Flashback Friday: Janet Jackson - Nasty | Ate that nasty food and left no crumbs

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026. This day marked the 40th anniversary of Janet Jackson’s third studio album, Control — which is crazy to say.

This album truly changed the landscape of pop for young girls. And I could pick any video for any of the singles from Control and cite its impact. But the particular video I’m going to flashback to this Friday is “Nasty”.

Janet was always one step ahead. And whilst she was able to take the fuckery of men and spin it into a fun music video and a whimsical song — the fact that Janet Jackson highlighted it in a video and made a song about it at all was a very big deal. It’s sad to say that this video has aged well because of this, but here we are. It absolutely sucks that we are still living in a world where men do not respect women’s boundaries and disregard consent.

Girl. Drop the plate.

But what also made me want to flashback to the “Nasty” video of all videos, is that not only was it the genesis of what would become a standard in Janet Jackson’s music videos, but it’s also the music video where you can see the DNA of what we would go on to see in SO many pop music videos for the next 4 decades. And not just in American pop, but K-pop. Particularly K-pop. Now… I know, I know. A big chunk of K-pop is a cosplay of American pop culture, Black American pop culture specifically. But K-pop is the one genre which is still keeping the look and vibe of videos such as “Nasty” alive, as American pop is short on acts who can actually dance and US record labels are cutting budgets for music videos.

By the time that Janet Jackson had released Control, Michael Jackson had already released Thriller and the music videos for “Beat It” and the album title track. Pop looked at Michael’s approaches to videos, which changed how many music acts and record labels looked at music videos. But which female pop star could compete with Michael back then? Or be taken seriously when they went to their record label and said ‘I want a music video like “Beat It” where I’m West Side Story’ing in this bitch’?. Janet Jackson having such huge success with Control and dropping music videos with a message, big set pieces and elaborate choreography was a sign that these sorts of videos were not ‘a guy thing’. Girls didn’t just want a music video shot in a bedroom or of them shimmying in front of a microphone for 3 minutes.

There’s a lot that Janet Jackson isn’t credited enough for when it comes to pop as we now know it. It’s really easy to just cite Michael Jackson and Madonna as pop pioneers when it comes to music videos. But Janet was too. And “Nasty” was just the beginning.

---

💿 Album reviews: Discipline | Damita Jo | The Velvet Rope
🔊 ?J Janet Jackson mashups: Janet Jackson x Riize | Janet Jackson x Crystal Kay | Crystal Kay x Janet Jackson