Artist: Janet JacksonAlbum: 20 Y.O.Genre: Dance50 decibels

Artists are constantly trying to reinvent themselves, and sometimes the best way is to go back to their roots. With her new solo album, Janet Jackson taps into her old self, just trying to make people dance. Maybe it’s not mind-blowing, but it’s progress.

For the past few years, it’s seemed as though every move Janet Jackson made-the wardrobe malfunction, the ‘Damita Jo’ album, dating Jermaine Dupri-was designed to make people say ‘Wow, Janet can get sexual too.’ When that risqu image didn’t work out, she had to regroup.

Commemorating her 1986 breakthrough ‘Control,’ Jackson’s newest album ’20 Y.O.’ attempts to recapture the vibe of her past hits. Working with long-time producers (and former members of The Time) Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Jackson is actually able to rediscover that magic-for a few songs at least.

The lyrical synthesizers and drum machines of early track ‘Show Me’ sound like an Afrika Bambaataa cover, with Jackson’s distorted vocals fitting the music perfectly. Unfortunately, the rest of the album cannot keep up with the song’s promise and breakneck pace.

For the majority of the album, the beats are too bland and Jackson’s voice is too breathy to create anything memorable. Stale cuts like ‘Do It 2 Me’ and ‘With U’ suffer this fate (and fail grammatically as well). Lead single ‘Call on Me’ features Nelly doing his best to be unremarkable, while Jackson’s boyfriend Dupri mutters in the background.

’20 Y.O.’ is disappointing, but this should have been expected; you can’t go home again.

Published on September 24, 2006 at 12:00 pm