FEATURE:
Black Diamond, Solid Gold
on this blog before, and I have collated playlists of her biggest hits. I think it is important to revisit a musical icon who has just announced her Black Diamond World Tour and album of the same name. Here are some more details from Pitchfork:
“Janet Jackson will be hitting the road this summer with her new “Black Diamond World Tour.” The shows will feature music from a forthcoming album called Black Diamond, as well as “a special performance of Rhythm Nation 1814,” according to a press release.
Jackson’s tour begins in June. Find her poster below. Get tickets here. (Pitchfork may earn a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)
On The Tonight Show, Jackson talked about the new album’s title in her interview with Jimmy Fallon. “It’s the toughest of the stones—of the diamonds—to cut. And I heard that immediately as it’s hardest to hurt and destroy. And I’ve come to realize in recent years that I’m incredibly strong. U see myself as this rock.” Watch the interview below.
Janet Jackson’s last new album, Unbreakable, was released in October 2015. She reissued Rhythm Nation 1814 last year to celebrate its 30th anniversary”.
The last year or so have been quite busy for Janet Jackson. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year, and it was a well-deserved honour, as Jackson has been responsible for some of the most groundbreaking and spectacular albums in music history. Albums like 1986’s Control moved her a step closer to Pop domination and, to many people, Jackson is an icon. Certainly, she is someone who takes control of her music and legacy, and her last studio album, Unbreakable, was released in 2015. Jackson’s appearance at Glastonbury last year showed that she is one of the music world’s finest performers – even if there were sound hitches -, and she is heading full steam into the 2020s with a new tour and album. I will move on to a playlist, but I want to source from a BBC article from last year that argues why Jackson is one of Pop’s most underrated artists – something I completely agree with:
“Janet’s creative and commercial breakthrough came in 1986, when she teamed up with Minneapolis-based producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to make Control, a game-changing dance-pop-R&B album that paved the way for the new jack swing sound of the late-'80s. When Janet declared “this time, I’m gonna do it my way,” on the title track, she meant it: Jam and Lewis’s sleek, teak-tough beats gave her a state-of-the-art platform to establish her own powerful pop persona – that of a strong, self-assured young woman who had no time for “nasty boys”. Then, with 1989’s formidableJanet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 album, she became more overtly political. "Join voices in protest to social injustice," she sang on the title track. "A generation full of courage, come forth with me."
"Long before Beyoncé was flashing the word 'feminist' in the background while performing on stage, Janet was exploring how navigating the world as a black woman is never not political," says Dr Kirsty Fairclough from the School of Arts and Media at the University of Salford. "Her music and image melded to explicitly address racism and sexism with songs about trying to flourish as a person in an environment ruled by both. In a 1987 interview following the release of Control, Jackson responded to a question about being a feminist by saying, 'If it’s someone, a woman, who’s taking control of her life as well as her career, then I say that I am a feminist.'"
These two albums contain some of Janet’s most enduring songs, including What Have You Done for Me Lately?, Escapade and Nasty, on which she delivers an iconic rebuke to disrespectful males: “No, my first name ain’t baby – it’s Janet, Miss Jackson if you’re nasty.” They also established her as one of the most dynamic music video creators of all time. When I Think of You is a joyous homage to old-school Hollywood musicals directed by Absolute Beginners’ Julien Temple; The Pleasure Principle contains a dazzling dance performance from Janet that peaks with a famous chair sequence that Britney Spears referenced in her 2000 video for Stronger.
But in recent years, Janet’s reputation has definitely enjoyed a revival. Her 2015 album Unbreakable debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and her recent tours have won appreciative reviews. “When [acclaimed French singer-songwriter] Christine and the Queens did a segment on my radio show called Your Song [in which guests select a song that is special to them], she chose Janet’s The Pleasure Principle and she was just so elated when she was speaking about it,” says Clara Amfo. “Janet has and continues to be a template for so many artists: Christine, Ciara, fellow Glastonbury performer Janelle Monáe, MNEK, Beyoncé, the list goes on”.
Let’s hope Janet Jackson comes back to the U.K. later this year, as there are many people here who will want to experience her Black Diamond tour and, ahead of the album of the same name, spend some time revisiting her incredible back catalogue; go and get classics like Rhythm Nation 1814 on vinyl, and witness a truly awesome talent. It is clear that Janet Jackson is one of music’s…
RAREST and most precious gems.