janet.

The sex- and body-positive beginnings of <i>janet.</i>— Janet Jackson’s first album under a then-record-setting $40 million contract with Virgin Records—can be traced back to the video for “Love Will Never Do (Without You)”, the seventh and final single from her blockbuster 1989 album <i>Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814</i>. After being buttoned all the way up in military fashion for most of the <i>Rhythm Nation</i> era, Jackson served up midriff and cleavage in the “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” video, directed by Herb Ritts. And by the time of the release of <i>janet.</i>, with its provocative album cover, Jackson’s transformation from soldier to sexpot was complete. In the same way that Marvin Gaye had followed up his conscious-raising <i>What’s Going On</i> with the temperature-raising <i>Let’s Get It On</i>, Jackson traded social salvation for libido liberation on <i>janet.</i> She wanted to make it clear that she was a 27-year-old woman, and no longer Michael’s little sister. And you can sense that desire in the sensual, moth-to-a-flame seduction of the album’s first single, the chart-topping “That’s the Way Love Goes”, which sounded unlike anything Jackson had ever done before—and introduced a whole new vibe to R&B, bridging the gap between new jack swing and neo-soul. Gone were the hard-edged beats of <i>Rhythm Nation</i>—although some new jack grooves remained (see “You Want This” and “Because of Love”)—as the industrial sound gave way to the intimate, as evidenced by the horned-up house of “Throb” and the slow bump-and-grind of “Any Time, Any Place”. But <i>janet.</i>—which again dream-teamed the singer with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to make her best-selling LP—isn’t all about her erotic awakening. Jackson’s leading role opposite Tupac Shakur in 1993’s <i>Poetic Justice</i> inspired not only the Oscar-nominated love ballad “Again”—the album’s other chart-topper, and one of six hit singles—but the Black female power anthem “New Agenda”, featuring Public Enemy’s Chuck D. The latter includes a Stevie Wonder sample—from 1972’s “Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)”—that connects Jackson to her family’s Motown legacy. But while <i>janet.</i> digs into her roots, it’s more notable for setting the blueprint for Jackson’s future—and leading the sexual revolution for generations of R&B divas to come.