Sibling Rivalry For Pop Domination | Michael & Janet Jackson
Now A&M Records’ biggest selling artist, it was initially thought that Janet Jackson would build on the momentum she was able to generate with ‘Control’, by heading back into the studio to record a new set of hits and then take those on the road as part of a musical tour. However, since music from Michael’s much anticipated follow up album to ‘Thriller’ were likely to dominate airwaves for the next year or two, Janet decided to take her time so to avoid sibling battles in the charts and further comparisons with her brother. The hiatus also allowed her to untangle herself from her father’s management and seek a new plan of attack in the pursuit for pop dominance.
“People said, ‘She’s just riding on the coattails of her brother’ or ‘She’s just a flash in the pan’ or ‘She’s only successful because of Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam or Paula Abdul or she’s Michael’s sister’ or whatever. That really bothered me… It’s the same with Michael. I remember the time he only got one major Grammy nomination for ‘Off the Wall.’ He was so disappointed. ‘You watch. I’ll show them.’ When Michael had Thriller, I said, ‘God, I wish that were me. “I was so happy for him, but I’d love to break his record.”
Rather than attempt to recycle previous successes, Janet set her sights higher. To shed her pop puppet image and break new ground, in an attempt to broaden the confines of mainstream pop music. Ambitious in her premise, Janet’s next record would address social conscious issues involving homelessness, violent crime, teen pregnancies, poverty, and racial conflict. The result being ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’, a well-thought-out, complex product with a serious side that continued the singers bid to be perceived as more than an industry fluke.
Upon its release, Jackson told Essence magazine that she has set up a board of directors in film, finance, music, and legal experts to give her guidance at monthly meetings. “I ask them ‘Am I seeing the big picture? Are my goals realistic? Am I moving in a good direction?’. Even though I’m the one who finally decides I require a wide range of opinion”. Driven by ambition, Janet had taken on the role of CEO in her pop destiny, with each aspect of her career having its own expert attached to ensure its success.
And successful it was, ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’ became the best-selling album of 1990 in the United States and sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Breaking records as the only album in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart to have seven singles peak within the top five, with four of those reaching the top position. During the project, Janet not only flexed her commercial muscles, but showcased her ingenuity in dance, performance, creativity, and cemented her status as a sex symbol with the release of her ‘Love Will Never Do (Without You)’ video, shot by renowned fashion photographer, Herb Ritts.
Much like how Michael dominated music awards in 1984, winning eight Grammys, his 24-year-old sister had her hands equally as full with eight Billboard Awards for her ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’ album. Winning the year’s №1 rhythm and blues artist, R&B albums artist, R&B singles artist and Hot 100 singles artist.
That same year, Janet achieved another life ambition by winning her first Grammy award for best long-form music video for her 30-minute ‘Rhythm Nation 1814 Film’, which consisted of the videos for ‘Miss You Much’, ‘The Knowledge’, and ‘Rhythm Nation’. An award she beat out her brother Michael’s high budget epic, ‘Moonwalker’. Costing over $22 million of his own money and including highly innovative videos for ‘Smooth Criminal’ and ‘Leave Me Alone’, Janet was shocked to have won for her much more modest project, but still very happy with the honour.
Although he wasn’t thrilled that his records were being broken by his baby sister, Michael admired her mounting successes and confessed that he enjoyed her music, admitting that he would spend hours dancing freestyle to her tracks. The record’s industrial new jack swing and crashing street sound effects, would go on to inspire the King of Pop’s later recordings that appeared on his next album, ‘Dangerous’. Not shy to take advantage of their high-profile family connection, Michael even asked Janet to collaborate with him on a song for the record. But Janet turned him down, admitting that even after her many accomplishments, she still feared that such a collaboration would be seen as her riding on Michael’s legendary coattails.
Despite how she saw herself, in the eyes of music executives Janet Jackson was now one of the industry’s hottest commodities. As demonstrated when she, in March 1991, signed a record breaking $40 million three-album deal, moving from A&M to Virgin records, making her the world’s highest paid music artist ever.
Not to be out done by his baby sister, her brother, Michael, announced his own unprecedented deal with Sony Music Entertainment just days later. “We’re married to him now,” said, Sony President, Michael P. Sphulhof, as instead of signing with Sony as simply a recording artist, Jackson negotiated a much more intertwined ‘partnership’ that had the potential to spawn sales of over a billion dollars. Collaborating with Sony Music, Columbia Pictures and Sony Electronic Publishing, the entertainer was expected to not only record music, but to have his hand in a range of endeavours including films, television, and video gaming.
Already in development was Michael Jackson’s first Hollywood star vehicle. A big budget ‘musical action adventure’ of his own concept, written by those responsible for blockbusters like ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and ‘Beetlejuice’, with sets by Batman’s Anton Furst, and directors considered included the likes of Sir Richard Attenborough, David Lynch, Tim Burton, Chris Columbus or William Couturier. An ambitious undertaking indicative of Jackson’s determination to become an undeniable force, as an actor as well as a visionary in filmmaking.
Ultimately, the project was fruitless for the artist and Michael Jackson was left unable to fulfil his aspirations to become a serious actor. Janet Jackson, who also wished to make an impact on the big screen, was at the same time looking for her break into film, but was able to do so through less ambitious projects. As in 1992, Janet secured the lead in her first feature film, John Singleton’s ‘Poetic Justice’. Featuring an all-black cast, Singleton wrote the strong female role with Jackson in mind.
In the film, Janet Jackson plays Justice, a hairdresser from South Central, Los Angeles who writes poetry to ease the grief of watching her boyfriend gunned down at a drive-in movie theatre. The role was serious and stretched her acting capabilities, allowing Janet to prove herself on screen and dispel assumptions that, yet again, she was given the opportunity due to her famous name alone. “They said it would be easier to do a musical or a comedy because people would accept me easier in those roles “But I wanted something that mattered to me” said Janet.
Playing a character who had a rough urban upbringing, Justice’s iconic box braids just so happened to be influenced by her brother Michael. As director, John Singleton, said that at the time of development, Singleton was shooting the video for Michael Jackson’s ‘Remember the Time’. Singleton bought over some of the dancers from the shoot to meet and hang out with Janet and they all became friends. Then the director suggested that Janet should have the same style as the dancers in the video, and soon after got the same Harlem-based hairstylist to come out to Los Angeles to do the same braids on Janet Jackson for the movie.
However, despite the years Janet Jackson persisted to gain control, to prove herself and finally make it on her own, family dramas and constant comparisons continued. With Michael refusing to do interviews and she being the next highest profile Jackson, Janet was often enlisted to act as the family’s spokesperson. Whether to pass comment on her sister’s playboy pictorial, a brother’s arrest, her parent’s marriage or Michael’s changing appearance, Janet felt burdened by all the speculation and media circus that surrounded her whole family as well as Michael’s increasingly bizarre public persona.
When Michael Jackson decided to break his silence and speak openly for the first time in a decade to Oprah Winfrey as part of a live broadcast in 1993, Janet expressed her relief. “I loved it… people finally got a chance to see him how human he really is. It was wonderful.” Janet was especially happy that her brother finally revealed on the show that he had a skin pigmentation disease that caused his discoloration, “The first thing people ask me about Michael is why he does that to his skin? Why is it turning white?” she said “I knew but I couldn’t say because I promised I wouldn’t tell when he told me. I spoke to him on the phone after the show and said ‘You have just lifted the biggest burden off my shoulders. Now everybody knows the truth’”.
Just weeks after the landmark interview, Janet showered her brother with adulation in a heartfelt speech during the 1993 Grammys. A ceremony where she was enlisted to honour him with the coveted ‘Grammy Legend Award’, and they appeared side by side for the first time since her rise to public prominence.
Michael rehearsed a song to go along with Janet’s speech and a retrospective of his career but decided on the night to speak instead. “It feels good to be thought of as a person not as a personality… Because I don’t read all of the things written about me, I wasn’t aware that the world thought I was so weird and bizarre.” Touched by the praise he received by the academy, friends, and fans alike, Jackson revealed how he wishes to open himself to the world and let the public see the real Michael. “The last few weeks I have been cleansing myself, and it’s been a rebirth”, he said.
As Janet looked on, she hoped that this moment would act as a catalyst in how her legendary brother was perceived. For the world to accept and understand him, and the overwhelming speculation to stop. With a brand-new album, her movie debut and an extensive worldwide tour all planned for the year ahead, Janet hoped that this would finally usher in the emancipation she worked so long for… Never could she have envisaged what laid ahead.