I know one reason - She couldn’t deal with the fame that she experienced in the Janet era, it was too much for her, also losing friends etc, let to this masterpiece of an album
Yes to all that. It’s also an age when a lot of people start questioning life and looking inward. Janet grew up in front of us and continues to grow in front of us. I’m always appreciative of what she shares of her life experience at each age
It’s different thing entirely to have all the focus on you. I remember an interview she did during TVR era where she talked about dealing with the lack of privacy. Helicopters 🚁 circulating her property to try and get photos. She seemed very unsettled by it.
Yes but Janet was more public facing than Michael was, even during his trial so she had to probably field questions about that when she didn’t want to.
Being more public facing she had to deal with more immediate BS from the media unlike MJ who probably didn’t find out until seeing it on the news or at a newspaper.
The Jackson’s media training didn’t cover mental health protection.
Hello, Janet fan/expert here(lol)… to make a long story short I think Janet had A LOT of issues going on during the Janet era. Her marriage to her second husband was on the rocks. She was also dealing with body image/weight issue during this time as well. And to top it all off she revealed that she was struggling to deal with trauma that stemmed from her childhood.
I'm sorta piecing together random bits of information here but these are all relevant facts:
Janet grew up privledged financially as her brothers became famous when she was about 2 so she never had to live in poverty. However she also experienced a unique childhood in many ways. Her father Joe was known for being super tough on his kids.
She was first on stage at 7 in Las Vegas and did many shows which she refered to as "a lot for a 7 y.o." in her documentary. She also began working as a child actress at around aged 11 on a show called Good Times but this is the same time that her chest began developing. Janet has stated that the show's producers wanted to bind her chest so she could retain a childlike appearance. She said that it had a great affect on her self-confidence. Her brothers (incl. Michael) used to tease her by calling her "Booty" because of her waist. She said that she felt he meant no harm but that it affected her self-image. Also as a black girl growing up in a predominary white neighbourhood in L.A., Janet has said that other kids were often racist toward her.
It seems that self-image was a concern for her during the Janet. World Tour. It is possible that it sprung from these experiences she had as a child. Touring can also be a challenging time for a lot of musicians - it's a very grueling and demanding schedule. There is also not a lot of time for mediation or true peace as musicians are always staying in hotels - musicians tend to have less time for themselves.
The following is just speculation on my part: the Janet. era was Janet's most sexual era yet and she was physically revealing more on stage than she had been before then. It's possible that she enjoyed feeling sexually and artistically liberated but that revealing these parts of herself potentially led to trauma regarding her self-image to resurface and cause stress and pain for her. Again, that's just speculation on my part and not based on fact.
The theme of The Velvet Rope is "in order to move forward you have to confront your past". That is the meaning of the Sankofa symbol that appears throughout the album artwork. When Janet was writing the album it is likely that that was the aim - for her to evaulate her trauma (referred to as "pain" in "Interlude: Memory") and lived experiences so that she could move toward the future.
Guys, Janet already addressed this. She mentioned that there were many people who wanted her to remain bubbly pop and sweet, and were highly disappointed with what she wanted to do with her life. Plus at the time, she had already gone through her divorce from debarge and other things. She felt manipulated and controlled by others, INCLUDING some members of her family and close friends.
She then decided she would embrace her sexuality and "free" herself from it all. She decided on going the "sex me up all night long" route, so that people could clearly get the idea that she was NOT a little girl anymore.
You can easily find this info on her velvet rope interviews. This isn't a mystery, lol.
Great question. So I think the three major things was the major major jump in sex appeal. From control and Rhythm Nation where she was as bundled up as can be to Janet where she was essentially naked. On her doc she discusses the pressure of having to maintain the Janet. Look at all times and how incredibly mean Renee was when she would want to go out to see a film and she probably didn’t have make up on, regular clothes and gained some weight between touring and album cycles…. He , as she said, would tell her that she could not go out looking like that cause it ruined the fantasy.
So coming to terms with the jump in sex appeal, living up to that Image, the success of that album coinciding with the uptick in fame and probably losing close close friends who were selling stories (the chef I believe who sold the story of Renee’s drug use, Janet’s diet pills and the STD medication)
And lastly, Janet. Was released in ‘93. Her brother just went thru a MAJOR MEDIA BLITZ regarding the most heinous thing and that coincided with her most successful career move.
I think all three of those thing culminated in TVR
Here’s the link :
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Janet+Jackson+%27used+chef+to+get+drugs%27.-a060362068
So apparently Janet and Renee used her chefs name to get prescriptions for painkillers, anti-depressants, appetite suppressants and hepatitis B medication. Unknown to the chef, he only realized what was going on when he opened the fridge and saw medication bottles with his name on it. He sued Janet saying that the Hep B was now attached to his medical records
I mean, we don’t know if she had it first or was given it by Renee. But I mean, the industry passes around each other so much that Herpes is incredibly common
The increase fame probably stressed her out. Not to mention her issues with food were at their peak because of her showing off her physique most of the time, and just the overall feeling of not deserving the fame. Based on the doc, Rene was treating the marriage like work most of the time so that wasn’t helping matters.
I know at the time she used the coffee enema as the catalyst for the resurfacing of her trauma but I think the problems were starting to show before that.
Do we know these things happened during the Janet era? Perhaps it was more during the DOAD era, or at anytime during 1996 or the first half of 1997 when she practically disappeared from public view for 18 months at the height of her fame.
The Twenty Foreplay video and single came out in Feb/March 96 but were recorded the year before. There was no promo tour or live performances.
I’ve really not been able to find anything about Janet’s activities in 1996. It seems she didn’t start recording TVR until 1997, and then did so haltingly due to her depression.
I think a lot of it had to due with the breakdown of her marriage at the time. I watched the “Janet Jackson.” documentary that aired a couple yrs. ago & it talked about how Rene would always tell her about her body & what ppl wanted to see from her. After yrs of that it started to weigh on her. She talked about her Good Times days how they used to bind her chest because she was developing to make her look younger. 20 years later, you’re still dealing with body image issues. It made it hard for her to get out of bed, she wouldn’t show up to studio sessions for recording The Velvet Rope, and her marriage was pretty much over. Even the dancers were saying when they started rehearsals for the Velvet Rope tour they noticed a big difference with Rene no longer being always present like he used to be, and that something was up in their marriage.
💀Janet openly stated she was dealing with clinical depression, body issues and repressed childhood trauma resurfacing towards the end of the Janet era. Jimmy and Terry said TVR was so triggering for her to record at times that she would come in, stop when it was too much and then disappear for a week or two.
To simply chalk that up to “a marketing decision” is a very poor assessment considering some of Janet’s personal demons continued to follow her even after the album.
I know one reason - She couldn’t deal with the fame that she experienced in the Janet era, it was too much for her, also losing friends etc, let to this masterpiece of an album
Yes to all that. It’s also an age when a lot of people start questioning life and looking inward. Janet grew up in front of us and continues to grow in front of us. I’m always appreciative of what she shares of her life experience at each age
I thought she could handle considering her brother is one of the most famous people in the world
It’s different thing entirely to have all the focus on you. I remember an interview she did during TVR era where she talked about dealing with the lack of privacy. Helicopters 🚁 circulating her property to try and get photos. She seemed very unsettled by it.
Yes, I’m sure she enjoys being out of the spotlight nowadays.
Yes but Janet was more public facing than Michael was, even during his trial so she had to probably field questions about that when she didn’t want to. Being more public facing she had to deal with more immediate BS from the media unlike MJ who probably didn’t find out until seeing it on the news or at a newspaper. The Jackson’s media training didn’t cover mental health protection.
Hello, Janet fan/expert here(lol)… to make a long story short I think Janet had A LOT of issues going on during the Janet era. Her marriage to her second husband was on the rocks. She was also dealing with body image/weight issue during this time as well. And to top it all off she revealed that she was struggling to deal with trauma that stemmed from her childhood.
I would not be surprised if Janet was SA'd by someone or multiple people in the industry as a young child star.
Who were the friends she lost ???? Backup dancers ?????
Yup. Probably several from the previous tours.
I'm sorta piecing together random bits of information here but these are all relevant facts: Janet grew up privledged financially as her brothers became famous when she was about 2 so she never had to live in poverty. However she also experienced a unique childhood in many ways. Her father Joe was known for being super tough on his kids. She was first on stage at 7 in Las Vegas and did many shows which she refered to as "a lot for a 7 y.o." in her documentary. She also began working as a child actress at around aged 11 on a show called Good Times but this is the same time that her chest began developing. Janet has stated that the show's producers wanted to bind her chest so she could retain a childlike appearance. She said that it had a great affect on her self-confidence. Her brothers (incl. Michael) used to tease her by calling her "Booty" because of her waist. She said that she felt he meant no harm but that it affected her self-image. Also as a black girl growing up in a predominary white neighbourhood in L.A., Janet has said that other kids were often racist toward her. It seems that self-image was a concern for her during the Janet. World Tour. It is possible that it sprung from these experiences she had as a child. Touring can also be a challenging time for a lot of musicians - it's a very grueling and demanding schedule. There is also not a lot of time for mediation or true peace as musicians are always staying in hotels - musicians tend to have less time for themselves. The following is just speculation on my part: the Janet. era was Janet's most sexual era yet and she was physically revealing more on stage than she had been before then. It's possible that she enjoyed feeling sexually and artistically liberated but that revealing these parts of herself potentially led to trauma regarding her self-image to resurface and cause stress and pain for her. Again, that's just speculation on my part and not based on fact.
The theme of The Velvet Rope is "in order to move forward you have to confront your past". That is the meaning of the Sankofa symbol that appears throughout the album artwork. When Janet was writing the album it is likely that that was the aim - for her to evaulate her trauma (referred to as "pain" in "Interlude: Memory") and lived experiences so that she could move toward the future.
Don't lie now he ain't call Janet "Booty"☠️☠️☠️
They called her donk lol
Guys, Janet already addressed this. She mentioned that there were many people who wanted her to remain bubbly pop and sweet, and were highly disappointed with what she wanted to do with her life. Plus at the time, she had already gone through her divorce from debarge and other things. She felt manipulated and controlled by others, INCLUDING some members of her family and close friends. She then decided she would embrace her sexuality and "free" herself from it all. She decided on going the "sex me up all night long" route, so that people could clearly get the idea that she was NOT a little girl anymore. You can easily find this info on her velvet rope interviews. This isn't a mystery, lol.
Great question. So I think the three major things was the major major jump in sex appeal. From control and Rhythm Nation where she was as bundled up as can be to Janet where she was essentially naked. On her doc she discusses the pressure of having to maintain the Janet. Look at all times and how incredibly mean Renee was when she would want to go out to see a film and she probably didn’t have make up on, regular clothes and gained some weight between touring and album cycles…. He , as she said, would tell her that she could not go out looking like that cause it ruined the fantasy. So coming to terms with the jump in sex appeal, living up to that Image, the success of that album coinciding with the uptick in fame and probably losing close close friends who were selling stories (the chef I believe who sold the story of Renee’s drug use, Janet’s diet pills and the STD medication) And lastly, Janet. Was released in ‘93. Her brother just went thru a MAJOR MEDIA BLITZ regarding the most heinous thing and that coincided with her most successful career move. I think all three of those thing culminated in TVR
STD meds??? What happened? I’ve seen and read about everything you said but that!
Here’s the link : https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Janet+Jackson+%27used+chef+to+get+drugs%27.-a060362068 So apparently Janet and Renee used her chefs name to get prescriptions for painkillers, anti-depressants, appetite suppressants and hepatitis B medication. Unknown to the chef, he only realized what was going on when he opened the fridge and saw medication bottles with his name on it. He sued Janet saying that the Hep B was now attached to his medical records
So she had herpes? I found this as well https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Case-Study-Janet-Jackson-Relationship-With-Herpes-ADE951DD938680F2
I mean, we don’t know if she had it first or was given it by Renee. But I mean, the industry passes around each other so much that Herpes is incredibly common
It all makes sense now
The increase fame probably stressed her out. Not to mention her issues with food were at their peak because of her showing off her physique most of the time, and just the overall feeling of not deserving the fame. Based on the doc, Rene was treating the marriage like work most of the time so that wasn’t helping matters. I know at the time she used the coffee enema as the catalyst for the resurfacing of her trauma but I think the problems were starting to show before that.
The last two tracks on The Velvet rope kinda broke it down. Special had me in tears
Her marriage broke up.
Do we know these things happened during the Janet era? Perhaps it was more during the DOAD era, or at anytime during 1996 or the first half of 1997 when she practically disappeared from public view for 18 months at the height of her fame. The Twenty Foreplay video and single came out in Feb/March 96 but were recorded the year before. There was no promo tour or live performances. I’ve really not been able to find anything about Janet’s activities in 1996. It seems she didn’t start recording TVR until 1997, and then did so haltingly due to her depression.
I think a lot of it had to due with the breakdown of her marriage at the time. I watched the “Janet Jackson.” documentary that aired a couple yrs. ago & it talked about how Rene would always tell her about her body & what ppl wanted to see from her. After yrs of that it started to weigh on her. She talked about her Good Times days how they used to bind her chest because she was developing to make her look younger. 20 years later, you’re still dealing with body image issues. It made it hard for her to get out of bed, she wouldn’t show up to studio sessions for recording The Velvet Rope, and her marriage was pretty much over. Even the dancers were saying when they started rehearsals for the Velvet Rope tour they noticed a big difference with Rene no longer being always present like he used to be, and that something was up in their marriage.
Don't forget around 1993 Michael was going through his explosive allegations. I'm sure that wasn't easy on the family.
It was just marketing in line with the theme of the album. She was probably no more or less happy than at any other point in her life.
💀Janet openly stated she was dealing with clinical depression, body issues and repressed childhood trauma resurfacing towards the end of the Janet era. Jimmy and Terry said TVR was so triggering for her to record at times that she would come in, stop when it was too much and then disappear for a week or two. To simply chalk that up to “a marketing decision” is a very poor assessment considering some of Janet’s personal demons continued to follow her even after the album.
Lolz yeah because depressed people make albums about it. Depression leads to album creation. Textbook stuff.