Janet Jackson, ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’: The Queen of Pop

Janet Jackson
‘That’s The Way Love Goes

Highest UK Top 40 position:
Number 2 on May 2, 1993

1.

This week in 2023 saw a huge historical event, as an audience of 20 million watched the coronation of King Charles III—Britain’s first coronation since his mother was crowned in 1953.

Monarchy is a fundamentally daft concept, based on the belief that some people are entitled to rule because they have special blood. Elizabeth II was a well-regarded Queen and Charles has her blood; ergo, he will do an equally good job. Charles’ oldest son, Prince William, is also qualified by virtue of his blood, and so are his tiny children.

And the weird thing is: while this idea sounds bananas, most people instinctively believe it. We love this idea of things inherited through blood. My mother loves to credit her grandchildren’s attributes to their ancestors: “she’s got her dad’s eyes, her aunt’s hair, she walks like my cousin.” It’s easy to extend this idea to other bloodlines, especially those in the public eye.

Pop culture is full of dynasties and royal families, kings and queens, heirs and spares. Game Of Thrones and Succession made great TV out of bloodline drama. The new Star Wars films tried to argue that anyone could be a great Jedi, before eventually deciding that no, a great Jedi can only come from the Skywalker family tree.

Elsewhere, there’s a morbid fascination with Nepo Babies and successful families. We watch these people closely, trying to figure out if they worked hard or if it’s just something in their blood.

2. Like a moth to a flame

Pop music’s greatest dynasty is, arguably, the Jackson family.

Their story is well-known: Joe Jackson, a crane operator from Gary, Indiana, pushed his kids into stardom with his largely horrific parenting style. The Jackson 5 became one of Motown’s biggest acts, mostly because of their cutie pie lead singer, Michael.

Michael grew up and went solo, releasing three of the biggest albums in history: Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad. Just as Elvis had been the King of Rock and Roll, Michael Jackson was now crowned the King of Pop.

The other Jacksons attempted to become pop’s Royal Family, but success eluded them. Jermaine managed a couple of hits, including classic slow jam ‘Do What You Do’, while LaToya raised awareness of the Jackson princesses, but no one came close to the King Of Pop.

No one, that is, until Michael’s baby sister Janet released ‘What Have You Done For Me Lately?’ in 1986—the first global megahit from a Jackson without any help from Michael.

What’s more, it sounded fresh and edgier than The King’s records.

Michael released Bad in 1987, an album that took some cues from ‘What Have You Done For Me Lately?’ In 1989, Janet jumped forward again with Rhythm Nation 1814, an album that latched onto rising trends like hip-hop and new jack swing. Janet didn’t outsell Michael (nobody has sold more than Michael Jackson, other than The Beatles and Elvis) but her work was a lot more zeitgeisty.

Not that there was ever a big Team Michael vs Team Janet rivalry. To most people, their parallel successes were just further proof that there was something magical in the Jackson DNA.

3. My love is blind

Bloodlines are nonsense, of course.

Should King Charles do well in his new job, it won’t be because he carries Elizabteh’s DNA. It will be because he’s been in training for 70 years, and because he’s supported by a massive team that will handle most of the hard work.

The same is true of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Both were born with a certain amount of natural talent, but lots of people have natural talent. The difference with the Jacksons is that they spent their whole lives toiling to develop that talent, often under threat of violence from their father.

Also, the Jacksons had incredible people behind them. Motown had a crack songwriting team called The Corporation—which included Berry Gordy himself—and they wrote most of The Jackson 5’s records, with occasional help from folks like Smokie Robinson and Stevie Wonder.

When Michael went solo, he teamed up with genius producer Quincy Jones. Together, they produced Jackon’s trilogy of mega-albums with songwriting help from people like James Ingram, Rod Templeton and Paul McCartney.

Meanwhile, Janet’s career was DOA for her first two albums. In 1986, she met producers Jam & Lewis, who helped her create ‘What Have You Done For Me Lately?’ and most of her subsequent hits. Janet sounded cutting-edge because Jam & Lewis were cutting-edge, and she had enough sense to trust them.

Does this mean that Michael and Janet weren’t very special? No! It means we have a messed-up idea of what it means to be “special”. We like to think of icons as otherworldly beings, working alone because no mortal can keep up, like Dr Manhattan in Watchmen.

But even special people can only get so far. Great Kings need wise counsellors, just as great pop stars need talented producers. Without that support, things can fall apart real quick.

4. Burned by the fire

Shortly after Bad, Michael fired Quincy Jones on the grounds that the super-producer was “old and out-of-touch”. Firing Quincy is often seen as Michael’s biggest mistake (biggest professional mistake, anyway) but who knows, maybe it was time for a change?

However, there’s no doubt that he made a huge blunder by not replacing Jones with someone equally talented. Michael’s next album, Dangerous, has four official producers, but there’s no doubt who was calling the shots. He was the King Of Pop; he did not take orders from lesser mortals.

Dangerous was a massive commercial success, but some people (including this newsletter) felt it was a creative decline from the heights of Thriller. Also, his attempts to do hip-hop were awkward and goofy.

As it turned out, Dangerous was his last album before real-world events overtook his career. In August 1993, the L.A. Times reported that Jackson was under investigation for child abuse, and the rest of his life was spent battling ever-louder allegations.

He only managed two more studio albums: 1995’s HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1, an album so ridiculously overblown that Jarvis Cocker had to physically intervene; and 2001’s Invincible, which came and went so quickly that it should have been called Invisible.

5. Just close your eyes and hold on tight

1993 was very different for Janet. Her partnership with Jam & Lewis resulted in a third LP, janet, which assimilated the emerging trends in R’n’B.

While Dangerous was sometimes a self-conscious attempt to stay relevant, janet sounded relaxed, especially on the laid-back lead single, ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’.

Listening to that track now in 2023, it has aged astonishingly well. Janet (and Jam & Lewis) correctly guessed how R’n’B would evolve over the next decade, resulting in a record that could have easily been a hit ten years later.

In fact, the early 2000s saw new stars like Jennifer Lopez, who could be described as the heirs to Janet Jackson’s empire. And hey, who’s that young dancer in the ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’? Why, it’s young J-Lo herself!

Michael and Janet were both phenomenal talents with a legacy that will never be equalled. Genetics might account for some of their success, but blood alone doesn’t count for much (unless your relatives are rich, in which case it counts for a lot). Greatness only comes to those who are passionate and work hard—and who have an equally talented team behind them.

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