Unbreakable indeed. Classic Pop is a music magazine that every year shares a special Award Edition to celebrate the most inspiring music of the last 12 months. Categories include Best Album, Single, Film, Breakthrough Artist of the Year and more! The 2016 Awards Edition are about to be release and we already know Janet won SINGLE OF THE YEAR with the #1 hit ‘No Sleeep’!
The issue includes an new exclusive interview with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, talking about their careers, awards and favorite jams. Here’s the transcription of the part where they talked about Janet and the No Sleeeprecording process:
Janet Jackson’s first single in five years was an absorbingly cool, hook-laden reconnection with long-term collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis…
Can you tell us the story behind No Sleeep?
JIMMY: It started off as just an idea on a laptop, at about five in morning, probably in Dubai because we recorded this album in a lot diffrent cities. Just wherever Janet was, that’s where we went. I titled it No Sleeep because it wasso late or early, whatever you want to call it, 5am. The track just kind of sat there, it was just a quick idea. When we got back to recording about three months later in LA, Terry was actually looking for a song called The Great Foreveron a drive and when the track started playing and it wasn’t The Great Forever, it was actually No Sleeep and he said: ‘what is this?’ Janet heard and said: ‘Wait, we’ve got to do that one‘. So that was really it. Then we just put the lyrics together from there. We just liked the way that it sounded. We thought it had a very welcoming sound, a very confortable sound. It felt to us like it should be the first single, but more than just the first single it should be ‘I’m back’ or ‘welcome back’ feel that we wanted. It was a great way for Janet to introduce herself to the audience again. The success of the record and obviously receiving this award from Classic Pop, obviously we made the right decision, so we’re really happy about that.
It felt like a bold move to release such a mellow track as a comeback…
TERRY: I guess you can call it a comeback, but I would beg to differ. I call it a never left. People take time to make music and take time to live life, and life feeds music. Janet took the time she needed and as we were doing it, we didn’t get any sleep, so thus No Sleeep was born. Janet never left because music lives on, and it will always live on. So it might reintroduce her to some kids and new audiences here and there, but the people who are fans of Janet’s music still remain. And I think they were hugged by this song instead of beat over the head, because the song gives you a very loved feeling. It’s very easy to listen to, easy to groove to, and the world is missing that groove because everybody’s trying to be too hard, too fast, too hot, and being in the middle of something is a good thing. Just a little lukewarm, just comfortable, not trying to be anything but what we are, and I think that’s real sexy.
JIMMY: It felt, honestly, a lot like when we did That’s The Way Love Goes, the first single from the janet. album. The record company had heard If and thought that that should be the first single and at one point had talked Janet into believing it should be the first single. But we all knew that That’s The Way Love Goes was more the core of the album, and that was the way to go. It’s an instinct that you have, and so we had that same instinct about No Sleeep. We thought it was… It just felt like the right record to come back with and like I say, I think we’ve been proven right.