not with contemporary r&b and its producers. her audience is aging queens (myself included) and aiming her material at the 15 year old r&b audience isn't going to work. they could not care less. she doesn't really seem to be that into it anyway.

i never understand when artists get older and keep chasing the teenage market. sometimes it works out and they get a fluke out of it (Madonna's "4 Minutes" for example) but usually it's very unsatisfying artistically and unsatisfying for fans. I'm talking about all of them. Janet, Madonna, Prince, Mariah....

on the other hand, these older artists are accustomed to the kind of lifestyle and record deals that require a big hit to keep them neck deep in Versace. so I understand that. but at some point, they have to realize they're wasting their time "keeping up" with what's hot out there by younger, newer acts. they have built a fanbase that is very loyal and they could keep selling to no matter what they WANT to do, and it rarely comes across that these attempts at hip, contemporary sounds and styles is what they really WANT to do at all.

Discipline was a good album, but Island Def Jam dropped the ball with the next single. It definitely had more hits left on it.

Yes, Janet will have radio hits again. "Feedback" was all over the radio. "Nothing" is just a soundtrack song. I'm not taking it seriously.

ernestsewell said:

Yes, there was a huge disagreement between Janet and LA Reid because he wanted "Rock Wit U" as the 2nd single and Janet wanted "Luv". Of course, LA got his way and "Rock Wit U" became the 2nd single. It flopped. Then I think "Luv" was released right after but the album was pretty much dead by then. It didn't help that Kenneth Crear was her manager at the time too.

I think Janet could've worked something out.

Why Not? Mariah carey scored a hit with " We Belong Together" after 3 or 2 flops in row, If mariah did it, then Janet can do it, she needs a great record.

and I don't want Janet to have a radio hit. That would require her to conform to the norm and make synth, repetitive shitty music. I like that she does her own thing a la "Nothing". No one else is making ballads now. She don't curr

errant said:

Who the hell do you think "Make Me" was made for? It sounds like disco house.

Why didn't those aging queens make it a hit?

I often dont get the "radio comments" on the forum, we all mostly agree that radio is shit, but then we see in the post that "Janet needs stronger material to get played" ??HUH?? So do a great song and it will get played because radio plays shit? does that make sense?

Janet is from a time when you could get played when you were 40 and over, shit the Rolling Stones and Aretha and Elton and Billy Joel were all proof of that and more in the 80's, and you could NOT have to be the same to get played, now you have to be the same as everyone to be played, diversity is gone, plain and simple, stop wanting to be a part of a "Time" where diversity is NOT accepted, and its not and hasnt been for a long time.

ernestsewell said:

Feedback was a radio flop - it didn't even make the Top 60 on Hot 100 Airplay, or go Top 20 on any of her core formats. That's disastrous for a lead single, especially one as good as Feedback was.

I'm not quite sure what it would take for Janet to score a significant radio hit again. Radio at the moment is the most ageist it's ever been - and as someone over 40, Janet isn't welcome, regardless of the quality of her material.

Her best bet for a radio hit is to focus her efforts on the format that is historically most likely to embrace her (Urban).

Cinnie said:

Usually if you're performing for "aging queens", your only sure spot is the dance chart and she was number-one there with the song. If it was "younger queens", that shit would've been on the Hot 100 in a hot minute but it wasn't sadly lol

Timmy84 said:

IRL, to me it seemed like the younger queens liked "Feedback" or maybe they were just being nice

seeingvoices12 said:

Mariah was 35 then.
[Edited 4/11/10 8:32am]

VoicesCarry said:

Those stats don't match my actual memory of "Feedback"'s radio play. I actually remember not really wanting to hear the song but it grew on me with radio play.

Did they not bust that song out in Ontario?

VoicesCarry said:

So what? Just because Janet is in her 40's doesn't mean that she cannot make a great record.

Fuck the Radios, They are full of shit...Not all of them but the majority

If she made a great record, they will be forced to play her because of the demand, she only needs a great record.

VoicesCarry said:

Those stats don't match my actual memory of "Feedback"'s radio play. I actually remember not really wanting to hear the song but it grew on me with radio play.

Did they not bust that song out in Ontario?

midiscover said:

They both "got their way" (if you can call it that) - Rock With U was sent for adds at Top 40 and Rhythmic while Luv was sent for adds at Urban and Urban A/C. Neither was a cross-format single. RWU was disastrous but Luv was doing reasonably well on both Urban and UAC but the lack of promotion after the album dropped killed its chances of actually doing anything.

Of the two, Luv was easily the best choice. But LA is known for his horrendous single choices.

seeingvoices12 said:

My point had nothing to do with whether or not she can make a great record (I have already stated in this thread that Feedback was a great record).The point is, after 40, you are pretty much a non-entity at commercial radio. The Emancipation era was a great comeback for Mariah, but as we have already seen, she is having trouble securing airplay these days - and it will only become more and more difficult for her now that she's officially hit 40.

Janet could release the greatest thing she's ever done these days, and I would bet heavily in favour of it not cracking Top 40 on Hot 100 Airplay.
[Edited 4/11/10 10:32am]

Hell no.

She's had one genuine radio hit in the last 8 years.

Her overseas career has been dead for even longer.

Commercially, she's over.

Bad decision making is what caused this. Even with flops, she could have been in a MUCH better place than this.

I mean Prince can debut at number one and you will never hear a song from that album, Bruce Springsteen can sell a million and never have a song on the radio. u2 can have a top10 album for months and yet not have a song crack the top 75. That is a huge disconnect that never was, and has become the NORM today, Today's artists are "download" stars, but joke on them, the only ones getting paid off that is the dudes in the suits, thats why the focus is to keep the singles repetitive, dumb, zombie like, this way alot of people get into it.

Cinnie said:

Your recollection is different because Feedback received a much warmer reception in Canada, in terms of both airplay and downloads.

This is why I hardly get into "singles" anyway, well what they call "singles" either. I'm not a radio zombie, never really have been.

Does anyone know how much "Nothing" sold in downloads? I heard around 300,000 but I'm not sure.

midiscover said:

It didn't even enter the top 100 on itunes.

I'd say around 20k tops.

sleepyq said:

Lolz!

This is why I hardly get into "singles" anyway, well what they call "singles" either. I'm not a radio zombie, never really have been.