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Thread started 10/05/21 12:21pm

automatic

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When I first heard Janet's Love Will Never Do I thought it was a duet!

I was wondering if it was just me but when I first heard this song back in 1989 I thought the first half sounded like someone else. I didn't realize it was Janet singing in a lower register lol. Don't get me wrong I love this song and feel kind of stupid now looking back. Has she used her voice like that in other songs? I'm thinking Nasty. It seems though it's usually her higher register in most of her music.
[Edited 10/5/21 12:23pm]
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Reply #1 posted 10/05/21 12:23pm

alphastreet

I think it was originally supposed to be a duet, that’s why she’s singing low
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Reply #2 posted 10/05/21 12:30pm

automatic

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alphastreet said:

I think it was originally supposed to be a duet, that’s why she’s singing low


Oh that's cool! I wish she'd do more of that. Like Nasty she has that sassy vibe to her.
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Reply #3 posted 10/05/21 4:30pm

alphastreet

automatic said:

alphastreet said:

I think it was originally supposed to be a duet, that’s why she’s singing low


Oh that's cool! I wish she'd do more of that. Like Nasty she has that sassy vibe to her.


Yeah, it was intended either with bobby brown or Johnny Gill

Another good song with a low voice is automatic-pointer sisters. Is that how you got your name?
[Edited 10/5/21 16:32pm]
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Reply #4 posted 10/05/21 4:51pm

TrivialPursuit

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Listen to "Gon B' Alright" from Unbreakable. All those voices on there are her.

I can see "Love Will Never Do" as a duet. The lyrics, if nothing else, lend to it. Sorta feel like she was riffing off MJ having two duets on Bad, plus the two successful duets with Macca earlier. Plus MJ dueted at least twice with Jermaine in those years - "Torture" and "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin'." Maybe not.

I never thought it was a duet.

Wikipedia cites an interesting note about it: [Jam and Lewis] thought about possibly getting Prince, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant, or someone else working with them at the time. However, there was no concrete plan. During the recording of the first verse, Jimmy Jam told Jackson, "Sing it low like some guy would sing it." As a result, they kept the idea of her singing the first verse in a low octave but go an octave up on the second verse.


"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #5 posted 10/05/21 5:00pm

TrivialPursuit

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alphastreet said:


Yeah, it was intended either with bobby brown or Johnny Gill Another good song with a low voice is automatic-pointer sisters. Is that how you got your name?


"Automatic" is such a great song, too. It was the last song for Breakout. There was a box of tapes sitting around and that's one they pulled out. They wondered, "who's going to sing that low part?" Ruth said, "Uh, of course I am!"


"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #6 posted 10/05/21 6:40pm

automatic

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alphastreet said:

automatic said:



Oh that's cool! I wish she'd do more of that. Like Nasty she has that sassy vibe to her.


Yeah, it was intended either with bobby brown or Johnny Gill

Another good song with a low voice is automatic-pointer sisters. Is that how you got your name?
[Edited 10/5/21 16:32pm]


It's actually the Prince song but I love the Pointer Sisters song as well.
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Reply #7 posted 10/05/21 9:24pm

alphastreet

automatic said:

alphastreet said:



Yeah, it was intended either with bobby brown or Johnny Gill

Another good song with a low voice is automatic-pointer sisters. Is that how you got your name?
[Edited 10/5/21 16:32pm]


It's actually the Prince song but I love the Pointer Sisters song as well.


Right, duh! I love that song/video too
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Reply #8 posted 10/06/21 7:08am

Cinny

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It was actually intended to be a duet with the org's namesake! biggrin

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Reply #9 posted 10/06/21 8:13am

automatic

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TrivialPursuit said:

Listen to "Gon B' Alright" from Unbreakable. All those voices on there are her.

I can see "Love Will Never Do" as a duet. The lyrics, if nothing else, lend to it. Sorta feel like she was riffing off MJ having two duets on Bad, plus the two successful duets with Macca earlier. Plus MJ dueted at least twice with Jermaine in those years - "Torture" and "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin'." Maybe not.

I never thought it was a duet.

Wikipedia cites an interesting note about it: [Jam and Lewis] thought about possibly getting Prince, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant, or someone else working with them at the time. However, there was no concrete plan. During the recording of the first verse, Jimmy Jam told Jackson, "Sing it low like some guy would sing it." As a result, they kept the idea of her singing the first verse in a low octave but go an octave up on the second verse.




Wow! That's a real good example. It kind of has a Jackson 5 vibe to it.
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Reply #10 posted 10/06/21 4:19pm

alphastreet

automatic said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Listen to "Gon B' Alright" from Unbreakable. All those voices on there are her.

I can see "Love Will Never Do" as a duet. The lyrics, if nothing else, lend to it. Sorta feel like she was riffing off MJ having two duets on Bad, plus the two successful duets with Macca earlier. Plus MJ dueted at least twice with Jermaine in those years - "Torture" and "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin'." Maybe not.

I never thought it was a duet.

Wikipedia cites an interesting note about it: [Jam and Lewis] thought about possibly getting Prince, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant, or someone else working with them at the time. However, there was no concrete plan. During the recording of the first verse, Jimmy Jam told Jackson, "Sing it low like some guy would sing it." As a result, they kept the idea of her singing the first verse in a low octave but go an octave up on the second verse.




Wow! That's a real good example. It kind of has a Jackson 5 vibe to it.


It also reminds me of sly and the family stone
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Reply #11 posted 10/06/21 5:41pm

thesoulbrother

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It was supposed to be a duet with Prince but he never showed up to the studio.

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Reply #12 posted 10/06/21 5:59pm

TrivialPursuit

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thesoulbrother said:

It was supposed to be a duet with Prince but he never showed up to the studio.


That's a lie. There was never a solid choice for a duet. Why would you perpetuate a lie?

[Edited 10/6/21 18:00pm]

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #13 posted 10/06/21 6:01pm

TrivialPursuit

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alphastreet said:

automatic said:
Wow! That's a real good example. It kind of has a Jackson 5 vibe to it.
It also reminds me of Sly and the Family Stone


That's what I first thought. "Strawberry Lake" by The Time The Original Se7en has that vibe, too.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #14 posted 10/06/21 6:03pm

coldcoffeeandc
ocacola

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Totally get why

She's uses the breathy little girl voice so often yet the other voice ie scream love will never do is a rarity. Shsme

Still i can't dislike Janet. She's nice, worldly, good pop songs, colorful love life, real. But she's a Jackson so she has that weird vibe going on that makes her a bit mysterious. Endlessly beautiful too.

Glad it was not an mj duet. It'd be creepy with his sister. Ralph tres would've been great or Luther vandross
[Edited 10/6/21 18:06pm]
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Reply #15 posted 10/06/21 6:16pm

TrivialPursuit

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coldcoffeeandcocacola said:

Glad it was not an mj duet. It'd be creepy with his sister.

Ralph tres would've been great or Luther Vandross


Those are great choices. She did a Luther duet anyway. Ralph has a higher voice, though. Still could've sang that part maybe. Bobby Brown was hot that year with his first solo record. It would've been a great choice.

Hear me out, but Deon Estus or Rick Astley would've been interesting choices, vocally. Also think about Maxi Priest, Johnny Gill (mentioned).

But, ultimately, I think striking when the iron of their first solo record was white hot, GEORGE MICHAEL. Of course, he did one with Aretha, so would it hae been "Oh, George is singing with another Black singer?" perception? Don't know. But he has the soulful voice to do it.

And it would've been no more creepy that MJ and Stevie singing, "tell 'em that we're just good friends." It's like gay lovers on the DL. "He's my roommate."

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #16 posted 10/06/21 7:55pm

alphastreet

TrivialPursuit said:



coldcoffeeandcocacola said:


Glad it was not an mj duet. It'd be creepy with his sister.

Ralph tres would've been great or Luther Vandross


Those are great choices. She did a Luther duet anyway. Ralph has a higher voice, though. Still could've sang that part maybe. Bobby Brown was hot that year with his first solo record. It would've been a great choice.

Hear me out, but Deon Estus or Rick Astley would've been interesting choices, vocally. Also think about Maxi Priest, Johnny Gill (mentioned).

But, ultimately, I think striking when the iron of their first solo record was white hot, GEORGE MICHAEL. Of course, he did one with Aretha, so would it hae been "Oh, George is singing with another Black singer?" perception? Don't know. But he has the soulful voice to do it.

And it would've been no more creepy that MJ and Stevie singing, "tell 'em that we're just good friends." It's like gay lovers on the DL. "He's my roommate."



George Michael did do another duet with a black woman, Learn to say no on Jody’s debut album, but the record company didn’t want to release it
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Reply #17 posted 10/06/21 8:17pm

automatic

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TrivialPursuit said:



coldcoffeeandcocacola said:


Glad it was not an mj duet. It'd be creepy with his sister.

Ralph tres would've been great or Luther Vandross


Those are great choices. She did a Luther duet anyway. Ralph has a higher voice, though. Still could've sang that part maybe. Bobby Brown was hot that year with his first solo record. It would've been a great choice.

Hear me out, but Deon Estus or Rick Astley would've been interesting choices, vocally. Also think about Maxi Priest, Johnny Gill (mentioned).

But, ultimately, I think striking when the iron of their first solo record was white hot, GEORGE MICHAEL. Of course, he did one with Aretha, so would it hae been "Oh, George is singing with another Black singer?" perception? Don't know. But he has the soulful voice to do it.

And it would've been no more creepy that MJ and Stevie singing, "tell 'em that we're just good friends." It's like gay lovers on the DL. "He's my roommate."



Rick Astley is a great choice. I've heard some of his more recent songs and enjoyed them. He has a soulful voice and would have gone good with Janet's. Wasn't Janet secretly seeing Bobby Brown around the time of Rhythm Nation? I think that's what was in that BET movie.
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Reply #18 posted 10/06/21 8:34pm

alphastreet

Not a rick fan, he has no soul and would have ruined the song.
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Reply #19 posted 10/06/21 9:33pm

TrivialPursuit

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alphastreet said:


George Michael did do another duet with a black woman, Learn to say no on Jody’s debut album, but the record company didn’t want to release it


Well, it's at least on the record. George did a lot of duets like that. Whitney, Aretha (twice apparently), Jody, Mary J. Blige, Mutya (who is Filipino and Spanish).

Seems like Janet would've been a perfect opportunity.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #20 posted 10/06/21 9:34pm

TrivialPursuit

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automatic said:


Rick Astley is a great choice. I've heard some of his more recent songs and enjoyed them. He has a soulful voice and would have gone good with Janet's. Wasn't Janet secretly seeing Bobby Brown around the time of Rhythm Nation? I think that's what was in that BET movie.


Janet was probably about to marry Rene Elizondo by that point. They were married, I believe, with all that behind the scenes stuff on the RN1814 VHS that came out. Bobby's voice was better back then, so it could've been a good choice.

And who knows how much was true in that movie.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #21 posted 10/06/21 10:23pm

alphastreet

TrivialPursuit said:



alphastreet said:



George Michael did do another duet with a black woman, Learn to say no on Jody’s debut album, but the record company didn’t want to release it


Well, it's at least on the record. George did a lot of duets like that. Whitney, Aretha (twice apparently), Jody, Mary J. Blige, Mutya (who is Filipino and Spanish).

Seems like Janet would've been a perfect opportunity.




Will check out the mutya song soon
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Reply #22 posted 10/07/21 4:12am

coldcoffeeandc
ocacola

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TrivialPursuit said:



coldcoffeeandcocacola said:


Glad it was not an mj duet. It'd be creepy with his sister.

Ralph tres would've been great or Luther Vandross


Those are great choices. She did a Luther duet anyway. Ralph has a higher voice, though. Still could've sang that part maybe. Bobby Brown was hot that year with his first solo record. It would've been a great choice.

Hear me out, but Deon Estus or Rick Astley would've been interesting choices, vocally. Also think about Maxi Priest, Johnny Gill (mentioned).

But, ultimately, I think striking when the iron of their first solo record was white hot, GEORGE MICHAEL. Of course, he did one with Aretha, so would it hae been "Oh, George is singing with another Black singer?" perception? Don't know. But he has the soulful voice to do it.

And it would've been no more creepy that MJ and Stevie singing, "tell 'em that we're just good friends." It's like gay lovers on the DL. "He's my roommate."





I was going to say Rick Astley but I thought I'd get laughed off the org!!
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Reply #23 posted 10/07/21 4:59am

Cinny

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coldcoffeeandcocacola said:

TrivialPursuit said:


Those are great choices. She did a Luther duet anyway. Ralph has a higher voice, though. Still could've sang that part maybe. Bobby Brown was hot that year with his first solo record. It would've been a great choice.

Hear me out, but Deon Estus or Rick Astley would've been interesting choices, vocally. Also think about Maxi Priest, Johnny Gill (mentioned).

But, ultimately, I think striking when the iron of their first solo record was white hot, GEORGE MICHAEL. Of course, he did one with Aretha, so would it hae been "Oh, George is singing with another Black singer?" perception? Don't know. But he has the soulful voice to do it.

And it would've been no more creepy that MJ and Stevie singing, "tell 'em that we're just good friends." It's like gay lovers on the DL. "He's my roommate."

I was going to say Rick Astley but I thought I'd get laughed off the org!!

I can imagine all of these, and they could have worked.

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