Album Review: Janet Jackson - Damita Jo

Janet’s right titty making an appearance at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show sank all chances of her eight studio album Damita Jo doing well commercially, and would forever taint the legacy of it. Titty gate would supersede every conversation around the album, and understandably so. It was a monumental moment in pop history which changed the course of Janet Jackson’s career, from which it never recovered. And whilst the blacklisting that Janet faced was the primary reason for Damita Jo failing to catch on the way it would have otherwise, it also had to deal with the music business at the time, which was changing. And whilst this may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of a media blacklisting in one of the biggest music markets in the world, it’s relevant ink in the margins as to why Damita Jo actually ended up being what it was musically, and why Virgin records still would have had a tough time with promoting it.

Music in 2004 was changing. It was harder to do the kind of numbers in sales which seemed like the norm not even 4 years earlier. After pop had its boom for a couple of years at the turn of the century, following Max Martin’s golden run with Britney Spears, NSync and The Backstreet Boys; R&B became the new pop from 2001, which Britney and Justin rode on the back of in a bid to stay current. And it’s no coincidence that both their careers, sounds and stage personas were right out of Janet and Michael’s playbooks respectively.

There was a conscious shift which was happening, where suddenly everybody who was pop or pop adjacent, was doing R&B. Hip-Hop began to meet in the middle with R&B. Hip-Hop producers were catching some of their biggest hits producing for either pop acts or R&B acts. But as R&B became more popular, so did pop rock, which was how Max Martin rebranded his sound via smashes such as Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone”, which would change the sound of pop for the next 5 years.

This was also a period in music where producers were becoming far more known as artists and celebrities in their own right. And as a result of this, albums were produced by a roster of talent to capitalise on this. Who produced an album took precedence over the artist on the cover. And some would argue that the artists barely mattered on these albums at all.

All of these things had a massive impact on Damita Jo, and dictated the direction of it. It was far more R&B heavy than All for You, but it had a pop rock track. And whilst All for You brought an additional producer into the fold alongside Janet album mainstays Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Damita Jo brought along big names such as Kanye West, Dallas Austin and Scott Storch.

Radio wasn’t what it once was. It was becoming far more sectionalised. This was the period in music where artists who straddled pop and R&B such as Janet, and were used to having one song play across both, were having to service different songs to impact both. The lines between pop and R&B became more defined, and it seemed like artists were being made to choose a camp as a result. R&B radio was not going to play “Just a Little While”, but pop radio would. Pop radio wouldn’t play “I Want You”, but R&B radio absolutely would. Damita Jo didn’t have anything comparable to an “All for You” or a “Doesn’t Really Matter” which could get played across both. Sure. Radio wasn’t really playing Janet at all during this time. But even if they were willing to spin joints from Damita Jo, Virgin didn’t seem to know how to market Janet effectively during this period in music and her career, and probably wouldn’t have made the right choices anyway. Just look at how they dropped the ball on All for You after it’s title track had impacted.

Janet Jackson | Damita Jo

Janet’s personal life and her position in the industry has always impacted her music from as early as Control, and things were no different 18 years later with Damita Jo. Janet was still riding the wave of just enjoying life that she was on with All for You. Life was good. So the music reflected that. But the lack of Janet having a particular point of view, something which was so distinct on four consecutive albums, is part of why Damita Jo is in that selection of Janet albums which aren’t remembered as bodies of work. and feel slightly inconsequential to her career - despite having some really good songs.

This lack of a viewpoint or a topic to centre the album on frees Janet up to do whatever. But it results in an album which doesn’t seem to have that special sauce. And it also reveals the conditions under which Janet does some of her best work. It’s when she has something to say. Like, ACTUALLY say.

Control was a declaration of independence. Rhythm Nation 1814 was a call for a different way of life. Janet was an affirmation of womanhood and sexuality. The Velvet Rope was Janet facing her demons. All for You and Damita Jo were…about fucking I guess. But also love. Which is fine. But it’s not like Janet hasn’t given us songs about these things before on each of the aforementioned albums. So to release a follow up to All for You, which was pretty much a retread of All for You felt repetitious. And whilst you would think the album is about Janet herself based on the album title, the opening track, and what Janet had said of the album on the few television shows that would have her to promote it; Damita Jo isn’t really about Janet at all. You don’t come out of the other side of the album feeling one way or the other about where Janet stands on anything aside from how good dick feels on the beach, and sucking it in a car. But we already knew Janet liked holiday dick and giving head from “China Love” and “Would You Mind” on All for You. There’s no new twists or takes on how Janet feels about either of them the second time around.

Janet Jackson | Damita Jo

Damita Jo does at least have a sense of Janet and Virgin having SOME idea of what they wanted. More so than All for You. Janet Jackson and Dallas Austin is a great combination, which makes immediate sense, and its crazy it took them this long to work together. “Just a Little While” was, and still is, a fantastic song. “All Nite (Don’t Stop)” is so slick, funky and charged with so much sexual energy, that you can’t help but move in the nastiest of ways to it. It’s brilliant. With a push, it could easily become a viral TikTok song, or a choreography sensation on YouTube. “SloLove” had Janet do disco for the first time since her debut in 1982, and would have made a great single back in 2004, and would still make a good single if it were released now. Damita Jo managed to feel right for the time it was released, without feeling dated, which is a key thing with Janet. Her shit always feels on time, yet timeless.

BUT, on the other hand…Damita Jo does feel like it tried too hard to cover all of the bases, and tick boxes for what execs thought would play better at the time. Its attempt to do so feels a little too calculated in ways that Janet’s earlier albums weren’t. And this is mostly evident in the inclusion of Kanye West.

The Kanye West productions are good and they make commercial sense. He was all over radio circa 2004. But they aren’t the defining moments of Damita Jo that I think Virgin Records expected and wanted them to be. And the Kanye sound is pretty prevalent in this album, even on the songs he had nothing to do with. So riding the Kanye wave of the time was clearly a note from somebody.

Damita Jo is at its best when Janet is doing Janet, as opposed to trying to fit something else. The Kanye West productions don’t feel specific to Janet’s style at all. Kanye doesn’t once try to create a song which feels like a Janet Jackson song in the ways that Jam & Lewis always have, and the way in that Dallas Austin does. It’s just Kanye doing Kanye. And that landed nicely with Brandy’s “Talk About Our Love”. But she clearly had an A&R who went for a song that at least met Brandy in the middle, and gave her room to fully shine the way she did on that song. The songs on Damita Jo are more of a showcase for Kanye than Janet. A bid to show that Janet can’t still be hip and a bit ‘hood’, like these were things Janet ever needed to do.

Damita Jo feels like an album which was calculatingly trying to cover all bases. And it’s weird that this is the energy of the album, given that Janet’s music has always managed to effortlessly cut across demographics. But here, the division of songs by genre feels really stark, which highlights there was no clear theme for this album from the start.

Damita Jo feels like a dump of songs, as opposed to an album or a body of work in the way that Control, Rhythm Nation 184, Janet. and The Velvet Rope did. Without the interludes, some of the sequencing choices on Damita Jo just wouldn’t make sense. I mean…”Just a Little While” being the last song on the album is weird. But because of the style of the other songs, I guess it’s the only logical place it could go.

As was customary for Janet by this point, Damita Jo features a whole bunch of interludes, all of which are spoken pieces which create a narrative for the album, which (depending on how you look at it) either chronicles one relationship, or two.

Janet opens the album by introducing herself. Then tells a guy how she’s gonna make the cheeks clap. She then falls in love with him. Janet and her boo with the nice package a’right enjoy an island getaway, where I guess she’s gonna have to ride it tonight. But when the evening resort buffet is over, and the staff push the tables back to make a dancefloor and turn up for the club night; Janet sees her ex and has flashbacks to that bomb sex. And now Janet wonders if she’s even with the right man.

Despite her boo really trying with the stroke later that night, Janet can’t stop thinking about her ex, which is the only reason she can nut now. But Janet is so tired of having to take this dick that she realises that she doesn't even want, that she straight-up tells her man that the dick ain’t what it used to be. But in a bid to still get hers with this man, because Janet can’t bring herself to end things; she tells him to treat her like a side bitch and just tear it up.

From this point in the album on, you can either interpret the songs as Janet trying to make it work with the same dude, or having moved on to somebody else. But next up, Janet is sucking dick in a car, then getting her pussy ate with the seat in full recline, then having an epiphany because the cunnilingus game is as strong as the single run from Rhythm Nation. And in a bid to not get too clingy, Janet is like ‘Go and do whatever, but before you do, just see to this pussy for a little bit’. And then that’s the end.

This flow wouldn’t have felt as pronounced were it not for the interludes. The songs themselves paint great pictures. But without Janet providing the segues, the story which runs through the songs perhaps wouldn’t be as clear. So props for that. I guess. 

Janet Jackson | Damita Jo

Damita Jo is fine. It doesn’t have any glaringly awful songs that I can’t bring myself to sit through. And no song on it is bad. It's a fun album. But it has no real focus as a whole, even though there does appear to be a core idea or two somewhere in this album, and some type of narrative. But there’s no point of view with album aside from sex, which would have been fine if it amounted to more than what is a very pleasant, but beige album in the same way that All for You was.

Janet is a great story teller, and the best songs on the Damita Jo are those where Janet tells a story which goes beyond ‘My baby, I love you so much, you got me so sprung’. Even the sex songs manage to be more interesting because of how fun they are and how they’re framed. “Sexhibition” and “Strawberry Bounce” are both types of foolery, but that’s what makes them fun and so playful. And they also manage to be two bangers with middle 8s, which was rare for the time and is still rare to this day. And as for “Warmth” and “Moist”, props to Janet for giving us songs about sucking dick and eating pussy. Rockwilder really seems to have a knack for these nasty songs, as a co-producer on All for You’s “Would you Mind” and the producer of Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” and Kelis’ “In Public”. If there was a way to track stats of how throats and tongues got the work to “Warmth” and “Moist”, I bet Janet, James and Terry would be owed royalties.

But what was becoming clear by this point was that Janet was having to work a little harder to try and find her place in a landscape that had changed so much since The Velvet Rope. I admire the fact that she even bothered trying. She coulda said ‘I’m Janet Jackson. The fuck am I try’na change my shit fo’!?’. But she didn’t. She booked time with producers who were hot at the time, and tried to make it work. But there seems to have been too many cooks in the kitchen and a reluctance to make the hard calls to streamline the sound and focus of this album. Hence why Damita Jo ended up sounding like four different albums and no clear target audience. Less would have been more. This didn’t need to be a 22 track affair for the sake of tradition.

You’ll have a good time with Damita Jo, for sure. But it doesn’t have that special something that some of Janet’s earlier albums had that made you want to keep going back to them. And it’s unfortunate that the chapter on Damita Jo was closed categorically, because there was some stuff here that I would have liked to have seen re-visited. Namely more songs with Dallas Austin.

Verdict: Relax. it’s just sex

Highlights:
▪ Spending Time With You 🔥
▪ Island Life
▪ All Nite (Don’t Stop) 🔥
▪ R&B Junkie
▪ Like you Don’t Love Me
▪ Warmth 🔥
▪ SloLove 🏆 J’s Fave
▪ Just a Little While 🔥