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Janet unveils new socially conscious song “Shoulda Known Better”

Perhaps the highlight of last night’s first show of the Unbreakable World Tour was Janet unveiling her new socially conscious song Shoulda Known Better with simple and striking choreography and imagery.

A modern day Rhythm Nation, the track examines the state of the world today with lyrics such as “We won’t accept excuses. We don’t need no abuses. Just can’t feel casual about casualties”.

The song repeatedly asks “Why” and hopes that the world can be made “a better place”.

The song performance was accompanied by striking imagery of those who have fallen on hard times.

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Janet opens Unbreakable Tour in Vancouver

Janet has officially opened her Unbreakable World Tour with her first show in Vancouver tonight.

Performing the classics as well as several new songs, the show opened with a new track featuring Missy Elliott, believed to be called Burn It Up.

Towards the end of the show Janet sang the title track from her forthcoming album Unbreakable as well as previewing other new songs such as After You Fall and Should Have Known Better.

Setlist

Burn It Up – feat Missy Elliott
Nasty
Feedback
Miss You Much
You Want This
Control
What Have You Done For Me Lately
Pleasure Principle
Escapade
When I Think Of You
All For You
All Nite (Don’t Stop)
Love Will Never Do Without You
DJ SET – R&B Junkie, Go Deep, Luv Me Luv Me, So Excited
After You Fall
Again
Come Back To Me
Let’s Wait Awhile
I Get Lonely
Anytime Anyplace
No Sleeep
Got ‘Til It’s Gone
That’s The Way Love Goes
Together Again
The Best Things In Life Are Free
Throb
Black Cat
If
Scream
Rhythm Nation
Should Have Known Better
Unbreakable
* songs in bold are new

 

A video posted by Shannon (@_shanzy) on

  A video posted by Steebie Bacon (@stevieb93) on

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Tonight’s the night! Janet set to kick off Unbreakable Tour

Janet will tonight kick off the Unbreakable World Tour in Vancouver.

The show, at the Rogers Arena, will be the first of a multi leg tour across the US, Canada and Japan.

Janet’s team have been extremely tight lipped about the show with very little leaking ahead of its premiere tonight.

It’s expected that Janet will also perform her new song The Great Forever for the first time in full.

Janet has asked fans via her Twitter page to tweet when they arrive at the venue:

In some behind the scenes photos that Janet’s friend and producer Jimmy Jam tweeted, signs for each department backstage can be seen including a room for two of Janet’s younger dancers’ tutor. It’s the first time that Janet has used children as dancers on one of her tours. Taylor Hatala and Kyndall Harris join an all female troupe of dancers.

The show’s sponsors are Mac Makeup, State of the Art Hair, American Express, Paul Raps New York and Giuseppe Zanotti Design.

European dates are expected to be announced in the coming months.

 

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Jam and Lewis talk about Unbreakable album

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have spoken to Entertainment Weekly about Janet’s upcoming album, Unbreakable.

In the interview they reveal how No Sleeep was almost never made and speak of a song on the upcoming album called Night.

6 things we now know about Janet Jackson’s new album, thanks to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

Janet Jackson’s forthcoming album Unbreakable is one of the most hotly-anticipated releases of the fall and long-awaited in more ways than one. In addition to it being the first Janet album in seven years (her previous album was 2008’s Discipline), it’s also the first time that the singer has worked with longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in nearly a decade (they last appeared on 2006’s 20 Y.O.).

Jam and Lewis have often felt like extensions of Janet herself, as they have helped craft her sound going all the way back to 1986’s game-changing Control and subsequent masterpieces like Rhythm Nation 1814, janet., The Velvet Rope, and All For You. Their return is part of the reason why Unbreakable is such a topic of conversation.

But another reason why there’s so much fervor surrounding Janet Jackson’s new album is the relative veil of secrecy that has surrounded it. We already know a handful of facts about it: We’ve heard the first single “No Sleeep” (and also seen the video), we know there’s also a song called “The Great Forever,” and we know that there’s a huge tour on the horizon. But thanks to a recent conversation EW had with Jam and Lewis, we now know a few more things about the new album.

“No Sleeep” almost didn’t make it.

The album’s first single began as something of an afterthought. “ ‘No Sleeep’ was basically called that because it was like five in the morning, and we had just completed a day of work and I was still awake, so I was playing around with some different stuff and came up with the skeleton of it,” explains Jam (whose birth name is James Harris III). The sliver of a tune was filed away until Lewis went looking for something on Jam’s computer and ran across the file. “He hit this track and it came on blasting, and Janet said, ‘Ooh, what’s that?’ I told her it was a track I did like two months ago, and she was like, ‘You didn’t play that for me!’ It wasn’t done, it was just kind of an idea,” Jam says. “So Terry asked me for a melody, and it evolved from there. Janet loved it—just the feeling that she got when she heard it is the feeling she wanted the fans to have. Just a warm, welcoming, sensual feel. But it was almost forgotten.”

There’s a song called “Night.”

The re-discovery process the trio of Jackson, Jam, and Lewis went through on “No Sleeep” showed up again when working on another song, and it ultimately hinged on Jackson’s physical reaction. “We did another song that’s just called ‘Night.’ We never really had an ending for it,” says Jam. “So I got this idea for an ending and told her about it. I worked on it a little bit, then I gave it to Terry, and we were playing her some stuff just to show her where we were at, and when that ending came on that she hadn’t heard, it was the same thing: huge smile, dancing around the room. She loved it. To me, as a collaborator, that’s to me the best feeling in the world when you get something that moves her like that. That’s what you want.”

Janet already had the Unbreakable concept in mind when she began working.

The sessions for the new album originated with Jackson explaining an idea for a concept with Jam and Lewis. “She revealed to us what her concept was, and as we always do, we just began making music,” says Lewis. “We don’t try to directly flesh out a concept until that time comes. We just try to get creative and start recording and do what feels good musically. She came with the concept, and that became the beginning theme of where we started.”

The album’s lyrics come from a deeply personal place. 

Lewis says the Unbreakable idea will be wide-ranging and allow for Jackson to express quite a bit of herself. “It’s such a broad concept,” he explains. “You can think of it many different ways. Some people think of unbreakable as being hard, but I think unbreakable is just being able to be vulnerable and to be able to withstand what comes to you. She’s lived a lot of life in the last few years.”

The tour and the album were often being conceived concurrently.

Jam notes that there were days, particularly toward the end of the sessions for the album, that would find Janet working all day in rehearsals for the stage show and then reporting to the studio to finalize ideas for the record.

Unbreakable sounds unlike any past Janet Jackson album.

Both Jam and Lewis believe that fans will be surprised at the different versions of Jackson that show up on the album, but ultimately she’ll still be holding everything together. “I think it’s totally different from any of her other albums,” says Jam. “But it feels like her. At the end of the day, I go back to that. The thing about this album is there’s a lot of different places that it touches, but at the end of the day, it’s pure Janet.”

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Janet releases clip of new song “The Great Forever”

In a tweet just posted, Janet has released a clip of a new song The Great Forever. It was accompanied by lyrics from the track too.

It is not yet known when the track will be unveiled in full.

The lyric sheet also reveals that Janet’s new album will indeed be called Unbreakable.

Listen below:

.

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Video: Behind the scenes of new photoshoot

A video from behind the scenes of Janet’s new photoshoot has been released on the website of the French version of Elle Magazine.

It shows the shoot and features interviews with photographer Yu Tsai and stylist Kim Bowen.

videoshoot

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Pictures from first photoshoot of new era released

New photos of Janet have been published in an article in the UK’s Metro newspaper .

The images, taken by American photographer Yu Tsai are the first new professional pictures to be released of Janet since the release of new music earlier in the year.

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Janet announces Japan tour dates

Janet will perform in Osaka on November 19th and Tokyo on November 21st and 22nd this year, according to Access Hollywood.

The shows will take place after the first North American leg of the Unbreakable Tour which is set to kick off at the end of this month in Vancouver.

Access Hollywood also reports that Janet will take a short break with her team before heading to Japan. They report that to celebrate her three sold-old shows in Honolulu, Janet, along with her family, friends and “members of her tour”, will be “taking over two luxury estates” in Oahu that are owned by Kathy Ireland.

Janet’s link to Kathy Ireland is well documented with Ireland owning Sterling Winters Company which manages Janet.

Details of on sale dates for the Japan shows have yet to be released.

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Giuseppe Zanotti previews new shoe for Janet’s Unbreakable Tour

Janet will be wearing sneakers (or trainers if you’re not American) on tour custom designed by Giuseppe Zanotti.

In an interview with WWD, Zanotti said he’s designed the shoes in multiple colours for Janet to wear on stage.

Janet is a close friend of mine — we have been close for a long time and I have always felt the greatest affection for her. She has always been a very loyal supporter of the brand and product. She talked to me about her upcoming Unbreakable World Tour when we were together in Milan earlier this year, [and] she asked me to consider making her a special shoe for the tour. Of course, I was…very flattered and I immediately started to sketch some ideas out for her.

The shoe which is a high-top is based on one of the brand’s most popular existing styles and will be customised in two exclusive colour combinations with new buckle detailing.

Janet will be dancing a lot on stage as well as singing, so I wanted her to be very comfortable and able to move around easily. The shoe has to be light but practical and provide support to her feet.

We are frequently asked to provide special shoes for celebrities on tour, [but] this is the first time we are the only luxury shoe company involved.

Zanotti will also be dressing the tour’s backup singers and dancers, marking the first time he has taken on a full tour wardrobe. And the designer will definitely be visiting one of Janet’s shows.

I am a huge fan. I have all her albums and I am so excited that her new single “No Sleeep” is already topping the music charts. I have been listening to it in my studio while working on my new collection.

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Janet releases new lyric video featuring J. Cole

In a new lyric video released today, Janet is seen in the studio with J. Cole writing the new rap verse for the album version of the single No Sleeep.

The video also includes behind the scenes footage from the video shoot for the song.