have deals like this.They perform regularly at the same Vegas venue,they make lots of money and they don't have to worry about things like record sales and chart status.It would free Janet from the pressures of the music biz.Jermaine Dupri has foolishly tried to turn her into an urban R&B princess,but that role is already being filled by the likes of Beyonce and Rhianna.Janet needs to liberate herself from Jermaine's flawed strategy and bad ideas.

SCNDLS said:

Yeah, but didn't Mariah's sales drop during that period as well (Glitter, etc)? I just find it hard to believe that she lost that much that she wouldn't go there with the high pitch at least a couple of times on her more recent songs. But hey, maybe she did totally lose that ability. Her sales are certainly good now - "changed" voice and all. Janet needs to change her singing style a little. Funny, but the same voice I loved back in the day is now getting on my nerves a bit. Maybe it's just me. She still makes me feel good when I look at her, though.

SoulAlive said:

it's the truth.. Forbes has Celine Dion making $40 Million just doing Vegas... and that was just 'one' year..

Flowers2 said:

And she was there for 3 years. But I think Janet is alienating her fanbase which was steadfastly pop with these unsuccessful forays into a more hip-hop focused R&B. Nothing stinks like failure and she's diminishing her paper every time an album drops and there's not a certified hit.

audience1 said:

I consider Glitter an anomaly because of the movie. That project was doomed from the start, plus she wasn't healthy and it showed. Yes, her singing ability is diminished but it actually complemented her shift from a totally pop (almost easy listening) style of a music to a more hip-hop infused brand of R&B. So it's not really necessary for her to hit those notes now on the types of songs she's currently putting out. She pulls those high notes out every now and then but she sounds flat as hell, not powerful like she used to.

SoulAlive said:

well i dont really see janet as a vegas act but i do agree that since she hooked up with jd she's had nothing but setbacks.jd's ego wont allow him to back off and stay out of her career,jd loves the attention and fame he's gained since he got with janet,even her current tour there he is with his cameras posting on youtube,why is bow wow hanging out backstage at janet's show?

^ i can tell janet is annoyed with his ass too, it was so invasive of him to go to her dressing room like that so he could be a camwhore and drag her into it.

ehuffnsd said:

Velvet Rope was urban as hell though, and I have seen her career/life make a shift ever since 1997.

SCNDLS said:

I think that in some ways we're saying the same thing. However, I can't recall hearing any of those classic Mariah notes on her more recent songs over the past several years. I just think that it wouldn't matter what her current vocal ability is, because the higher octave stuff wouldn't work as well today. She had to change up a bit to continue to thrive. However, maybe I'm not that qualified to say since the only Mariah songs I know are the singles (which have been a lot though). Don't get me wrong. She's a great talent - vocally and visually.

Timmy84 said:

I wish I understood the ageist approach to marketing. How the hell do they know the age of who purchased ANYTHING?

Cinnie said:

They don't, really. They're just fake-ass bustas who think they know what's good for music and what they think is good turns out to be crap. Say you're trying to reach my age group. Do they honestly think a guy like me would even spend 60 minutes listening to a Soulja Who record?
[Edited 9/22/08 21:48pm]

Why he jockin Cinnie's T-shirt!!!

JANET SHOULD LOOK DOWN @ JERMAINE DUPRI AND SAY.....
"Y'ALL KNOW WHAT THIS IS.....SO SO GONE!!!!!"
GET RID OF THAT LIL' MUHFU**A!!!!!
WHAT WORKED FOR MARIAH DOES NOT NECESSARILY WORK FOR JANET!!!!

AND I DON'T THINK JAM & LEWIS ARE THE ANSWER EITHER,
CUZ WE'LL NEVER GET THAT TIME REUNION!!!!!
JANET SHOULD AND COULD JUST BE A "TOURING ARTIST"
TAKE UP A RESIDENCY IN VEGAS!!!!!

Good move for Janet. She should focus on the tour for now which looks like it will be very succesful. Like others have said, she could do a distribution deal with a major label for future releases.

Timmy84 said:

Not really true, i think there was a level playing field that all but died in the early 90's. In the 80's groups and artists like the stones,aretha,springsteen were all 35 and over and got play everywhere, they werent shoved into a box like a "classic" station, their new music got the shot it deserved just as much as the younger acts of the day. Even Prince in his biggest hit days was 25-35, Rick Springfield's biggest hit days between 1980-1985 he was 31-36 years old, today that age is considered OLD for mainstream music.

The thing that gets me is that its just dumb thinking that artists make their best music when they are young, this is the only form of media where that thinking comes into play, i mean look at the acting world, everyones best work is later in their career than when they are starting out.

Mara said: