The Round Table

Last night Lee DeWyze was crowned winner of the ninth season of American Idol. Though if you tuned into the show, you already know that Mr. DeWyze and his opponent Crystal Bowersox were nothing more than a subplot to the star-studded salute to Simon Cowell. Over the course of two hours, just about every performer you could think of from Christina Aguilera to Alanis Morrissette to Joe Crocker, Chicago, Alice Cooper, and of course past Idol winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood graced the stage. However it was Janet Jackson who stole the show with just over 8 minutes of airtime.

Earlier that evening, at around 5:30 pm (est), producer Jermaine Dupri leaked word via Twitter that Ms. Jackson was set to perform “Nothing” from the motion picture “Why Did I Get Married, Too?” during the finale. News spread like wildfire and Janet fans, including myself, tuned in to get a mere glimpse of our girl. We got more than expected at around 9:40p (est) as the rest of the season’s competitors flocked to the stage one last time to sing “Again,” the 1993 single from Janet Jackson’s fifth studio album, Janet.

The camera panned right and Ms. Jackson emerged from backstage to deliver the final verse of “Again” then took center stage for a moving rendition of “Nothing.”  The song’s poignant and fitting lyrics were drilled home by Ms. Jackson as she sang: “And the truth is that I realize/ Love is fading from your eyes/ Don’t know how it came to this/ But we can get it fixed tonight.”

She stayed true to form upon finishing “Nothing,”  as she momentarily left the stage and was replaced by a host of male dancers wearing white shirts and black slacks. Ms. Jackson re-emerged wearing a skintight black bodysuit and transitioned to “Nasty.” She strutted around the stage, broke out some trademark dance moves, and energized the crowd. It was a touching moment for all Janet Jackson fans  as the singer finally received recognition for her work on American Idol. Ms. Jackson soaked up the applause for just a moment, waved to the judges and fans, before briskly exiting the stage.

Note to all young performers out there – Janet Jackson officially served you notice. At 44-years old, she still knows how to entertain a crowd and shows no sign of stopping. Check the video below before they pull it.

Janet Jackson partnered with AOL.com to premiere her latest video for “Nothing,” the theme song for Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married, Too?,” which Jackson stars in. We gave ya’ll a taste of the song last week, which left the TRT staff underwhelmed leading to our comment section being flooded by Ms. Jackson defenders. Now that we have the video in hands, we’re willing to take a fresh look at song since it features clips from the movie as well as simplistic green screen work.

After seeing various interviews with Ms. Jackson this week, it is quite apparent that the lyrics for “Nothing” come from a very literal interpretation of her character’s storyline. While the video helps connect the lyrics to the character, who is on the brink of a relationship meltdown, it still isn’t necessarily a home-run for the singer. We’d still like to see her raise the bar a bit with song composition and get back to her chart-topping ways. At the very least, we think she’ll be part of a #1 movie opening this weekend, would’ve been cool to have a #1 song to go with that.

Check out the video below – let us know your thoughts.

As JayVee and I are both major Janet Jackson fans, we were both looking forward to “Nothing”, her new single and the theme to her new movie, “Why Did I Get Married Too?” (which opens next week). However, “Nothing” turns out to be one of the worst songs ever released under Janet Jackson’s name. Produced by Jermaine Dupri (didn’t these guys break up?), it’s monotonous and tuneless. Janet’s vocals have no fire, and as my girl JayVee said herself, it just seems like a lame rehash of “Again”, the Academy Award-nominated theme from Janet’s movie debut “Poetic Justice”.

It sucks that pretty much everything Janet has recorded in the past half-decade has been disappointing, especially since I want so badly to root for her. Since she parted ways with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, her music seems to have regressed. Those three need to re-connect-they do their best work with one another. Janet also needs to make a truly biographical album that reflects where she is as a black woman in her forties that has gone through some stuff in her life. Sort of an age-appropriate update of “Control”. I think that would suit her a lot better than her lame attempts at keeping up with the joneses.

That said, as much as I dislike Tyler Perry, “Why Did I Get Married Too?” looks like a good movie and Janet’s scenes look the most interesting of them all. Maybe it’s time to switch gears and move forward as an actress? Check out the song after the cut – we want to hear your thoughts!

(more…)

Super producer and sometimes rapper, Jermaine Dupri took a break from Sunday’s NBA All-Star game festivities to chat with MTV News about Janet Jackson’s new song “Nothing.” While JD did his best to dodge specifics of Janet’s new single, he did let us in on a few nuggets of info.  The song will be featured on the soundtrack of Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?, in which Janet stars.

JD spoke about how quickly the song project came together by saying, “We had to do this record in like three days to get it into this movie – it was a last minute thing that her and Tyler [Perry] talked about.”

(more…)