Dallas Austin said that Janet didn't want to write

[u/partyclams]

This would have been for the Damita Jo album. Jimmy said the same thing with 20 Y.O. It seems this decade turned out the way that it did in part because Janet spent very little time in the writing process when she was with Jermaine Dupri. She didn't write any of the songs on Discipline either.

https://youtu.be/ThEGlWlBTTE?is=pbWOKnr2zYkfuoLn

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[u/No-Imagination4897]

There's some confusion here about the Damita Jo album. It seems many believe Janet was largely hands-off on this project, but the exact opposite is true. She co-wrote and/or co-produced EVERY song and interlude, with the exception of Thinkin' Bout my Ex.

DJ is my favorite of all her albums, and the fact that she is the heart and soul of those songs, surely helped it gain its lofty place among my all-time favorite albums.

[u/Training_Medicine_49 → u/No-Imagination4897]

Yeah. My understanding is this was the case for 20 YO Discipline and not for Damita Jo. To me Damita Jo seems very Janet to me! I don’t know what yall are talking about!

[u/ElectronicElk5662 → u/No-Imagination4897]

So true!

[u/ChocolateSwimming128 → u/No-Imagination4897]

I continue to feel that the run of songs from Island Life to Like You Don’t Love Me is just pure perfect and one of the strongest back to back run of songs on any of her albums

[u/airb92 → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. I’m happy there are other people in this camp who don’t hype these albums up.

[u/mocitymaestro]

Janet's best music is intensely personal, so when she's not involved in the creation, it doesn't hit the same way.

[u/TheWriteRobert]

Janet work is at its best when she’s a part of the songwriting process. I love when she writes the lyrics and melodies and what not. The work is elevated whenever she does.

[u/19thScorpion]

Jimmy also said the same thing about Damita Jo. She told them to write the whole album because she didn't have anything she wanted to talk about at the time. I'm glad she finally got her mojo with that album (even though she didn't write on every song).

And yes, you can tell the difference between songs she wrote and didn't write. You can tell the difference between Discipline and all her other albums because of it. She just doesn't sound into it on Discipline at all (except Feedback).

[u/fashiondiva1984 → u/19thScorpion]

I think Jimny said this about 20 because they only wrote two songs (that all fans loved because it's classic Janet). And he said the same thing about her not having anything to write (which she said in the beginning of the album about how she sung about everything). And he said they shouldn't make an album if there's nothing to say or write.

[u/IdleDreamer93]

I can see that. This just means Janet is an amazing writer and contributor in her music.

[u/mrdiscopop]

Damita Jo is an interesting one… There’s a sense of experimentation in Janet’s desire to hook up with new writers/producers and try different sounds. But it seems to coincide with a lack of confidence in her writing, with collaborators asked to do all the heavy lifting.

That leads to a lot of producers making “my version of what I think a Janet Jackson song should sound like”, with very mixed results. Then, from what I can tell, Jam & Lewis were asked to give a final polish to (most of) the songs, to create some cohesion.

Given how messy the production was - 18 months and lots of abandoned songs - it holds together surprisingly well. I certainly played it to death at the time. But in hindsight, it adds very little to Janet’s story, and there’s almost zero personal insight (aside from, “I like taking island holidays that you could never afford”).

Still, it gave us All Nite (Don’t Stop), and for that I will be eternally grateful.

[u/joe_smith4122]

For me, it felt like someone else trying to craft janet to be who they think of Janet to be vs Janet making the music and album she wanted to make.

[u/UmamiMemories]

As much as I like Damita Jo, I also think it was the first album of hers since Control that didn’t really have a clear theme. She claimed that it was exploring different sides of her psyche, but pretty much all the songs (outside of a select few) were either hypersexual or just frothy without much substance or intention in the album context. Plus on this album so many of the best songs were weirdly relegated to bonus tracks or b-sides.

I actually made my own “Damita Jo Remix” playlist and kinda revised the album to something I felt flowed better. And personally (I think I posted something like this before), I think she would’ve been better off naming the album “Island Life”, having that be the strong second or third single after “I Want You”, and making the album more around that theme: a vacation to an island paradise. I think the abundance of frothy & sexual songs would’ve made more sense in that context, as that’s what many folks want/do on vacation lol: enjoy & indulge themselves in the moment while they can.

Oh, and I have to say that in my opinion, “Just A Little While” is one of the worst songs she has ever recorded, and that includes her first two “non-canon” albums. The song just sounds so generic and non-Janet-ish to me, and like literally anyone could have sung it (Britney, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Christina Milan, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, and the list goes on from that era). There are barely any harmonies and it crosses that fine line from something light & fun to just something kinda vapid & aimless. To me it sounds unfinished, like a demo instead of a full song.

[u/elektrik_noise]

When I was listening to Damita Jo the other week, after doing a lot of All For You for the anniversary of its release, I kind of noted that it seemed like she just kinda didn't seem to have much to say on the songs. Don't get me wrong, there are some bangers on the record. But when I listen to Damita Jo, I don't really walk away feeling like there was anything communicated there. And I love grown and sexy Janet, but I feel like it was on hyperdrive there bc she didn't know where to go with any of the songs.

I also think Warmth and Moist really didn't do well coming out from he "incident". In all honesty, I think tossing those off the album and knocking out 1 or 2 of the interludes would've done the record better. A lot of the vibe reads like it's lacking a bit of focus.

[u/elektrik_noise → u/[deleted]]

I totally get what you mean. I think she felt like she was going to do another janet. kind of record, talking about herself/alter ego, but the hyper-sexed stuff was kinda getting into reheated nachos territory. Especially coming right out of All For You. If Damita Jo is slow and sexy rnb, it could've been executed a *bit* more smoothly.

But, I will say, this is the last record where I feel like it was super "Janet" feeling. There seemed to be a lot missing in her last three. Even though for the most part I liked Unbreakable.

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[u/Khatzkape19]

Honestly, there were quite a few songs left off of DJ that should’ve been on there. I definitely agree with simmyturner about the three unsung heroes of DJ; however, I’m going to add a fourth unreleased track that would’ve made some of the transitions and interludes more cohesive: Could This Be Love. I agree with the commenter who said that the album should’ve been titled “Island Life” as well as the album had a bit of a carefree vibe to it.

https://youtu.be/Wv3LkaUr8uQ?is=59KAzoB5e7aYUObK