Janet Jackson will finally be breaking her silence with the release of her highly-anticipated two-night event/documentary simply titled ‘JANET‘ set to air on Lifetime and A&E this month as we previously told you.
Now, just days after the unveiling of the super-trailer for the doc, the Queen of Pop is gracing the cover of ‘Allure‘ and did a full spread and interview where she dished on the documentary, music, body positivity, the Superbowl fiasco, and much more.
Check out just some of the snippets below.
On writing her first songs as a child
“We would always write music growing up. We had a studio at my parents’ house; it’s still there actually. So any time of day or night, if you couldn’t sleep or had an idea before school, after school, you could go in the studio and put it down, your idea, musically. So I did that and I put this idea that I had down and played all the parts on it and, like a genius, I left the tape on the machine and when I came home from school I was so embarrassed,” Jackson says. “They were listening to the song.”
“My father, some of my brothers. I was so embarrassed. And that’s when my father said, ‘I think you should become a performer.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, no, no! You don’t understand. I want to go to school. I want to go to college and study business law and support myself by acting,’” says Jackson, who at the time had a small role on Diff’rent Strokes. “That’s how it all started.”
On how the Janet album era ushered in a new age of sex appeal for herself and other women
The Janet era was about “embracing me and trying to learn to love me for me, my body, all of that,” Jackson says. “Trying to feel comfortable in embracing that. Throwing myself in the lion’s den. Just going for it, wanting to do something different.”
The decision was akin to opening a door. “It took a lot of work, a lot of work,” she says. “It was something very tough, very difficult. But I’m glad I walked through it. I’m really glad I got in. It was a way of accepting and loving, accepting yourself and your body.”
On getting through the backlash of Superbowl/Nipplegate
“What’s really important is going back to having that foundation. Not just family, but God. That’s what really pulled me through,” Jackson says. She adds: “It’s tough for me to talk about that time.”
All these years later, how does she process being a talking point in today’s debate about systemic racism and entrenched gender bias? That past imbroglio, after all, wasn’t over indiscriminate violence, extreme profanity, or sexual assault. It was simply anger over a Black woman’s body thrust into the public’s jaundiced gaze. “Whether I want to be part of that conversation or not, I am part of that conversation,” Jackson continues with a certain amount of resignation. Yet she’s not disheartened by the renewed interest. “I think it’s important. Not just for me, but for women. So I think it’s important that conversation has been had. You know what I mean? And things have changed obviously since then for the better.”
You can check out the full article HERE, along with snaps from the shoot there and below. Also, check out her GMA segment from this morning.
