Album review: Janet Jackson - The Velvet Rope

In 1997 Janet Jackson released an album which gave us a completely different Janet to the one asking who was eating that nasty food, urging us to go on an escapade, and telling us the ways in which love goes. Each album Janet released had always seen her latch onto a theme and give us something different to what came before. Control saw Janet assert her womanhood and her sense of self in a world where men try to claim it for themselves. Rhythm Nation 1814 saw Janet shed light on the injustices she saw in the world as a young woman trying to make sense of it. Her self-titled album saw Janet explore her own sexuality. But something about 1997's The Velvet Rope was different...in a different way. Janet wasn't tired of men, or the world or her appetite for sex. She was tired of life. Janet wasn't focused on really giving us anything, and yet gave us everything.

The Velvet Rope may have been a case of Janet being close to end of hers, but it was a lifeline being extended to so many of her fans who were battling demons of depression, experiencing isolation and questioning their relationships with people around them. But most importantly, the relationship they have with themselves. It also went some way into pulling Janet out of the fairy tale life that many of us were under the impression she was living. Hurt, pain, insecurities and loss - they do not discriminate. We were witnessing them affecting Janet in the ways it does each of us. The Velvet Rope was Janet declaring to the world that whilst there are many things and circumstances in life that separate her from the rest of us, and separate us from one another - the human condition is one thing that's shared between us all and what binds us. This wasn't a common angle for a pop star who was at Janet's level of fame and worldwide success in the 90s to take on an album. I'm sure Virgin records may have had concerns that the album their newest signee was turning in was wildly different to what she'd done before, and what many knew her for, but it paid off massively. The Velvet Rope wasn't just a really good album. It was a creative force which completely changed our perspective on a star we thought we had figured out by now. Who we never figured would allow us to see her quite like this. But more than that, it was a representation of a world that we often chose not to see. 

There didn't seem to be any rules when it came to putting this thing together. Janet and her partners in crime, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, really pull from the edges for The Velvet Rope to make songs whatever they want them to be. The album casually swings from Electro Pop, to Rock, to Funk, to R&B, to Dance music, to Pop, and then back again. Sometimes with fusions. Sometimes with a different twist. No two songs on this album sound the same, and half of it is unlike anything Janet had done before. An album like this could easily be alienating. But the anchor is the familiarity of Janet's voice, and the feelings she conveys through these songs.

Whilst Rhythm Nation tried its damnest to make commentaries on capitalism, violence and social constructs, it was easy for these songs to get lost in how bouncy they were (i.e "State of the World") or the sequencing. An absolute banger of a song about feeling good and free-spirited coming after a song which touches on children having to grow up into a broken world kinda robs the focus. The Velvet Rope has a far better flow to it. Everything about the album feels more fluid and presents a narrative which flows from song to song. Starting with feeling lost ("The Velvet Rope"), to experiencing loss ("Together Again"), to loneliness ("Empty" and "I Get Lonely"), to being open to being loved ("Anything"), to then finding your place in the world ("Special").

The theme of The Velvet Rope is loss and a lack of belonging. But there's still some joy to be found in the songs, even if it doesn't shout it from the rooftops. The "Tubular Bells" sampling "Velvet Rope" is about those who hurt others being truly seen. Acknowledging that sometimes people who hurt others do so because of their own hurt. And that whilst many wouldn't give them the time of day, showing enough compassion to allow them to love others and love themselves is how we all win. "Together Again" was written following Janet losing a friend to AIDS. But the song is not about the anguish at the loss. It's about that person's everlasting memory, and the notion of there being an existence where Janet will get to see them again. "Together Again" is known for its Dance, House influenced sound, but it was originally written as a ballad, and it's not hard to hear it. "Free Xone" is a 5 minute spoken-word funky get-down, with a message which is basically 'People be gay' before it became a meme featuring Quinta Brunson. "Go Deep" is about being so tired of life that you're like 'Fuck it, I'mma go out, drink, maybe fuck around a little'.

But not every song has a silver lining, as is true to life. "Got 'til It's Gone" is what it says on the tin. Realising what you've lost, that you'll never get it back, and continually being tormented by the wonder of what could have been. "Empty" is about being your truest self online, and connecting with somebody who understands you in ways that nobody in your offline life does, and raising the question of how 'real' a relationship is that you've built with somebody online. "Empty" has aged like the finest of wines given where the world is now in an age of social media, dating / hook-up apps and online gaming. It honestly makes more sense to me now than it did when I first heard it way back.

The Velvet Rope's charm is in how relatable its songs are. Some songs may not even click with you at first, and you'll only appreciate them because of the production. But then, you really listen to what Janet is saying, and then you find yourself like 'Oh, shit. That's me!' And it's not to shame or make anybody feel bad. It's simply to make you feel. The acknowledgment that you aren't as alone as you may have thought you were. And that as vast as this universe is, there will always be at least one other person out there who gets it and gets you for who you truly are. You may not ever meet that person, but they are out there. This is what The Velvet Rope represents. Belonging and the championing of acceptance.

Pop owes an everlasting debt to Janet Jackson. Janet's impact on music seemed to have been wiped off the table all because her left titty guest featured in her Super Bowl performance, but there's no escaping that pop would not be what it is without Janet Jackson. But I also feel that the impact that The Velvet Rope specifically had on Pop music gets overlooked. We may not have had Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer, Rihanna's Loud, Beyoncé's Lemonade or Kelela's Take Me Apart (which even share similar visual colour palettes) if it wasn't for this album. Janet not only made it okay for women in Pop to lay their feelings and insecurities bare in a song, but she normalised Black women in Pop being able to do what was largely only done within Soul, Blues and R&B - as though these are the only genres in which Black woman can extricate their pain.

The Velvet Rope wasn't just an affirmation of belonging for people who felt they were different. It was for Black girls who wanted to be boundless Pop stars. That reinvention, drastic image changes, controversy, and living your best Pop star life weren't exclusive to Madonna. That you ain't gotta be white to be able to do any of this shit. Black girls can do all of these things too, because Janet was doing it too.

I don't even think Janet, Jam nor Lewis realised just how much they were doing with this album, and the impact it had and continues to have. As a blueprint for a Pop star, but also in terms of its sounds. The Velvet Rope features all manner of styles and production techniques which we're still hearing in music being released now, 23 years later. The production on The Velvet Rope is as meticulous as you'd expect following the precision and attention to detail we'd gotten with Control, Rhythm Nation 1814 and Janet, but there are layers to this album which don't exist in those which came before. The Velvet Rope manages to feel big and bombastic, but still quaint and intimate. It manages to avoid sounding like an album of its time as a whole in ways that the previous 3 albums don't. There is a complete disregard for the album sounding urban enough, Black enough, hip enough, but still Pop enough for radio, and yet it still manages to effortlessly check boxes.

The singles from The Velvet Rope don't seem to stick in the consciousness or the library of Pop history like those from other albums do, but the album is part of the fabric of Pop and Pop stardom as we know it. And this album may be the rarest of jewels in Janet's discography, because we will never get an album like this from her again.

VERDICT: TIE ME UP BITCH

Highlights:
■ Velvet Rope
■ Got 'til It's Gone
■ My Need
■ Go Deep
■ Together Again
■ Empty 🏆 J's fave
■ Every Time
■ I Get Lonely
■ Anything
■ Special