Janet Jackson is certain of the fact that “everybody needs to feel love” on charming pop smash, “2 B Loved,” from inside her latest album, Unbreakable. In a soft vocal tone, Jackson sings, “I feel you’ve been deleted” because “you lost your love.” The singer pushes away uncertainty while confidently promising, “what you deserve in love / I have it.”
Jackson is worthy of writing a self-help book about displaying love because she is flowing in wisdom on the topic, lately. “2 B Loved,” with its mid-tempo prowl, feels suitable to satisfy Top 40 radio. Jackson’s tender voice brings hope in love during the chorus when she sings, “Ooh I just wanna live in your heart and mind / Be your everything combined / I want you to need me.” As a result, the memorably written hook will inspire the soul with an improved optimistic view on love, even when it ends in heartbreak. It is like Jackson channeled into the spirits of everyone who has lost love and laid them to rest due to the overwhelming pain it sometimes brings.
Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis demonstrate collective brilliance on “2 B Loved,” and it is some of their best work heard in a long time, supremely benefiting the song in all of its modern components. An emphatic bridge expresses the method and manner in which Jackson is loved that assures us all that she will be just fine. Furthermore, a deeper truth lies in the climax of the song when she sings, “When you speak (to me) / When I hear your voice / I know love is real.” The bridge of the song is a love potion that arouses the desire for intense devotion.
In the end, this song has the promise to reach those Jackson supporters sorely desiring the electronic dance music of her early ’00s material. This song is the best one on the album to take on Rhythmic/Top 40 radio while immediately crushing the competition dead in their tracks. “2 B Loved” should find winning favoritism with DJ’s everywhere. Indeed, this is a chart topper and may become Jackson’s biggest success since “Call on Me.”