JESSE WASHINGTON

Associated Press


"Relax. It's just sex."

Impossible. Although Janet Jackson delivers those instructions a mere six minutes into her new CD, "Damita Jo," relaxation is the last thing on her agenda with this sinfully appealing concoction of infectious beats and scandalous lyrics.

Even before her Super Bowl shuffle pushed the FCC over the edge, the freak-quency of Jackson's exposure had been increasing ever since she released "janet" in 1993. That album cover offered the first glimpse of the breasts that launched a thousand V-chips, beneath the small hands of her then-husband.

Next came "Velvet Rope" in 1997, complete with songs about bondage and magazine photos showing Jackson with her nipple pierced, butt be-thonged, crotch tattooed and body pricked by an ice pick. And her last album was 2001's "All For You," which featured more than a few songs that can't be quoted here without what, in the printed form, would amount to a ten-word delay.

Now comes "Damita Jo," which is so sex-drenched it's bound to raise even more hackles among moral conservatives and questions about whether Jackson planned her halftime peep show.

Such content isn't unusual in today's pop culture landscape, where cable TV's raunch is stealing viewers and awards from broadcast networks and the Cat in the Hat tells dirty jokes on movie screens. But if this is what it's come to for the woman who once played little Penny on "Good Times," what's next - Hilary Duff swinging from the stripper pole?

Remember "Nasty" in 1986? Title notwithstanding, that hit song was a 20-year-old Jackson's demand for modesty, with lines like "the only nasty thing I like / is a nasty groove ... so close the door if you want me to respond / 'cause privacy is my middle name."

Actually, Jackson's middle name is the title of both her new album and its first song, in which Miss Jackson now proclaims herself "freak undercover / I do movies, I do dance / I do music, I love doing my man / I want a nasty boy, put it on me good ..."

My, how she's grown. Still, it's a great song from Jackson's longtime producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with a contagious chorus and beat perfectly balanced between hip-hop and R&B. As always, Jackson's voice is sweet and frosting-light - there's not one vamp or soaring note on the whole album.

But we've never looked for vocal extravaganzas from Jackson, now 38. We look for her to entertain us with excellent videos, saturate the radio with catchy tunes, and move our bodies in the club.

"Damita Jo" has the goods to do exactly that. Among the many excellent tunes are "My Baby," featuring the atypical rapper/producer Kanye West; the Babyface-penned-and-produced "Thinkin' Bout My Ex," which might have Jackson's current boyfriend Jermaine Dupri looking over his shoulder; and the soulful dance track "SloLove," which is not slow at all with production from Murlyn Music of Sweden.

Unlike brother Michael, whose music went downhill after two incredible albums (1979's "Off the Wall" and 1982's "Thriller"), Janet's output has remained consistently good, even eclipsing Michael's in recent years. But one thing Michael will always have is songs that mean something. Janet hasn't touched that since 1989's "Rhythm Nation." And judging from this album, she probably needs to remake "Looking For Love (in All The Wrong Places)."

Although Jackson dedicates several interludes to the theme of how we (i.e. she) are a mixture of "so many different characters ... all looking for love," her search doesn't get much farther than the bedroom. This is where a "sexplosion" could jump off, a "tastation" might go down and she'd prefer you'd "just be an animal."

By the time we get to the song "Moist," even eunuchs would get the idea.

This sexual fixation is the only problem with "Damita Jo" - an especially glaring one considering that one of Jackson's private parts is responsible for what some are calling the biggest outbreak of cultural Puritanism in decades.

For creating pop confections that you can grind to on the dance floor or wherever else grooves are got on, Jackson remains up there with Madonna as one of the best ever. She's still relevant and compelling 22 years after her first album, and will probably remain so long after her right breast is forgotten.

But Jackson has forgotten that classic songs need classic lyrics. All we get on "Damita Jo" is verbal Viagra. And no matter how sweet the sensation, Jackson can't make it seem like love

Thanks for that review. I can understand why the reviewer thinks that, but I do disagree with his statement that said Janet hasn't had classic lyrics since Rhythm Nation. There are amazing and memorable lyrics on janet., many, many classic lyrics on The Velvet Rope, and even some pretty great lyrics on All For You.

theVelvetRoper said:

He also said she hasn't written a song about "something".

"But one thing Michael will always have is songs that mean something. Janet hasn't touched that since 1989's "Rhythm Nation.""

Wrongo! What about "New Agenda" for "janet."? What about "What About", "Special", the song after the album (title?) and even "Together Again" and the title track of "Vevlet Rope". I gues those weren't singles. The review kind of sucks becuase it doesn't mention very much about the specfic songs and which ones are really strong, etc. The review is just vague and it's hard to tell if it's a good review or not.

jthad1129 said:

I just listened to the cd and I must say, I am blushing a little. I must be getting old when one of my favorite cuts is R&B Junkie, Old school tribute got it going on! Sexhibition relax, its only sex, is a banging track, so is Strawberry Bounce and My Baby with Kayne. She will definately be getting peoples attention with Moist and Warmth

Don't judge the cd on the first singles (like i did), it has some good music, not just S-E-X, even Island Life is nice, lite and different.

jthad1129 said:

I know I cann't wait for people to hear this song! it should have been her first single!

I am glad that Janet feels the need 2 "do thing for myself it's about me now". She doesnt have 2 live up 2 the teen audience anymore. She hasnt really, but All 4 U was a slight come in2 the TRL world. But Im glad that she has gotten past that stage, we will get there one day.

hold up-----wait a minute...
erykah badu already used that one last year, don't bow just yet...
see the bottom left corner...

mochalox said:

FREAKQUENCY is the name of Erykah Badu's prodution team
I always loved that name

so there are no songs on this album about poor kids in third world, war in Russia, war in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, racism, religious fanatism, french politics, The Nobel Prize in Literature, Endangered Species , the Matrix movies, pollution, ozone field, the Amazon forest, unemployment?

There are no social issues discussed in DAMITA JO...I'm listening to it now and it's all about sex, love, sex, bodily fluids, sex, body parts, sex...

I like the record alot but again....like ALL FOR YOU...after the first few tracks comes endless songs and interludes of whispery ballads and I'm just not a fan of that.

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

yes, the first five or so tracks, hit it, then it is a snooze fest. I also cut out all of the interludes, I was soooo hoping she would outgrow that.

...Daily News Jim Farber gave it a zero in today's paper, as he does most pop stars of the same kind.
[This message was edited Thu Mar 25 20:45:40 2004 by Starmist7]

Anyone looking for a good review of Damita Jo can find it here - in my favourite left-wing broadsheet. Gawd, I love the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk...58,00.html

4 stars out of 5.

Before we get down to the business of Janet Jackson's seventh album, let us spare a thought for Bubba the Love Sponge. He was one of the more unlikely victims of what one commentator called the "cultural McCarthyism" now sweeping America: a racy Florida DJ who suddenly found himself among a number of DJs canned by radio network Clear Channel as part of its clean-up campaign. The spur was the "wardrobe malfunction" that exposed Janet Jackson's right breast during the Superbowl half-time show.

For Jackson, the Superbowl incident has been an unqualified success. Her single A Little While, a brilliant, skeletal take on mid-1980s drivetime rock, was released the day after Superbowl and swiftly became the most-played track on US radio; Damita Jo, meanwhile, is predicted to outsell its double-platinum predecessor, 2001's All For You. For the rest of the US, however, the consequences of her actions seem noticeably less healthy: vastly increased fines for "broadcast indecency", and an "indecency probe" by media watchdog the Federal Communications Commission, which many believe merely serves to distract attention from the FCC's attempt to impose a radical relaxation of media ownership rules. Without spending a penny, Jackson may just have mounted the most costly promotional stunt in history. The irritating thing is that Damita Jo doesn't need a promotional boost, let alone a promotional boost that allows the US religious right to have a field day.

One of the reasons it is difficult to believe in the "wardrobe malfunction" story is because, on the evidence of this album, Jackson is an extremely savvy operator. She has assembled an unimpeachable production and songwriting team, not only calling in new hip-hop wonderboy Kayne West and Dallas Austin, fresh from working with Kelis, but also reuniting with Jam and Lewis, the duo behind her 1986 album Control. The latter is a smart move: as a defiantly retro track called R&B Junkie makes explicit, one of the few precedents for the ultra hi-tech, avant-garde R&B production styles of Timbaland and Rodney Jerkins lies among the stammering beats and atonal electronics of Nasty and What Have You Done For Me Lately?.

The obligatory boring ballads aside, the results are astonishing. Damita Jo's opening salvo is an object lesson in keeping things concise. Four tracks, each barely three minutes long, go hurtling past in a head-spinning blur of snapping rhythms, buzzing synthesised noise and oddly disconnected samples: cut-up vocals and glockenspiel on Strawberry Bounce, rattling tablas on Sexhibition. Elsewhere, there are impossibly lithe basslines - notably on All Nite (Don't Stop) and I Want You, an intriguing electronic reconstruction of an early 1970s soul ballad. For the most part, the songs are not only inventive, but brilliantly constructed. The hooks nag, the choruses are explosive. R&B is primarily a singles genre - even the peerless Aaliyah's albums were a bit of a slog - but Damita Jo's strike rate is remarkably high. It's triumphant stuff.

In fact, the only drawback is the album's lyrical monomania. Janet Jackson has been harping on about sex almost exclusively for a decade now, and shows no signs of giving it a rest here. She comes up with things like Sexhibition, a mind-boggling string of page-three caption puns: sexplore, sexposure, sexation, sexplanation. After a while, the sexasperated listener may find themselves loudly sexpressing the desire that someone show Jackson the sexit. Elsewhere, she puns wearingly on phrases like "doing it" and "coming", like a demented 14-year-old boy. Perhaps she let Bubba the Love Sponge have a slice of the songwriting action as compensation for losing his job.

An apogee of daftness is reached on Warmth, a song that appears to be about - and, in the anything-goes spirit of the album, let us not mince words here - wanking someone off in a car. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that there is a fantastic song to be written about this strangely overlooked topic, but it would have to take itself a lot less seriously than this. Jackson makes the whole deal sound like no fun whatsoever, which is surely missing the point. "My hand's wrapped around, moving up and down," she sings, sounding like a biology teacher issuing instructions on how to dissect a frog.
You can see what Jackson is straining for on Warmth and Sexhibition, just as you can see why, at 38 years old, she would feel the need to flash her nipple at a television audience of 90 million. The world of R&B is obsessed with novelty and packed with lubricious ladies and lothario lovermen. Jackson is trying to send out a signal: you may be younger than me, but I am prepared to go further. As it turns out, there is no need. The deliberate courting of controversy is the least interesting thing about Damita Jo.

....

Just thought i'd put my favourite quote in bold.

I personally love the cd
one music paper had the headline"slacko jacko" saying the album sounded promising when they were talking about it last year (alot of hype about european dance producrs) but when it came to the release it was just the same as every other Janet album (they said the same thing about "lovers rock" by sade)
anyhoo "Warmth" made me blush the first time I heard it when she says the line "There's no place warmer than my mouth Oh your so big, is that all for me? thank you"



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[This message was edited Fri Mar 26 3:49:13 2004 by twink69]

Kind of surprised that none of the reviews mention "All Night". From the sample I've heard of it, it was hot and VelvetRoper confrimed that. I must admit that I'm a bit dissapointed that it wasn't more Euro sounding like she promised and it feels a lot like her last few albums but that might work. I've only heard a few songs so I'm not sure. I'll have to wait for the whole thing. I just hope that if this doesn't work that Janet tries something new like she said she was going to.

VinnyM27 said:

Well, the Guardian review i posted above mentions it briefly (unless it's a different song - "All nite (Don't stop)") and seems to think it's one of the better songs with an "impossible lithe bassline". And i lurrrrrve lithe basslines
[This message was edited Fri Mar 26 9:58:32 2004 by TheFrog]

twink69 said:

I can't wait to hear this album!

theVelvetRoper said:

3 more days of waiting! I think I'm going to buy it early in the morning...you fuckers at Meijers better have it out!

2 words...

Bad - Dangerous

you can hear a stream of the album at :

http://www.windowsmedia.c...eekInMusic

TheGodfather said:

Those pretty much prove the point.

VoicesCarry said:

* * * *

All I know is the song they're playing now sucks nuts. Does she have an ear for what's good anymore? There's something off w/ the stuff she's putting out lately (the singles from All For You sucked nuts too). I dunno, I just wish she wouldn't smile so damn much every second - it's annoying (like that damn Jennifer Love Hewitt)

How much influence did Rene have on her musical choices? Has she sucked nuts since he's been gone? Just wondering...