Disco de Janet Jackson: “Discipline”

As a fan of classic janet(control, janet album), I am so in love with this new cd. Its exactly what I wanted from her. At 30 years old, janet is still making me get up and get my groove on...

FEEDBACK- this is the first single, loved it right off. The beat is amazing. For me it has a club/european/rnb vibe all smashed into one, and just makes for a great club banger that makes u get up and dance(just what u want from janet)

LUV- a lot of people are feeling LUV.. it hasnt grown on me yet. The song uses a car accident or traffic as an analogy for love/relationships. I just dont like it, its a generic rnb song to me...just a little boring for me. Its too slow for me to choreograph to, but not slow enough to get good sex too. I enjoy it driving down the street with the windows down, not much else

ROLLERCOASTER- Rodney jerkins KILLED this beat.. this is by far my favorite dance track on the cd. Its an rnb club banger with SERIOUS bass.. The intro alone is soooooooooooooo sick. When I first read the lyrics to this song I thought it was corny and I was going to hate it.. But the beat is so amazing meshed with janets vocals, its everything i could ask for in a song, and the chorus.........LOVE IT.... just a great song

Rock With U- Rock with U is janets house type song. I dont care for this type of music so its definately not one of my favorites. It doesnt make me want to dance, but it does make me feel rather sexy...so its not that bad:-)

2Nite- is another favorite of alot of people. Sorry I just dont get this song. I like the chorus, but i HATE HATE HATE the beat. The beat is just wierd and odd, and ugh i just dont like it.....moving on

CANT B GOOD- This song is so mellow, its like classic mid tempo janet song. It just makes u want to sway from side to side. This is the song that i put on and walk around my house like im filming the video... its a good mellow song.. strong track

NEVER LETCHU GO/GREATEST X- im reviewing these two together because I dont like them for the same reason. They are ultra boring, corny ballads and a bit cheesy for me. there is no redemptive value in either of these songs. These are the only two tracks on the album i skip while listening.

SO MUCH BETTA- this is a hot song, it samples daft punk(so ive been told, i dont know their music). The chorus is crazy robotic rnb at its best. The beat is simple yet hot and makes u want to dance.. good solid track, short and sweet.

THE 1 FEAT MISSY- When missy is on a track u know its crazy. Janet kills the chorus, missys opening rap is crazy and off the wall..the beat is HOT AS HELL..u cant help but get up and shake that dunk to this song....this is def a fave of mine.

WHATS UR NAME- This song is just magical to me. its a mid tempo rnb song about janet wanting to get this guys name and number..its just a hot, i want u kinda song. we have all been in this situation. Janets voice is amazing, and the beat is just strong yet it doesnt over power her vocals...its smooth rnb at its best

DISCIPLINE- the title track.. NE-YO FREAKIN MURDERED THIS SONG...its freaking amazing. Its an S&M song, janet wants to be tied up and punished. The beat is sex and janets voice is orgasmic. If u dont make a few babies to this song, ur medically friged.. one of her best baby making songs by far.

CURTAINS- last song, rnb vibe, using the closing of the show as an analogy to what shes doing with this guy or what she wants to do..its a fun song, sexy beat, u can keep the sex going from DISCIPLINE thru this track, so it keeps the grown and sexy vibe.

All together, im LOVING this album. Its a great solid effort... so go pick it up..... If u arent happy with it.. U can come over and DISCIPLINE ME

Janet Jackson's 10th studio album, "Discipline" is very good in my opinion. It is my favorite album of hers of this decade. I think Janet's problem or her labels is that they don't pick the right singles. "Rock With U" is being toted as the next single when its clear "Luv" ought to be (and currently "Luv" is #46 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Tracks charts right now and climbing). I love this album and what I like most about it is the songs stick out and they are always in my head which makes me want to pop this album in. My favorite songs are "Luv", "Rollercoaster", "Rock With U", "So Much Betta", "What's Ur Name", "Discipline", "Never Letchu Go". Janet has so many potential singles on this album to make this go a long away. I just hope her and her team makes the right decisions to ensure the album's success.

Janet,

I do LUV U and there is a lot I like about this album, but listen to me. I'm your friend and your friends should always be honest. I'm here to give you a little discipline.

1. Axe the interludes. They are interesting for the first listen or two, but they are essentially filler. There is a reason why people throw away the packing foam peanuts after they get a present -- they want the actual object in the box, not the non-biodegradable stuffin's.

2. Get your head out of your va-jay-jay. It worked for "janet" and it's been downhill from there. There is more to the world than getting laid. The bondage look and title track aren't extreme enough to appeal to real S&M afficianados and I'm not sure they would be of interest to the vast swath of America. I don't think people were really buying it during "The Velvet Rope" and I sure as heck don't think they are buying it now.

3. Not unlike "Damita Jo", "The Velvet Rope", "20 Y.O." and "All for You", this album has many pop/dance/r&b pleasures. What it shares with all of those albums is an unwieldy length and a lot of chaff with the wheat. Hip-hop is not your strong suit, girl.

4. To prove that I'm generous, I'm going to tell you that I love me some "LUV", "Feedback", "Rock With U", "So Much Betta" and "The Greatest Ex". Keep that good stuff coming!

5. I was nervous about you leaving the Jam-Lewis collaboration -- the results aren't bad, just not as exciting as they could be. How about you step out of the same ol'/same 'ol R&B producer mix and get with some real pop/dance producers. Clearly you are in a rut on the last several albums and the formula essentially seems to get re-shuffled. Don't make me spank you.

In summation, Janet, I do LUV U and that's why I care. If anyone can turn this ship around, it's you. I'm not looking for you to repeat your "Control", "Rhythm Nation" and "Janet" heyday. Embrace your pop diva roots (note that your last huge hit was "All For You" which was essentially a dance club/disco jam) and ditch the sexed-up, hip-hoppy R&B that has been bogging you down. Get a little fun on us!

J-Q's

More and more I'm noticing that my undying love for Janet, a Taurus, born Janet Damita Jo Jackson in Gary, Indiana on May 16th year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-six is based more on my childhood memories, nostalgia and her groundbreaking achievements as a black woman than her music, especially as of late. This, her third album since that terrible thing that happened in 2004. The thing that has seemingly marred the sales and promotion of her last two albums, okay more the first one of those two, that second one just wasn't all that great. Well, it's a brand new day and like Mariah she gotten the Virgin Records monkey off her back and has signed a new deal with Def Jam. Let's see if the third time is the charm.

Janet didn't exactly explode back on the scene with her first single from this, her tenth album, the D'Mile and Rodney Jerkins-produced "Feedback". The sparsely promoted song, which in my opinion is her hottest in years was received well by critics, but wasn't the radio smash it deserved to be and is still fighting it out on the charts. The response to the accompanying video though has been lukewarm, even from fans. These early events did not giving me confidence of a looming "MiMi-like" comeback for Ms. Janet. Her lack of visibility for the last month or so, having performed the single basically nowhere doesn't help either, but I'm not giving up yet. At the end of the day it's all about the music right, so let's get to it.

The album starts off with the "I.D." interlude. Yes, the interludes are back, but they are back a la "The Velvet Rope", so they actually make sense and are listenable, unlike the ones from every album since then. Again like "The Velvet Rope" the this album is almost like a movie or a theatrical show, the interludes like movements, unifying the songs, all flowing one into another. They all have a basic theme which I won't give away here. Also like "The Velvet Rope", this album is also best when listened to as a whole.

Next is the first single, "Feedback" which flows directly into "Luv", the third single from the album, tailor made for urban radio. The crunk, bouncy number which at times seems a little more Ciara, than Janet, smartly uses the metaphor of a car crash, litigation and all, for falling in love:

"...I should sue ya.

I shoulda stopped at the red light cuz,

Now I'm like a deer caught in headlights, oh

He hit me with his love, la-love, la-love, love...

Got me caught in a wreck I'm a mess...

He crashed into my heart..."

Then there's "Rollercoaster", an upbeat number featuring Janet's world famous robotic layered vocals over a busy Darkchild beat. The second single, the electronic "Rock With U", co-written and produced by Jermaine Dupri & Ne-Yo is tailor made for pop radio and can be best described as Kylie-lite, a surprising feat from that particular writing and production team. Being Kylie-lite is hardly a bad thing here though as Kylie is Janet-lite on "All I See" from her latest album "X", coincidentally Kylie's tenth as well. I see it as returning the favor. Even with that Janet makes this track all her own with her trademark layered "oohs". "2Nite" produced by Stargate adds a little 80's throwback flavor to the album. The best parts are the bridge and short the breakdown at 3:27. Janet, I love that part, why didn't you make that part longer?

This time around Janet decided to slow things down in the middle of the album and not toward the end like she usually does. The next three songs, "Can't B Good", "Never Letchu Go", and "Greatest X", produced by Ne-Yo, Johnta Austin & Jermaine Dupri, and The Dream respectively, seemingly drag the album down at first but upon a second listen they contain small bits and of pieces raw soul and vocal progression from the small-voiced diva, especially at 2:58 on "Never Letchu Go". Even with all that, the only single-worthy track out of the three is "Can't B Good", no "Again's" or "I Get Lonely's" here.

Things perk up with the Jermaine Dupri produced "So Much Betta" which features a fun chopped and screwed vocal on the chorus and a soaring layered vocal channel. At only two minutes and fifty-three seconds as soon as you start getting into it's over, prompting many rewinds. Next is "The 1" which features two witty rap verses by Missy Elliott. Though produced by Dupri as well the beat sounds a lot like something Rich Harrison would do. This Harrison jacking though isn't as blatant as frequent Janet collaborators Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis' last year on "Disrespectful", the first single from Chaka Khan's last album. 2:47 into the song Missy exclaims "This is crazy!" referring to the beat I guess. Unfortunately, I can't fully agree with Missy. Yes the beat is indeed crazy, but it would have been crazier in 2005. If there was such a great need for the Harrison sound why didn't they resurrect "Pops Up!" or "Speed It Up (Put It On You)", which are Janet tracks actually produced by Harrison that were cut from the "Damita Jo" album. Another Dupri joint, the mid-tempo, summer single-worthy "What's Ur Name" is a favorite of mine on the album with Janet's vocals riding the beat perfectly. Even the reference to the T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone in the chorus is non-obtrusive enough to not be cringe inducing. The shortest track on the album at a meager two minutes and thirty-four seconds, also prompted multiple rewinds. They should shoot this and "So Much Betta" together as a dual single video a la the videos from Missy Elliot's "Miss E..." album, but more than likely if this is miraculously chosen as a single the label will more likely throw in the rapper du jour of the moment to lengthen things.

Next is the title track, "Discipline", the only "baby making" track on this album and unlike some of the ones from the last two albums this one is actually sexy and very soulful, it's right up there with "Any Time, Any Place". Yes, even though there is a little moaning on this one, it's tasteful. There are no swear words and the song rather than being blatant and explicit is filled to the brim with cleverly written double entendre. As you guessed this song is sort of a bondage S&M metaphor, think "Rope Burn" 2.0, except with whips and things. At 0:52 Janet coos:

"Daddy, I disobeyed you,

Now I want you to come punish me..."

with such conviction that I feel like I'm in her bedroom with a whip in my hand. That was some of her best acting since Chip Fields burned her with the iron on "Good Times" back in the day. Closing my eyes listening to this I can almost see Janet tying up and disciplining some lucky audience member, whipping him on stage in front of 80,000 screaming fans. Or better yet having that lucky guy whip her. The chorus almost melted my speakers with the lyrics:

"I need some discipline tonight

Don't hold back

I've been very bad

Make me cry

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Daddy make me cry..."

The song ends with eerie chants of "Take out your frustrations on me..." which is sexy, but a little scary. In fact at 2:00 Janet actually exclaims "I'm scared..." and you know what Janet I'm scared too, but I'm also turned on. I've got some disciplining to do.

To end the album is "Curtains", a midtempo number laden with guitar and horns especially dedicated to the fans, another of Janet's more soulful tracks. I cant wait to see this one on tour. I could see her closing things out with this one.

If you haven't figured it out already, this is Janet's best album in years and even though it's probably not gonna pull in "MiMi" numbers the first week especially since they just started promoting it yesterday. But it's a quality record that I actually believe in. Hopefully LA Reid and Def Jam nurture properly because it has the potential to be a huge hit. Because Janet needs it, scratch that, I need it, for my own sanity. If this record doesn't go #1 I'm gonna lose it.

If you must download, download: "Feedback", "Luv", "Rock With U", "What's Ur Name", "Discipline"

Discipline sounds great. Her vocals are amazing and nobody can harmonize like Janet. As for everybody who wants to hear 'classic' Janet: listen to Rhythm Nation or Control, if that's what you want to hear. Otherwise, stop complaining. BTW, what's up with these long reviews, do people actually read them??