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Janet speaks to Billboard about the tour

Janet spoke to Billboard.com to promote her upcoming tour and also cited possible problems with her existing label Island Def Jam:

Label Deal In Doubt, Jackson Hits The Road
Janet Jackson Dissatisfied With New Album Promo

September 04, 2008, 3:50 PM ET
Gary Graff, Detroit

After the disappointing showing of her latest album, “Discipline,” Janet Jackson is again raising questions about her relationship with Island Def Jam.

“I can’t say if we’ll be working with them in the future,” Jackson said today (Sept. 4) during a conference call with reporters to promote her upcoming Rock Witchu Tour. “I don’t know what the future holds between the two of us.”

She did not elaborate on her comment, which echoes remarks she made to SOHH.com in June about the performance of the album.

“Discipline” was Jackson’s first for Island Def Jam after leaving Virgin Records; she says she even agreed to scratch a tour for 2006’s “20 Y.O.” at the label’s wishes in order to record it. Executive produced by Jackson and her boyfriend, Island Urban president Jermaine Dupri, the album debuted at No. 1 in March with 181,000 copies sold. It’s shiftedNielsen SoundScan, and spent just 14 weeks on The Billboard 200.

Jackson was upbeat about the tour, however, which kicks off Wednesday in Vancouver. She described it as a “two hours of dance” on a stage set that has “a taste of … the future.” The repertoire will span her career and, according to Jackson, was drawn from requests made on her call-in line for fans.

“This show is all for the fans,” Jackson told Billboard.com during the call. “They tell me what they’d like to hear, what they’d like to see, what they want. And this is what I’m trying to give them.”

Jackson said fans will also get their wish for some more visual product from her as well. “We’ve been talking about something for TV, also a DVD,” she confirmed, the latter of which may include “past stuff I’ve done that wasn’t previously released,” including possibly a Japanese TV performance that was filmed in High Definition during the Rhythm Nation 1814 Tour in 1990. “Just a nice package for the fans,” Jackson explained. “They’ve been asking for it for so long, and they truly deserve it.”

Jackson said that she “definitely” intends to keep the Rock Witchu Tour going beyond its current Oct. 22 wrap in Dallas, with more U.S. dates and legs that are currently being discussed for Europe, Asia, Australia, Russia and “some parts of the Middle East. It hasn’t been etched in stone. It’s still being put together. People will hear about it in a little while.”

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By Darren

Founder of Janet Love. Have met and interviewed Janet several times. Fan since 1998.

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