Janet (album) - Legacy

Legacy

Although Jackson had reached superstar status in the US, she had yet to achieve the same level of response internationally. According to Nacy Berry, vice chairman of Virgin Records, Janet marked the first time the label "had centrally coordinated and strategized a campaign on a worldwide basis" which ultimately brought her to a plateau of global recognition. Her historic multi-million dollar contract made her the highest-paid artist in history, until brother Michael renegotiated his contract with Sony Music Entertainment only days later. Sonia Murry noted that she remained "the highest-paid female in pop ... a whirlwind of fashion, personality and slick musical packaging rivaled only by Madonna and Whitney Houston in today's pop pantheon." James Robert Parish, author of Today's Black Hollywood (1995) wrote: "She confirmed her status as today's Queen of Pop when, not long ago, she signed a $35-$40 million recording contract with Virgin Records." Music critic Nelson George noted that while surpassing Michael would be next to impossible, Janet had assuredly reached iconic status. He explained: "What worked for Michael 10 years ago is working for her now ... Michael was clearly the voice of the '80s, those that grew up with him since Motown. And with the themes (independence, social consciousness and up-front yet responsible sexuality) that she's addressing in her albums and the popularity she's enjoying, she could very well be the voice of the '90s. I can see the parallels being drawn." Rolling Stone's The '90s: The Inside Stories from the Decade That Rocked (2010) documented that she had achieved some level of growth with each of her records, and that with Janet, "sing soul, rock and dance elements, as well as opera diva Kathleen Battle, unleashed her most musically ambitious record, guided as always, by producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis." Richard J. Ripani author of The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999 (2006) noted that she had led the incorporation of rap into mainstream R&B with a select group of artists, in that "rap music no longer sounded so musically distant to many R&B listeners because many of its traits were commonly heard in songs by mainstream artists such as Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Keith Sweat, and others." Vibe magazine observed that "R&B was omnipresent in 1993. It was a year in which Janet Jackson, at 27, topped the Billboard pop album charts for six straight summer weeks, with her critically lauded, six-times-platinum janet." It became one of only five albums in the history of the Billboard 200—along with Whitney Houston's Whitney (1987), Norah Jones's Feels Like Home (2004), Taylor Swift's Fearless (2008), and Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream (2009)—to debut at number one and remain at the top of the chart for a minimum of six consecutive weeks. It is also only one of seven albums—including Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987), Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A. (1984), George Michael's, Faith (1987), Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) and Katy Perry's, Teenage Dream (2010) to yield a minimum of six top ten hit singles on the Hot 100.

The release of Janet signaled the singer's transformation from conservative teen role model to adult sex symbol. In You've Come A Long Way, Baby: Women, Politics, and Popular Culture (1996), Lilly J. Goren observed that " 1993 album Janet moved away from politically driven lyrics to songs about love and sex-lyrics that could capitalize on her new sexy, more scantily clad image in MTV music videos. Jackson's evolution from politically aware musician to sexy diva marked the direction that society and the music industry were encouraging the dance-rock divas to pursue." Reporter Edna Gunderson commented: "The woman whose hourglass torso and sensual gyrating have made her MTV's reigning sex kitten is today a vision of wholesome beauty." Professor and social critic Camille Paglia expressed: "Janet's unique persona combines bold, brash power with quiet sensitively and womanly mystery. Her latest music is lightning and moonglow." Her music videos contributed to a higher degree of sexual freedom among young women, as Jean M. Twenge, author of Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before (2007) wrote: "In Alfred Kinsey's studies in the 1950s, only 3% of the young women had received oral sex from a man. By the mid-1990s, however, 75% of women aged 18-24 had experienced cunnilingus. Music videos by female artists have contributed to the trend, with both Mary J. Blige and Janet Jackson heavily implying male-on-female oral sex in music videos by pushing down on a man's head until he's in exactly the right position." Similarly, Paula Kamen in Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution (2000) states that "n the early to mid-1990s, oral sex even reached mainstream music as politically charged demand of truly liberated women," citing TLC, Mary J. Blige and Janet Jackson as examples of females artist simulating cunnilingus in their videos. Rolling Stone wrote that "she celebrated becoming an erotic being ... young women a way to have their sexual freedom and their dignity, to have their cake and eat it too." She was named Best Female Singer and Female Sex Symbol by Rolling Stone for the year 1993 in pop music. Goren adds that later pop stars such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Pink would rely on image, sex appeal and choreography as much as musical talent.