While there's plenty of blame being tossed around regarding the non-success of Discipline, there are some things that need to be pointed out from a very patient fan's perspective. It's everyone's fault, including Janet Jackson herself. But, to a larger degree, it's the public's fault. When an album has a target on its back, it simply doesn't do as well as the "fans" hope.
This is how Pop music works: People are sheep. Pop is never really about the product itself, it's about the perception of an artist--the look, the gossip, and all the other incidental things that otherwise have nothing to do with what went on in the studio. If the public at large perceives that Janet no longer has it, simply by virtue of knowing she was in a no-win situation at Def Jam and under the guidance of Jermaine Dupri (who copped a squat on her career years ago), then buying habits will no doubt follow suit. After the bounce, I present two arguments that support this assertion.
The best example of this would be Glitter. Many people wrote off Glitter because of the surrounding elements of Mariah's stinkbomb film, her TRL appearance and suceeding tabloid schadenfreude. But, Glitter, as an album, is ten times better than that sh*tshow E-MC2. The point is, no one wanted to give it a chance because it was deemed a failure before it even had a chance.
Another good example of this would be Janet's own Damita Jo. You can't imagine the number of people that are just now starting to realize how fantastic this album is, since during the course of it they were all concerned with her nipple. Like I said, sheep. But that's the nature of the beast with Pop music.
Between the overzealous fans that want to place complete blame on Def Jam (which hasn't been worth a damn in what? Ten years?), to the doubters that revel in seeing her fail, we have only two things to say:
1. Sales, especially in this day and age, mean money for the label and perhaps the artist, but the payoff for the listener is debatable. Sales mean squat. If you determine that something sounds good because it's gone platinum, then you have the brains of a chicken.
2. The only thing Janet needs to do right now is not worry about trying to please everydamnbody. We make room for the possibility that not everyone is feeling the product, but then, you don't have to. Her worth certainly can't be determined by the same audience that allowed the industry to feed it garbage until it was trained to deify low-quality, same-sounding music by obnoxious, imperious coons that have neither the tenure or humility of Janet Jackson. This is irrefutible.
- Advertisement -So, with respect to Discipline's failure, I'm willing to raise my flag all by my lonesome and declare that it's of no consequence. It's time for us to shake it off keep it moving.
