5/10
Janet Jackson has become synonymous with scandal—first as the sister of the world’s most bizarre pop star, then as the boob-exposing center of the Nipplegate Superbowl fiasco. Many may be surprised to learn that since the nudity ordeal Janet has released two full-length studio albums; Damita Jo in 2004 and 20 Y.O. in 2006. Both of these efforts flew mostly under the radar. They debuted at number two and went on to mediocre sales, and neither album managed to produce a hit single. It seemed that Janet Jackson’s reign as a top-selling female pop artist was over. Jackson has now decided to do what many an aging diva has done before her; she made a comeback album. Discipline is surely a sexy attempt to get back into the hearts and the bedrooms of the American public.
A glance at the front cover of Discipline can be quite shocking at first. For a second I thought it might’ve been Michael Jackson, considering how masculine Janet Jackson appeared. She looked like a cross between a dominatrix and a mannequin, devoid of expression. The album played into this imagery by beginning with Janet speaking with her robot friend Kyoko (so they must be in the future). This sets the pace for the album as a stylized, hyper-sexual escapade.
“Feedback,” the first single off Discipline, is Janet’s most accessible and infectious song since “If” fifteen years ago. “Feedback” uses heavy drum beats, and a synthesized melody to create a modern and catchy dance song. She claims to possess “Asian-persuasion” in the lyrics, which totally came out of left field. She also states on “Feedback” that she is “heavy like a first day period.” This is the first of many times on the album where Janet tends to share too much information. Maybe she should have used some artistic discretion.
The following track, “Luv,” is written and produced by accomplished hit-maker Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who has crafted hit songs for Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston and Destiny’s Child. The beat featured on “Luv” is quite catchy, but the lyrics become monotonous and annoying when Jackson repeats the word “love” over and over again. She collaborates with Jenkins again on “Rollercoaster,” which comes off like a watered down update of her classic “Escapade.” The song is a throwback to her days with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jam and Lewis have been present on every one of her albums since Control was released in 1986. They aren’t featured on Discipline, but they aren’t missed, considering they haven’t produced a hit for Janet in nearly ten years.
Janet switches producers on “Rock with U” to her beau, Jermaine Dupri, who utilizes robotic vocals akin to the Benny Benassi song “Satisfaction.” This is the first of several appearances of the robot voice, which plays well into the “Janet as a sex robot” image. “Rock with U,” though, is plagued by the same terrible lyrics as many other songs on the album, with Janet proclaiming that “strobe lights make everything sexier.” At least she’s not to blame this time because the track was written entirely by Ne-Yo. Despite corny lyrics, the song’s undeniably good beat will drive it to regular club rotation, and it has the potential to become a modest hit for Jackson.
On “Can’t B Good” Janet continues to promote illiteracy and she sounds eerily like her brother Michael, using the same soft vocal style he is known for. It is at this point that Janet’s spoken-word interludes begin to get irritating. The use of them is pointless and repetitive. There are a total of 22 tracks on the album, nine of which include interludes.
Discipline starts to drag towards the end. The robotic backup singers make another appearance on “So Much Betta,” but the song never really takes off because of its lack of originality. Jackson re-enlists Dupri as well as Missy Elliott for “The 1.” The intro provided by Elliott is decent, but once Janet takes the reins, it becomes almost unbearable filler. The real low point of Discipline is its title track where Janet announces how she wants “daddy” to “make her cry,” and “punish her.”
Ultimately, Discipline falls short of what Janet Jackson tried to achieve with the record. It isn’t the Mariah-esque comeback I’m sure she hoped it would be. Instead of finding a new sound for herself, Jackson chose to delve more fully into the themes of sadomasochism, which she already explored on The Velvet Rope. The only thing I learned about Jackson after listening to this album is that she hates spelling out entire words, and that she’s an S&M freak.
Sadly, it seems Janet Jackson will never again reach the same heights she achieved early in her career. At best, it can be said while listening to Discipline she slightly evokes moments of her former greatness. Discipline tries too hard to be sexy and edgy and fails at being either one.
