![]() The couple reunite with Jackson on Unbreakable, producing and co-writing the majority of the album, but a return to this ‘sound’, something many may have excitedly anticipated, is not forthcoming. ![]() Jam and Lewis along with Jackson not only created towering, near overwhelmingly strong songs (‘Love Will Never Do (Without You)’, ‘Miss You Much’, ‘When I Think Of You’, ‘Together Again’) but they cemented an actual wall-of-sound signature that was immediately recognisable as theirs and endured for almost a decade. The opening songs fall over themselves in an attempt to reconnect Jackson fans to the dance-pop queen of old but it’s only on the slippery Disclosure-like ‘Dammn Baby’ that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis create a song that’s almost worthy of Jackson’s mighty discography. Initially it’s the more lustrous first half that makes the most impact but there is a restraint and intricacy in the less conventional R&B tracks that reward repeated listens. Unbreakable is split into two ‘sides’, the first includes the majority of the album’s dance tracks and is more frivolous in tone generally, whilst the second is more introspective with a strong socially conscious ‘voice’ and sonically makes small but significant tweaks to Jackson’s usual musical choices. It also doesn’t feature a meandering and unstructured ‘sex jam’ which had become a mainstay of her last six or seven releases, and for that at least we must be grateful. It’s her 11th album and this collection of songs is her most well thought out in some time and her most mature, nuanced and downbeat, at least in tempo, of her career. Whethever or not you enjoy Unbreakable will depend on how you like your Janet. Seven years have passed since Janet Jackson’s last album, the mediocre Discipline, and arguably her last cohesive and essential album Velvet Rope was released in 1997. If we’re talking about producing amazing pop songs that have influenced the likes of contemporary artists such as Tinashe, Ciara, Robyn and Kelela, well, not that much. Oh Ms Jackson, what have you done for us lately? ![]() Music Review: Top 10 Albums of 2022 – Part 1 - 17 December, 2022.Music Review: Top 10 Albums of 2022 – Part 2 - 24 December, 2022.Music: 7 of the Best Songs – w/c 6 February 2023 - 6 February, 2023.
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