About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

The Velvet Rope

Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Velvet Rope

The Velvet Rope is a Grammy winning 1997 album released by pop superstar Janet Jackson. The album came after a four year gap from her previous release janet. Surrounded by controversy, it found Jackson expounding on the implied sexuality of the previous record by incorporating sexually explicit themes, photography and conversation dialogue into the record.

The album is often remembered by the general public more for the photography and music videos accompanying it than for the music therein. The liner notes to the album contain photos of Jackson in various states of undress sporting tattoos around her panty line and various body piercings including a nipple ring that she frequently wore through her clothing. The ring was exposed in the music video to the album's second and most successful single, "Together Again," causing MTV to blur it out. (It is ironic to note that much alarm was made of this same nipple being exposed years later.)

Within the context of the album Jackson lyrically flirts with sadomasochistic sex, lesbianism and bisexuality, casual sex, bondage, phone sex and other sexual themes. These acts are also depicted in booklet photos, including pictures of Jackson blindfolded or with her hands tied behind her back while lying on a bed. The album's title, then, has a triple meaning; it references the rope used to hold back fans when a celebrity is present, which to Jackson was also a metaphor for an individual's need to feel special by putting oneself in a private place. It also refers to rope used during bondage.

Jackson made various media appearances where she frequently talked about her personal life and sexual exploration (and piercings), but rarely talked about the content of the album. The album did not do as well as her previous effort. The debut single "Got 'Til It's Gone" featured a sample from the Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi", and was a radio success but not a hit. The song also featured vocals by rapper Q-Tip.

The second single, "Together Again," was a huge dance club and radio hit. The success of the song inspired Jackson to release a single featuring various versions of the track; unlike normal remixes, these were actual re-recordings with totally different musical styles and alternate vocals.

The single "I Get Lonely" landed at #3 securing another hit for Jackson.

Other singles from the album included "Go Deep" and "Everytime". Neither were major chart successes on par with Jackson's previous hits, although "Go Deep" reached the top spot on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. Notable tracks include "Tonight's the Night," a cover of the Rod Stewart classic which, when performed by Jackson, took on lesbian undertones; "Free Xone," a song about a homosexual man attacked by a co-passenger on an airplane; "Velvet Rope," which featured a violin solo by acclaimed classical violinist Vanessa Mae, and "You", which became controversial after it was suggested that the subject was Jackson's brother Michael.

Like many of Jackson's albums, the album is filled with non-musical interludes. One interlude in particular earned a great deal of note from conservative groups. In the brief track "Speaker Phone," Jackson (presumably simulates) a phone sex chat. Towards the end of the track she moans, prompting her partner to comment "Yo' coochie's gon' swell up and fall apart!" This was picked apart by media, particularly comedienne Sandra Bernhard who quipped in her one woman show "I thought I said some crazy shit, but Miss Jackson...you so Nasty!"

A coinciding tour called "The Velvet Rope Tour" covered the globe in promotion of the album. The European leg of this tour was extremely successful, playing 32 sold-out concerts.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 256 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

  1. "Interlude: Twisted Elegance" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (0:42)
  2. "Velvet Rope" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo/Malcolm McLaren/Trevor Horn/Mike Oldfield) (4:55)
  3. "You" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo/Harold Brown/Sylvester Allen/Morris Dickerson/Howard Scott/Leroy Jordan/Lee Oskar/Charles Miller) (4:42)
  4. "Got 'Til It's Gone" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo/Joni Mitchell/Kamaal Ibn Fareed) (4:01) (feat. rap by Q-Tip and Joni Mitchell) (uncredited producer - Jay Dee)
  5. "Interlude: Speaker Phone" (0:54)
  6. "My Need" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo/Marylin McLeod/Pamela Sawyer/Nicholas Ashford/Valerie Simpson) (3:44
  7. "Interlude: Fasten Your Seatbelts" (0:19)
  8. "Go Deep" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (4:42)
  9. "Free Xone" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo/James Brown/Billy Buttier/Archie Bell/Michael Hepburn) (4:57)
  10. "Interlude: Memory" (0:04)
  11. "Together Again" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (5:01)
  12. "Interlude: Online" (0:19)
  13. "Empty" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (4:32)
  14. "Interlude: Full" (0:12)
  15. "What About" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (4:24)
  16. "Every Time" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (4:17)
  17. "Tonight's the Night" (Stewart) (5:07)
  18. "I Get Lonely" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (5:17)
  19. "Rope Burn" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (4:15)
  20. "Anything" (Jackson/Harris/Lewis/Elizondo) (4:54)
  21. "Interlude: Sad" (0:10)
  22. "Special/Can't Be Stopped" [U.S.Release](7:55), "Special" [International Version] (3:22)
  23. "God's Stepchild/Can't Be Stopped" [International Bonus Track](7:53)

Personnels

External links

Janet Jackson
Studio albums: Janet Jackson • Dream Street • Control • Rhythm Nation 1814
janet. • The Velvet Rope • All for You • Damita Jo • 20 Years Old

Other albums: • Janet. Remixed • Design of a Decade 1986/1996

Discography • Singles • Videography • Filmography • Tours • Awards and accolades

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: