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Damita Jo
03/30/2004 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
If you viewed Ms. Jackson’s recent wardrobe malfunction as a pathetic cry for cutting-edge credibility, then her eighth album should prove reassuring. It’s an affectionate lick of the ear instead of a crass flash of boob; there’s still some guttermouthed pillow talk and sighs of “Feel so X-rated,” but Damita Jo is as much about love as lust, and the focus is again on what’s happening in the studio, not the sack. And thanks to the underrated Dallas Austin, current producer du jour Kanye West, and Jackson perennials Jam and Lewis, there’s a lot going on.
The invitations to the dance, as has been the case for most of Jackson’s career, take their cues from other artists, but tart things up irresistibly. The singsong, Jay-Z-biting hip-hop of “Strawberry Bounce”; “R&B Junkie,” an ’80s synthfunk stomp that could have come from big bro Michael’s old songbook; and “Just A Little While,” which shamelessly reworks Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” each allows Janet to equal her betters while throwing down. But she’s also never been presented a set of ballads this deep and sweet; West’s ’50s sockhop pastiche “I Want You,” in particular, is a total delight.
If not for a drift into trifles like “Warmth” and “Moist,” as well as the simpering soliloquies about her life and times, this would be an album that could stand alongside Control and Rhythm Nation as Jackson’s finest work. The wonderful irony is that, thanks to her halftime show, a comparatively tame collection will be repeatedly parsed for porn, and few will appreciate it on its considerable musical merits alone. A moral? Next time, keep your shirt on.
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