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DailyBoom Your Old School Music Authority

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Daily Boom 90's Nostalgia: Janet Jackson- 'If'


"Allow me some time to play with your mind
And you'll get there again and again
Close your eyes and imagine my body undressed
Take your time cuz we've got all night, oooh
You on the rise as you're touchin my thighs and
Let me know what you like
If you like I'll go
Down da down down down da down down
I'll hold you in my hand and baby"


The early 90's were pretty damn emo. If you weren't walking around in a state of chronic melancholy you almost didn't fit in. Not that any of us really ever felt like we fit in. Douglas Coupland's Gen X novels reminded us that we were born into confusion so feeling like a misfit was par for the course. I had traded in my hairbands for Bush, Pearl Jam, Afghan Whigs and just about anyone else that was closer to Seattle or Portland than they were to the east coast. And then Janet Jackson reinvented herself and her sound.

Her self-titled album from 1993 stayed in my cd player for probably months straight. I was obsessed with the music, the videos, her abs- just everything. It was all so well-packaged (flannel shirts included) that it probably helped pull me out of my self-induced funk within a week or two.  It was all so slick and between the videos and MTV's behind-the-scenes footage I really wished that I was one of her "kids" (dancers). I mean really now, they were just awesome. Check out the video for "If" below. It is still my fav and dear god, nearly 30 years later I still remember the choreography!