Despite Janet Jackson’s Discipline single (and pseudo-MJ shoutout) “Rock With U” never quite becoming the ubiquitous dance jam it deserved to be, we still couldn’t imagine ever liking the under-appreciated tune with a voice attached that wasn’t JJ’s eternally-sexy sing-whispers.
So color us surprised that after coming across co-writer Ne-Yo’s leaked demo recording, we were left wishing that he could’ve somehow stripped it onto his last LP and dropped it as a single himself.
In hearing his shimmery tenor calling out the eroticism of strobe lights over the track’s pulsing Euro-R&B throb, it’s like finally having the sibling record to “Closer” we were never officially gifted with.
Despite arguably being Janet Jackson’s most immediately enjoyable single in years, her new greatest hits padder “Make Me”, a breezy dance concoction with nods to classic ’70’s-era MJ and her own early career heyday, has inexplicably failed to generate much of a chart presence so far (no love on the Billboard Hot 100 nor R&B/ Hip Hop singles listings). Sigh.
All is not lost though, as the single has at least gained some ground amongst the club-going sect, recently inching it’s way all the way to #3 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Below, snatch up one of the new remixes helping lengthen this song’s life as a late-night floor-filler, a teasingly chopped “Edit” from the Ghosts of Venice crew, then re-acquaint yourself with one of JJ’s first chart hits with a “bonus” offering of her equally disco-tastic, pre-Control gem “Young Love”.
While the ‘09 VMA’s will likely be most remembered for being the show where Kanye totally did poor, sweet Taylor Swift wrong (two wagging fingers of shame directed at you, Mr. West; standing ovation and rapturous applause to you Beyonce for being a Grade-A class act!), let us not forget the other interesting-to-great moments produced by this year’s “M”TV Awards: Lady Gaga’s “death” (and her continuing climb up Mt. “WTF”); Pink managing to make a dull song like “Sober” so much more interesting thanks to a really cool (and quite uncomfortable-to-watch) high-wire act; a teary-eyed Eminem and tone-deaf Tracy Morgan reminding us once again that Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” is one of the best pop songs ever; Madonna’s surprise appearance and her touching, though somewhat awkardly Madonna-centric, tribute to the King of Pop; Asher Roth NOT winning the Best Hip Hop Video Moonman (we can’t stress how important that is)…and of course, Janet Jackson’s opening live performance of her and her bro’s “Scream”.
Perhaps like most of you, while watching JJ strut her (once again slimmed down) stuff to the aggressive dance-pop of that 1995 semi-hit, we were reminded of how much we really longed for Janet to give us something new and exciting…something that hearkened back to her reigning Control-thru-“All For You” heyday…something unlike the passable, but oh-so-far from “WOW!!!”, stuff heard on her most recent albums.
Imagine our excitement to receive something close to that…erm, “something” in “Make Me”, a “gift” she very recently posted on her website. And oh what a great present it is!!
A disco-licious R&B workout in which she coerces some guy to get up off the wall and help “save the party” by lighting up the dancefloor (and her nether-regions) with his electric moves, “Make Me” gives us everything we could possibly want from a Janet record in 2009: It’s sexy, but not pathetic-sexy (as she’s been prone to deliver for quite some time now); features her disregarding that annoying, edge-of-orgasm talk-rap thing she likes to do for some actual singing; and, most importantly, bears this buoyant, roller skate jam of a groove we can’t get enough of.
Could we FINALLY be getting the real Janet “comeback” album we’ve anticipated for what seems like forever now? From the sounds of this, maybe so…
Okay, so I was a little harsh on the “Umbrella” review a few weeks back. I’m biting my tongue now, cause it’s currently one of my favorite videos and songs (“Ella-Ella-Oh-Oh!”). Before that uber-jam has even managed to take over the world as it inevitably will, the second single from Good Girl Gone Bad has already been getting heavy buzz, thanks to the leaked info that it would take on another huge ’80’s sample a la “SOS (Rescue Me)”.
With “Shut Up and Drive”, Rihanna deserves recognition for being deemed the next “next Janet Jackson”. Unlike previous honor Ciara, Rihanna has proved to be able to mash up bit elements of several genres (rock, reggae/ dancehall, R&B) has effortless as Michael’s lil’ sis in her heyday and always comes up with something ultra-sleek and domination-ready. Thanks to a neat riff off of the indestructible new wave/ industrial charge and melody of “Blue Monday”, “Drive” shows signs of keeping Rihanna’s presence strong well into the summer.
Rocking an ultra modern, less-dirty CBGB flair with sharp guitars and electro swirls percolating around her sweet island accent, the track brings the “Bad Girl” to the table with naughty car-as-sex metaphors that would make R. Kelly proud. “Got a ride that’s smoother than a limousine/ Can you handle the curves?/ Can you run all the lights?” she inquires before demanding that he “step inside/ and ride, ride, drive, drive”. What’s so cool is that the track is so kinetic that it doesn’t even need to rely on it’s inner nastiness to be good. Like most of her material, Rihanna makes this look easy, meeting the challenge of whatever producers hand her head-on and unleashing pure pop candy as a result. She’s the perfect pop package all rolled into one waifer-thin supermodel frame and we can’t wait to see what goodies she doles out next.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
Despite Janet Jackson’s Discipline single (and pseudo-MJ shoutout) “Rock With U” never quite becoming the ubiquitous dance jam it deserved to be, we still couldn’t imagine ever liking the under-appreciated tune with a voice attached that wasn’t JJ’s eternally-sexy sing-whispers.
Despite arguably being Janet Jackson’s most immediately enjoyable single in years, her new 
While the 
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