were fortunate enough to have the rare opportunity of interviewing Pop superstar Janet Jackson. For all those wondering about the status of the ‘Discipline’ album, read on….(it’s not good):
I had the pleasure of interviewing Janet Jackson yesterday as part of a teleconference with a select few fellow bloggers… And I’m sorry to tell you guys this but it’s looking like the label is not planning to allow any more singles from Discipline to be released.
Here’s what Janet had to say when I asked her what her next single would be:
“That’s pretty difficult to say, only because of the record label at this point. We started off with “Feedback” and the label and myself haven’t quite seen eye to eye since the “Feedback” single so they’ve kind of basically stopped all promotion. I’m trying to figure out a way to say this, but just to say it and to be quite honest, they just stopped all promotion whatsoever on the album so I don’t think you’re going to hear another single off this album.”
Damn. What is going over there at Island???
She also revealed some details about her upcoming “Rock Witchu Tour”:
“It’s a completely different show, like nothing before in the past. My real goal is to try and do every single I’ve ever had… so I have to figure out how to fit that into two hours and yet give them enough so they don’t feel hungry for more of that song in particular.”
As for why she chose to title the tour after her song “Rock Wit U”:
“It’s fitting to me, fitting to what the show will be like. It’s a dance show, it’s all upbeat I want it to be a party onstage, a party in the arena. I’ve always said when people come to these shows I want them to forget about all their problems all the drama in their lives and just have a good time, just let it go for a couple hours and bring some happiness into their lives. It’s going to be one big party, I want to ‘Rock Witchu.'”
Last but not least Janet wanted to make sure fans know she has been keeping up with the internet talk about her not making to Europe to promote Discipline:
“I just want to let the fans know because I’ve been reading a lot what the bloggers have been saying about the record and not hearing it on the radio and stuff like that, so I just wanted to let them know where things were as well and where it was all coming from. I’ve heard people talking about me not coming to Europe in support of the record just to let them know that it was definitely in my heart to go to Europe and to support this album but it’s about teamwork, it’s not something I can totally do on my own. Unfortunately things have turned out the way that they have with the differences between the label and myself, which we have been having for the most part from the beginning. So I just want to tell them again thank you very much for all the love and all the support and I they understand the entire situation and I’m really excited to see everybody on tour. I’m really looking forward to that it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Wow. Drama at another label. I guess this explains why the ‘Disicpline’ project seems to have been halted so abruptly. There’s unconfirmed reports that Janet and LA Reid were not seeing eye to eye over the the release of the album’s second single – Janet’s preference being ‘Rock With U’. It’s a shame things have turned out as such, as the album was very solid IMO. It’ll be very interesting to see her next move after the tour i.e. new album?, new label? etc. I, for one, am hoping that she irons out her differences with Island Def Jam, as their promo efforts for their roster (Mariah, Rihanna etc) are largely unmatched by rival labels (Sony/Beyonce) aside…
In a recent interview with XM radio, rapper Lil’ Wayne confirmed that he will be taking to the stage with Usher and Beyonce to open the 2008 BET Awards with the ‘Love In This Club’ remix:
