On this day in 1993, Janet Jackson’s fifth studio album ‘janet.’ was released.
The title of the album was a statement for Janet to represent standing on her own by dropping her surname.
“Certain people feel I’m just riding on my last name… That’s why I just put my first name on ‘janet.’ and why I never asked my brothers to write or produce music for me.”
Janet Jackson | USA Today
‘janet.’ is one of only ten albums in history to produce six Top 10 hits in the US; ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’, ‘If’, ‘Again’, ‘Because of Love’, ‘Any Time, Any Place’ and ‘You Want This’.
The lead single ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’ remains the longest-running #1 single of any Jackson, and earned Janet a Grammy Award for ‘Best R&B Song’.
‘Again’, another US #1 single, featured in Janet’s film ‘Poetic Justice’, and was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’.
The album debuted at #1 in the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. At the time, it set a record for the highest first-week sales for a female artist.
The album’s openly sexual nature, along with its iconic artwork and music videos were groundbreaking at the time, and have left a lasting impact on future generations of performers.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary this year, special 3-LP and 2-CD Deluxe Editions of the album are available on janetjackson.com.
Watch the music videos:
I wasn’t born until a year after this. But growing up my mo5sr and Aunt listened to it a lot
*mother