janet. (1993) and Britney (2001)
OR... Like Mother Like Daughter
Britney Spears grew up adoring Janet Jackson. In many interviews over the years, Spears has named Jackson as perhaps the greatest inspiration to her. It’s no surprise then to hear that the lead single off her third album, Britney, was originally intended and written with Janet Jackson in mind. This is not the only connection, however, between Jackson and Britney’s self-titled album. In fact, you could make a great case that Britney would not have been the same had Jackson not released her own self-titled 3rd* album, janet. in 1993.
(*not technically her 3rd album, but her 3rd with creative control on the album… pun intended)
Jackson had released her eponymous debut album in 1982 to meager sales and mediocre reviews. Her follow up album Dream Street faired even worse. Coming from a family like the Jacksons, this was very bad. However, Jackson took control of her music and her career with her 1986 album Control. Seen as her real debut, as her other albums had less input from Janet and more from her father, this album was a pop culture moment. Janet followed this up in 1989 with Rhythm Nation, an album that made her rival the fame of her brother Michael, with 7 top 5 hits in the US. While Control and Rhythm Nation do have differences in sound and themes, those differences pale in comparison to the left turn that her next album janet. would be.
Spears’ original claim to fame was starring in The Mickey Mouse Club reboot in 1992, starring alongside other soon-to-be celebs like Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, and her infamous ex, Justin Timberlake. Her debut single, “…Baby One More Time”, was released in late 1998 and became the 2nd highest-selling song of 1999. Her debut album of the same name sold over 14 million copies and spawned hits other hits like “(You Drive Me) Crazy”, “Sometimes”, “Born to Make You Happy”, and “From The Bottom of My Broken Heart”. Her second album, Oops!… I Did It Again quickly followed, with an almost exact same sound and image as her debut. This album was similarly successful, with multiple hits, although no number 1 hit like “…Baby One More Time”. Expecting an album like her first two, fans and parents were shocked when her 3rd album’s lead single “I’m A Slave 4 U” and its video dropped…
Jackson had been known for her 80s RnB pop. A mixture of 80s synth-pop and RnB, and later, new jack swing. However the direction she took with janet. was different. She wanted to distance herself from the Jackson name; to prove she wasn’t just successful because of her family ties. That is the reason for the title. No Jackson, just Janet. Period. For this album, she fully incorporated RnB along with hip-hop and ditched the more structured and manufactured sound of her past outputs. What’s even more important to note is her image shift. Jackson was always seen as young and innocent, even as an adult. She was the youngest Jackson and had been seen as the baby, the sweet child. Control was her trying to show her maturity in the fact that she was an adult, and had a mind of her own. Rhythm Nation followed that and expanded upon it, showcasing Jackson’s awareness of the injustice and prejudice in American society and how she wasn’t afraid to fight against it. But janet. was different. Here, Janet showcased her sexuality and became the sex symbol that she is now known to be.
The album cover, though a cropped headshot of Ms. Jackson, is shown to be a topless photo on the deluxe edition. Behind her, her husband (which wasn’t public knowledge at the time) is cupping her breasts, as a form of censoring her nudity. The lead single “That’s The Way Love Goes” is a sultry funky track, in which Jackson details her desire and lust for the listener. Hypnotic and alluring, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 8 weeks and shocked the world. Jackson urges her subject of desire to “reach out and feel [her] body”, to “don’t stop”, to “go deeper”. For an audience that still saw Janet as the young baby of the Jackson family, this track woke them up to reality. Janet was a sexually active and grown woman, and she wasn’t afraid to express it.
Spears was 19 years old when she released I’m A Slave 4 U. A departure from the teen-pop sound of her previous outputs, this track is a pop-RnB song with influence from the hip-hop sound of the early 00s. Britney sings with breathy vocals, asking to be treated as an adult, and to be allowed the freedom to express herself however she wants. The video included a sweaty and midriff bearing Spears, in some sort of climate changed induced dystopia, dancing in an apartment with a large group of other sweat and scantily clad people. The video however has been overshadowed by another controversial performance of this song, Britney’s 2001 VMA performance, which happened only a few days after the video, and a whole month before the song was officially released.
Spears starts the performance singing and dancing in a spinning cage with a live white tiger, with backup dancers in feline-esque costumes (think Cats but sexy). When she leaves the cage, she dances around with the dancers in a bedazelled bralette and jean short shorts with a trail, almost like a sexy peacock. The most memorable and iconic moment in this performance however is when Britney receives and places a large Burmese python upon her shoulders, still singing and lightly dancing. Even though it was just a live performance, the image of Britney with a snake on her shoulders, with midriff showing, has become synonymous with “I’m A Slave 4 U”, and the Britney era itself.
Whilst not as overtly sexual as “That’s The Way Love Goes”, “I’m A Slave 4 U” is undoubtedly a sexual song. In fact, it was written originally with Jackson in mind. She included a spoken intro to the track, a well-known feature of many Janet Jackson tracks. The intro, with lines like “I know I may be young / But I've got feelings too” and “So let me go and just listen” evokes the intro to Jackson’s track “Control”, where Janet speaks about taking reign of her life. It was a controversial step in Spear’s career. Her fanbase at the time was mostly young children, particularly young girls, and their parents were not happy. They compared the music video (melodramatically) to an orgy and that the video was soft-core porn. She had boycotts against her created by conservative groups, and even the wife of governor Bob Ehrlich stating:
If I had a chance, I would shoot Britney Spears. ~ Kendel Ehrlich
Britney was also blacklisted by certain radio stations, which resulted in many of her singles from 2001-2006 not charting as high as they would have with radio support, as radio was integral to chart success in the 00s. With all this controversy, however, Spears had begun to wear down that “girl-next-door” persona that she had been slotted into. Something which was obviously intended. Like the third single from Britney states, “[She’s] Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman”.
The janet. era was incredibly successful. Like her previous effort, she obtained six top 10 hits in the US with this album, them being the aforementioned “That’s The Way Love Goes”, “If”, “Again”, “Because of Love”, “Any Time Any Place”, and “You Want This”. The album also contained two number 1 hits. The other number 1 hit, “Again” had been created originally for the soundtrack of the 1993 film Poetic Justic, starring Janet and Tupac Shakur. It was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, but unfortunately did not win. The song is a dreamy ballad about trying to restrain yourself from falling in love again with a former lover. Poetic Justice was Janet’s return to acting since starring in season 4 of Fame in 1984. The movie received mixed reviews, but was a commercial succes and has gone on to receive a cult following for the dynamic of Jackson and Shakur’s onscreen chemistry.
Likewise, the Britney era was still successful, however the aforementioned blacklisting Spears’ received effected her chart success. At the time, Britney was Spears’ lowest selling album, however the sales were by no means bad; Britney sold 745,750 copies in it’s first week, which was the second highest first week sales for a woman (number 1 being Oops!… I Did It Again), and had sold 3.3 million copies by March 2002. It pales in comparison however to her first two albums, both of which are certified diamond in the US for selling over 10 million copies. Spears also starred in a film called Crossroads, with Britney songs being created originally for the film. These tracks were “Bombastic Love”, “Overprotected”, her cover of “I Love Rock N Roll”, and the already mentioned “I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman”. This final track served as a big promotional track for Crossroads, much like Jackson’s track “Again”. It was a ballad about Spears expressing the same ideas found in I’m A Slave 4 U, but this time in an explanatory way, forgoing the shock of the lead single. Whilst not charting high in the US because of her blacklisting, it was very successful in Ireland, the UK, and Australia. Crossroads critically bombed but had moderate commercial success.
Britney also cameoed in Austin Powers in Goldmember in 2002, with her Britney track “Boys” being featured as a remixed single on the songtrack. The remix, entitled “Boys (The Co-Ed Remix)” featured Pharrell Williams, and included cameos from Mike Myers as Austin Powers in the music video. Spears also performs the song in the film, albeit in a comedic scene. The song itself sounds sonically similar to Janet Jackson’s music, and makes references to Jackson’s 1986 track “Nasty”, an intentional reference as this track was, like I’m A Slave 4 U, written with Jackson in mind.
It would be incorrect to say that Britney by Britney Spears wasn’t influenced by janet. by Janet Jackson, the evidence is apparent. But I believe that you could even make a case that Britney and her team may have even tried to mirror the roleout and era of janet. . The fact that two of the tracks were intended for Janet, the move to an RnB leaning sound, the more provactive and sexual imagery, even the movie role that coincided with the albums’ releases. Had the media and society of the early 00s not been so awful towards Britney, and acting like she was a monster for being sexual (which is still a problem for many people somehow, just look at her Instagram comments…), perhaps this album cycle would’ve been a lot more successful, just like Janet’s sexual expression with janet. was. Or maybe it would never have worked for Britney, as she was younger than Janet had been, and gained her fame from being an innocent teen pop star. Whatever the case may be, Britney certainly followed in Janet’s footsteps with this album.