Post by The Velvet Rope on Sept 26, 2006 1:30:11 GMT -5
Four new reviews from The New York Times, Us Weekly, The New York Post and All Music Guide.
Us Weekly gave 20 Y.O. 3.5 stars out of 4!
New York Post - 2/4 stars
DON'T think of Janet Jackson as the curvy, sexpot diva who gets what she wants when she wants it.
That's a very real side to her, of course - just look at her latest pictures. But at this point in her career she's like a ballplayer whose had a few lackluster seasons and needs a grand slam to prove she's still got it.
Her last album, "Dimita Jo," was disappointing, and she been on the disabled list since. Toss in the fact she's twice the age of her album title and her target audience - as well as having a wacky brother who has dragged the Jackson brand through the muck.
Suffice it to say the success of "20 Y.O." is vital to her continued status as a pop megastar and getting her contract renewed for the usual $60-$80 million by Virgin.
"20 Y.O." isn't the home run. It's a double where she steals third when Nelly steps to bat on the song "Call Me." Mr. Hot in Herre lends the song the contemporary edge that the rest of the album lacks.
This isn't a stinker, but by continuing to operate in the Jimmie Jam/Terry Lewis production vacuum as she has for most of her recording career, this disc offers little change. Where other pop stars are winding their clocks on Swizz Beatz and heating their songs with the scorch of Scott Storch, "20 Y.O." sounds that old.
"20 Y.O." comes on strong. It opens with the bad girl tune "So Excited," where Miss J. (assisted by hip-hop newcomer Khia) croons "look sexy, talk dirty and I'll open my spot for you." Spot? Hey, everybody has a name for it.
"So Excited" is among the disc's strongest, sexiest songs. Its syncopated rhythms coupled with Jackson's sultry staccato vocals make it a winning, single-worthy composition.
With that fire, Jackson builds a head of steam that continues through the next four songs. "Show Me" has a great sing/stutter/spell bridge; "Get It Out Me" is a terrific girl in lust song only topped by the subtly titled "Do It 2 Me."
"This Body" - the last in the opening volley of goodness - will be a favorite for those who've followed Jackson since she started. It's about that pivotal Rolling Stone cover where Jackson posed in low-cut jeans, bare-chested using a man's hands to contain her breasts. This song is almost as hot as that photo.
But much of what follows, except for "Call Me," is peppy R&B - good stuff, but nothing so special your socks get blown off.
Among the most annoying, unnecessary production devices on the record are the intro/outro with three interludes sandwiched in between songs. There are 16 tracks on the album, but there should be 11, with those five cuts of silly jibber-jabber removed.
Now lop off the five tracks that don't quite work, and you have a six-song album. Pretty stingy, Janet. In that regard, "20 Y.O." has at least one modern touch - it's designed to be downloaded, best tracks only, to ignore the filler.
Download: "So Excited."
dan.aquilante@nypost.com
Janet Jackson "20 Y.O."
Virgin
People magazine gave the album 3 stars out of 4. But I don't have the review on hand.
NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW - (Janet's album is the 'Critics Choice' album of the week!)
JANET JACKSON
“20 Years Old”
(Virgin)
Janet Jackson starts her new album, “20 Years Old,” with a spoken reminder that over the last 20 years she has done songs about “racism, spousal abuse, empowering women.” Of course none of those topics are what made her a star: sex. Janet (as she now bills herself) has happily devoted most of her career to teasing, pleasing and heavy breathing, and she’s not stopping on “20 Years Old.”
For the first half of the album she challenges men to prove their prowess; then she snuggles up to one man. She’s never as explicit as the female rappers who arrived after her — like Khia, who joins her on “So Excited” — but she’s not shy either. In “So Excited” Janet vows, “If you like it then I’ll do it/I’ll go head to toe.”
Janet and her production and songwriting partners for two decades, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, have long since perfected keyboard-centered grooves and plush but weightless ballad arrangements that let her creamy little coo of a voice whisper right up close.
She has extra collaborators now, including her boyfriend, Jermaine Dupri, the hitmaking producer who’s now president of Virgin Records Urban Music. Perhaps he honed tracks like “Get It Out Me,” a brilliant, pointillistic mixture of 1980’s electro, Indian tabla drumming and vocals arriving from all directions. “This Body,” with lyrics that make the singer a pinup come to life — not far-fetched, since the 40-year-old Janet flaunts her curves on more than one glossy magazine cover this month — is nearly as snappy, pumping along on a ticking beat, a digitized hard-rock riff, a few electric-guitar sounds and countless fleeting synthesizer hooks.
But Janet’s music has settled into a handful of approaches. Along with the dance beats, there are lushly harmonized ballads like “With You” and “Enjoy.” There are tinkly-twinkly tunes like “Call on Me” (with Nelly’s singsong guest rap) and “Daybreak.” And there are slow, breathy seductions like “Love 2 Love” and “Take Care,” where the lyric sheet says, “I need my sweetie pie,” but Janet clearly sings, “I need my sweaty pie.”
On “20 Years Old,” Janet is as crafty and poised as ever. Her flirtations are still a pleasure, but an overly familiar one. She’s done these same slinky moves too often to surprise listeners now. JON PARELES
www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/arts/music/25choi.html
JANET JACKSON
“20 Years Old”
(Virgin)
Janet Jackson starts her new album, “20 Years Old,” with a spoken reminder that over the last 20 years she has done songs about “racism, spousal abuse, empowering women.” Of course none of those topics are what made her a star: sex. Janet (as she now bills herself) has happily devoted most of her career to teasing, pleasing and heavy breathing, and she’s not stopping on “20 Years Old.”
For the first half of the album she challenges men to prove their prowess; then she snuggles up to one man. She’s never as explicit as the female rappers who arrived after her — like Khia, who joins her on “So Excited” — but she’s not shy either. In “So Excited” Janet vows, “If you like it then I’ll do it/I’ll go head to toe.”
Janet and her production and songwriting partners for two decades, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, have long since perfected keyboard-centered grooves and plush but weightless ballad arrangements that let her creamy little coo of a voice whisper right up close.
She has extra collaborators now, including her boyfriend, Jermaine Dupri, the hitmaking producer who’s now president of Virgin Records Urban Music. Perhaps he honed tracks like “Get It Out Me,” a brilliant, pointillistic mixture of 1980’s electro, Indian tabla drumming and vocals arriving from all directions. “This Body,” with lyrics that make the singer a pinup come to life — not far-fetched, since the 40-year-old Janet flaunts her curves on more than one glossy magazine cover this month — is nearly as snappy, pumping along on a ticking beat, a digitized hard-rock riff, a few electric-guitar sounds and countless fleeting synthesizer hooks.
But Janet’s music has settled into a handful of approaches. Along with the dance beats, there are lushly harmonized ballads like “With You” and “Enjoy.” There are tinkly-twinkly tunes like “Call on Me” (with Nelly’s singsong guest rap) and “Daybreak.” And there are slow, breathy seductions like “Love 2 Love” and “Take Care,” where the lyric sheet says, “I need my sweetie pie,” but Janet clearly sings, “I need my sweaty pie.”
On “20 Years Old,” Janet is as crafty and poised as ever. Her flirtations are still a pleasure, but an overly familiar one. She’s done these same slinky moves too often to surprise listeners now. JON PARELES
www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/arts/music/25choi.html
Us Weekly gave 20 Y.O. 3.5 stars out of 4!
New York Post - 2/4 stars
DON'T think of Janet Jackson as the curvy, sexpot diva who gets what she wants when she wants it.
That's a very real side to her, of course - just look at her latest pictures. But at this point in her career she's like a ballplayer whose had a few lackluster seasons and needs a grand slam to prove she's still got it.
Her last album, "Dimita Jo," was disappointing, and she been on the disabled list since. Toss in the fact she's twice the age of her album title and her target audience - as well as having a wacky brother who has dragged the Jackson brand through the muck.
Suffice it to say the success of "20 Y.O." is vital to her continued status as a pop megastar and getting her contract renewed for the usual $60-$80 million by Virgin.
"20 Y.O." isn't the home run. It's a double where she steals third when Nelly steps to bat on the song "Call Me." Mr. Hot in Herre lends the song the contemporary edge that the rest of the album lacks.
This isn't a stinker, but by continuing to operate in the Jimmie Jam/Terry Lewis production vacuum as she has for most of her recording career, this disc offers little change. Where other pop stars are winding their clocks on Swizz Beatz and heating their songs with the scorch of Scott Storch, "20 Y.O." sounds that old.
"20 Y.O." comes on strong. It opens with the bad girl tune "So Excited," where Miss J. (assisted by hip-hop newcomer Khia) croons "look sexy, talk dirty and I'll open my spot for you." Spot? Hey, everybody has a name for it.
"So Excited" is among the disc's strongest, sexiest songs. Its syncopated rhythms coupled with Jackson's sultry staccato vocals make it a winning, single-worthy composition.
With that fire, Jackson builds a head of steam that continues through the next four songs. "Show Me" has a great sing/stutter/spell bridge; "Get It Out Me" is a terrific girl in lust song only topped by the subtly titled "Do It 2 Me."
"This Body" - the last in the opening volley of goodness - will be a favorite for those who've followed Jackson since she started. It's about that pivotal Rolling Stone cover where Jackson posed in low-cut jeans, bare-chested using a man's hands to contain her breasts. This song is almost as hot as that photo.
But much of what follows, except for "Call Me," is peppy R&B - good stuff, but nothing so special your socks get blown off.
Among the most annoying, unnecessary production devices on the record are the intro/outro with three interludes sandwiched in between songs. There are 16 tracks on the album, but there should be 11, with those five cuts of silly jibber-jabber removed.
Now lop off the five tracks that don't quite work, and you have a six-song album. Pretty stingy, Janet. In that regard, "20 Y.O." has at least one modern touch - it's designed to be downloaded, best tracks only, to ignore the filler.
Download: "So Excited."
dan.aquilante@nypost.com
Janet Jackson "20 Y.O."
Virgin
AMG review of 20 Y.O.:
Janet is 40 years old, but she has said that she feels half her age, and her breakthrough as a pop phenomenon occurred in 1986 — hence the title of her ninth album. 20 Y.O. is her safest and tamest work since 1984's Dream Street, not only because she couldn't have possibly taken her sexed-up confessional routine beyond the tidbits and techniques divulged throughout 2004's Damita Jo. With only a few exceptions, 20 Y.O. provides further refinements of the fun, flirtatious, midtempo songs of her past several albums. This is not a problem. Even when there are clear instances where Janet, along with principal collaborators Jermaine Dupri, Johnta Austin, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis, are taking an extended ride on the electro-nostalgia bandwagon — "So Excited" samples Herbie Hancock's "Rockit," patches of "Get It Out Me" resemble Afrika Bambaataa's "Looking for the Perfect Beat," "Show Me" might not have happened without the existence of Ciara's "Goodies" — they are too fresh and infectious to be considered knock-offs. There are crafty analogues and references to various points in Jackson's past: "This Body"'s rock edge recalls "Black Cat" (though it's more of a strutter than a headbanger), "Daybreak" sparkles and glides like "Runaway" and "Escapade," and "Take Care" is a classic Janet ballad in the vein of "Come Back to Me." The parallels are natural enough that they don't seem all that premeditated. Almost as significantly, the album is roughly 20 minutes shorter than usual, with only a handful of interludes, so there's little meandering, in turn making it easier to become familiar with the curves. What really differentiates the album from its predecessors is that there's almost no trace of tension to be heard. It's all about fooling around and being in love. Janet's gang of assistants is on top of its game, and Janet herself has remembered that she doesn't have to be willfully explicit or eclectic to make a sexy and wholly enjoyable album.
AMG Track picks: "Show Me," "With U," "Call On Me" and "Enjoy"
Janet is 40 years old, but she has said that she feels half her age, and her breakthrough as a pop phenomenon occurred in 1986 — hence the title of her ninth album. 20 Y.O. is her safest and tamest work since 1984's Dream Street, not only because she couldn't have possibly taken her sexed-up confessional routine beyond the tidbits and techniques divulged throughout 2004's Damita Jo. With only a few exceptions, 20 Y.O. provides further refinements of the fun, flirtatious, midtempo songs of her past several albums. This is not a problem. Even when there are clear instances where Janet, along with principal collaborators Jermaine Dupri, Johnta Austin, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis, are taking an extended ride on the electro-nostalgia bandwagon — "So Excited" samples Herbie Hancock's "Rockit," patches of "Get It Out Me" resemble Afrika Bambaataa's "Looking for the Perfect Beat," "Show Me" might not have happened without the existence of Ciara's "Goodies" — they are too fresh and infectious to be considered knock-offs. There are crafty analogues and references to various points in Jackson's past: "This Body"'s rock edge recalls "Black Cat" (though it's more of a strutter than a headbanger), "Daybreak" sparkles and glides like "Runaway" and "Escapade," and "Take Care" is a classic Janet ballad in the vein of "Come Back to Me." The parallels are natural enough that they don't seem all that premeditated. Almost as significantly, the album is roughly 20 minutes shorter than usual, with only a handful of interludes, so there's little meandering, in turn making it easier to become familiar with the curves. What really differentiates the album from its predecessors is that there's almost no trace of tension to be heard. It's all about fooling around and being in love. Janet's gang of assistants is on top of its game, and Janet herself has remembered that she doesn't have to be willfully explicit or eclectic to make a sexy and wholly enjoyable album.
AMG Track picks: "Show Me," "With U," "Call On Me" and "Enjoy"
People magazine gave the album 3 stars out of 4. But I don't have the review on hand.