Which singles would you have chosen instead of if you could change it, so that sales would be higher and she would be promoted better?

Though Got Till It's Gone is chill and I know they were trying to do what they did with TTWLG, I don't think it should have been the first single. My Need would have been really sexy and slinky as a first single. I've come to really appreciate that song all over again lately. It would have been perfect for late summer/early fall, kind of like And On and On

Together Again, I Get Lonely and Go Deep were fine the way they are, though the Timbaland mix should have had a video in place of the Blackstreet I Get Lonely one. I think Special would have made a good B-side for Go Deep or You.

Though Everytime is so pretty and like another Again, I think What About should have been a single right after the successful performance and it needed more exposure cause it is so underrated and on such a sensitive topic

Then Got Till It's Gone would have made a good final single.

My Need

Together Again

I Get Lonely

Go Deep

You/Special

What About

Got Till It's Gone

[Edited 8/8/11 17:25pm]

[Edited 8/8/11 17:25pm]

I would have released these songs in this order;

Velvet Rope

Together Again

What About

I Get Lonely

Everytime

I'm not sure what should have been released or how it should have been promoted, but here are my favorites from that album in order:

1. Rope Burn (this was probably unreleasable because of content)

2. Got 'Til It's Gone

3. Anything (see #1)

4. I Get Lonely

5. Go Deep

6. Together Again

7. My Need and You (a tie)

8. Velvet Rope (forgot this one!)

I loved this cd although I believe she was going through a tough time when she made it.

[Edited 8/8/11 17:58pm]

I was surprised none of the "rope" songs were released as singles cause of the title track, and was so sure Velvet Rope was going to be the next single after I Get Lonely back then, but it was Go Deep and though I was surprised, I liked it cause I love that bass and it sounded good for summer though I find people like it more now than when it came out. More people acted like they liked Janet during All For You from what I remember, but lesser liked Janet during Velvet Rope though for me it was an awesome time to be a fan, I could relate to the work, was buying her interviews and putting up posters and went to her concert and met her.

[Edited 8/8/11 18:07pm]

I get the strategy Virgin was using at the time. the janet. was such a hot hit and she had just signed that big contract - they figured hey, if it ain't broke why fix. "slide in the back door" with a more mellow mid tempo R&B song and then a big dance single then the big ballad...

the singles were exactly set up to do as janet. 's did:

Got til it's gone = that's the way love goes

together again = if

i get lonely = again (big ballad)

and so on...

however i think they missed the boat because while GTIG is my fave Jan song - hell, my fave track of all time - it doesn't have the pop hook or the melody of TTWLG, and that is what shot the album in the foot from day one, creatively and commercially.

in my ever so humble opinion they should have put out Together Again first - it would have shot to number one even faster; GTIG should have been just an album "preview" and not the lead single (a la "Silly Ho" from TLC's fanmail album)

then they REALLY dropped the ball with "Go Deep" - that cheap ass video didn't help either. that really could have been another number one - a REAL number one - had the release schedule gone "Together Again" then "Go Deep" and THEN "I Get Lonely."

"Everytime" as a single, should have been left alone - so many other stronger contenders for singles 4 and 5 ("My Need," "What About," "Rope Burn")...

I love the title track for the CD, with its "Tubular Bells"/"Hobo (Scratch)" samples. It should have definately been released as a single. Imagine the video for that one!

I think it was promoted properly. Jan appeared on MTV the day before the CD's release, and signed autographs at Virgin Megastore across the street the following day. There were commercials signaling the album's release, she presented an award to "Got 'til it's Gone" director Mark Romanek at the MTV Awards that year, she was on the cover of several mags, including Rolling Stone, etc. I think maybe Velvet Rope should have been released first, followed by the more mellow GTIG. Everything else came as it should have, I think.

Go Deep

Together Again

I Get Lonely b/c Tonight's The Night

Got 'Til Its Gone b/c What About That

Velvet Rope b/c Everytime

I would've made her release "You" and that last hidden song that samples Marvin Gaye, and do videos for both of them. *nods*

Can't Be Stopped is brilliant

and yeah I agree that the era was somewhat similar to the janet. era too, but with a darker undertone

I kept saying jokingly that Virgin were making the Spice Girls their priority but Janet. and them were the two I was playing the most that year.

alphastreet said:

Can't Be Stopped is brilliant

and yeah I agree that the era was somewhat similar to the janet. era too, but with a darker undertone

I kept saying jokingly that Virgin were making the Spice Girls their priority but Janet. and them were the two I was playing the most that year.

I think the first time I heard that song, I cried. Sometimes it still makes me get the watery eyes then I have to remind myself to stop acting like a lil bitch and man up.

yeah that song and special have made me emotional too and spoke to me....all songs on VR have spoken to me at different points in my life so far and it was my teen angst album. Most people my age had Nirvana or Alanis, I had Velvet Rope and HIStory

By telling her to go back in the studio and put something out that's not mediocre. Janet's albums in the 90s are half filler, half genius. Further, her albums in the 00s were simply all filler (except Discipline which I loved).

There was definitely something special about Control and RN, especially RN, but she displays more of her femininity in the 90's and carefree/down-to-earth attitude, and has clearly grown as a person, which you can hear on her music as you listen to her sing of different topics.