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“The idea is simple,” says Janet. “The idea is about looking forward, even as we look back.”
“Twenty years ago,” Janet explains, “Control was released. That’s the moment when I made an artistic commitment to express just what I was feeling. These twenty years are the story of that artist growing up-changing, celebrating, hurting, healing, but always revealing my innermost soul. Now I’m celebrating those twenty years by pushing the envelope further. I’m moving in a new direction, a direction that embraces and builds on everything I’ve done in the past.”
“I like to think that my future and my past meet in my present,” Janet adds. “They merge to make me who I am. For half of my forty years on the planet, I’ve been an independent artist. For good or bad, I’ve made my own choices. That’s a beautiful blessing. And this is a beautiful moment to consider where I’ve been, where I’m going and, most of all, where I am now.”
In 1986, Janet Jackson exploded on the international pop music scene, enlisting Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis to help her gain Control. As a child and teen actress, she acted in a variety of sitcoms and TV dramas. Her dad managed her, and her first two albums, recorded in the early Eighties, reflected other people’s vision of whom she should be.
In 1986, everything changed. She went to Minneapolis, co wrote with Jam and Lewis, and put her life in her songs. She emerged with an identity all her own--“Miss Jackson, if you are nasty,” a spunky funky high-spirited force of nature: a seductive singer, an innovative dancer and a knock-out entertainer. The record went through the roof. And Janet’s videos became the industry gold standard.
Three years later, Rhythm Nation upped the ante. Adding to Janet’s feisty independence was something new: a fierce social conscience that addressed the issues of racism and societal intolerance. Janet laid it on the line, and the response was spectacular. The album produced a slew of #1 hits. She dominated the Grammys. And her Rhythm Nation tour, the first of her career, set box office records around the world. Her superstardom was firmly established.
The Nineties belonged to Janet. Her first record of the decade, Janet, widened her musical aesthetic to include the exploration of deep and lyrical sensuality. A Rolling Stone cover photograph quickly earned iconic status. With its wall-to-wall hits, Janet became the biggest record of her career. “Again,” a #1 single from the album, was nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award.
Later in the Nineties, the Velvet Rope became the most introspective. Another runaway smash, it was time for Janet to fearlessly take her fans behind the Velvet Rope of her private thoughts, dreams and desires.
The new century produced two platinum-selling successes: All For You and Damita Jo, bold ventures into her unique style of autobiographical storytelling.
Six serious suites of songs over the span of twenty years.
And that’s not counting Janet’s foray into films: her appearance with Tupac Shakur in Poetic Justice (1993) and Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor 2 (1999).
“I’m proud that for twenty years people have responded to my work,” Janet says reflectively. “I’m proud to have stayed in the game and survived. And I’m proud that I’ve remained true to myself. But if you go back and listen to the music, you’ll hear how that self is always changing. And now the changes are probably more profound than ever.”
The biggest change is that Twenty Years Old is no longer solely a Janet/Jam-and- Lewis production. For the first time in two decades, a new producer has joined forces with the famous team.
Enter Jermaine Dupri.
Janet doesn’t mince words. “Jermaine is my soul mate, the love of my life and an incredibly gifted man. I’ve never felt so connected to anyone.”
Like Janet, Jermaine was a child prodigy. At 14, he was already a successful performer/producer/writer. The acts he brought to prominence-Kris Kross, Da Brat, TLC, Usher, Mariah Carey, Bow Wow to name a few-have changed the course of pop music. Today he lords over Virgin’s super-successful landscape of urban music and is among the most sought-after music minds in the world. He’s considered the modern day Quincy Jones.
“Jimmy, Terry and I have been an established team for twenty years,” says Janet, giving another meaning to the title of her current release. “Jermaine’s attitude was, `If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.’ He respected the magical rapport I had with Jam and Lewis. But he also felt he could add a new dimension to the dynamic. I felt that too.”
What is that new dimension?
“It’s something you feel rather than explain,” Janet says. “It’s an edge, an attitude, an exciting vibe that’s assertive. It’s about taking charge. It says, `Here I am. I’m coming on. Musically, I have it. You want it. And I’m giving it to you.”
What Janet gives us in Twenty Years Old is the extraordinary range of her talent. As she has done for the past two decades, she not only co wrote the songs but co produced the record as well.
The first single, “Call On Me,” crafted with the irrepressible Nelly, is already a smash hit.
“ `Call On Me,’ ” Janet explains, “symbolizes the Twenty Years Old concept. It contains elements of the past-a Jam and Lewis melody from the old-school SOS song `Show Me’-together with Jermaine’s brilliant beats. And of course Nelly is wonderful. I also love the message: Find the right love and never let him go.”
Janet views “With You” as another simultaneous look forward and back. “ `With You’ reminds me of `Let’s Wait Awhile,’ ” she says, referring to the hit from Control in which intimacy is provocatively postponed. “Now, though, the act has happened and the result is romantic confusion,” adds Janet. “Romantic confusion can be painful, but it also makes for rich musical material. Like everyone, I’ve had my share of romantic confusion. The key, though, is to turn confusion to creativity. The key is to move ahead.”
Twenty Years Old moves ahead, even as it borrows from hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa in “Get It Out Me,” a song that, according to Janet, deals directly with freakery.
“The freak within,” she explains, “must find a way out. The kind of music I like-the kind of music I love to make-taps into that magical motion from fear to freedom. Breaking chains. Loosening inhibitions. Melting doubts. Embracing life.
“John Mayer, one of my favorite new artists, is sampled on `Stuck Inside the Groove,’ a song that still sticks with me like a mantra, a dancing meditation on sensuality.”
“Although these jams feel fresh,” says Janet, ”I keep hearing echoes of my past: `Love 2 Love’ takes me back to `Velvet Rope.’
`Daybreak’ takes me back to `Escapade.’ It also takes me back to my teen years when I was still living at home with my parents.

I’d sneak out at night to see my boyfriend and wouldn’t come back till daybreak. Those early memories still carry heat. They glow with the brightness of young life and new adventures. I still feel the fire burning.
“`Enjoy’ is a song that reminds me to enjoy the moment and live in the Now. Tomorrow isn’t promised. All we have is today. Friends have called `Enjoy’ Classic Janet. They’ve said the same about `Take Care,’ a story about missing that special someone and realizing that self-pleasure can be a creative and powerful release. `Do It To Me’ is the flip side of the same coin, where pleasure is a two-way street and desire is expressed openly, with neither hesitancy nor shame.”
“ ` So Excited’ is how I feel about this entire project,” Janet says in her quietly enthusiastic way. “I’m excited that Jimmy and Terry and I have worked together for so long and so well. I’m excited that Jermaine, who is my heart, has added his own genius to the mix. I’m excited to mark an anniversary of an artistic career that has been my life and my joy. And I’m excited-and so lucky-to have fans whose devotion has sustained me over two amazing decades.”
Looking back, looking ahead and looking at today, how does Janet view the differences between Control and Twenty Years Old?
“The one difference,” she’s quick to say, “is that now I know I am not in control. God is. When I was young and eager to grab the reins, I naively thought control could be attained through willpower. I believed we could determine our own destinies. Life has taught me otherwise. I still believe we can determine our destinies, but only through God. Only with God. It’s faith that gets us through, and faith that sustains us. These twenty years have been beautiful because my faith has grown. There have been triumphs and heartaches, victories and losses and every sort of challenge. No matter what path any of us take, there are bumps in the road-sometimes potholes, sometimes even sinkholes. But we don’t have to sink, we don’t have to fall off course if our faith is strong. It comes down this: Believe in the God of love and, no matter the circumstance, God will see you through.”
“So twenty years after Control,” Janet concludes, “I’ve turned control over to the invisible source of all creation, the One whose energy is endless.”