Janet Jackson has been notoriously silent on the radio waves in recent years. In fact, it has been seven years since the Pop and R&B icon produced her last album, Discipline. But her release today of a brand new single, which she is calling “No Sleeep,” is a laid-back and confident, almost casual announcement that she plans to make a comeback.
In order to produce this track, Jackson collaborated with her longtime musical friends Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The topic of the song is long-distance romance, and the track features Jackson’s signature soulful crooning and piano grooving. She sings, “Whenever we meet, we ain’t gonna get no sleep.”
Jackson announced the song’s release on Twitter this morning, along with a link to the accompanying music video. She used the hashtag “ConversationsInACafe,” which is a reference to all the media speculation surrounding the title of her new LP. As of yet, we still do not know the title, but “No Sleeep” gives us a taste of what kind of music will be featured on the album.
The release marks Jackson’s first project in partnership with the newly formed record label Rhythm Nation. She left her old record label, Island Records, in 2008 shortly after the release of Discipline. Jackson also recently announced her plans to go on tour this summer, starting in Vancouver in August. She is calling the tour her “Unbreakable” tour, and fans can pre-order tickets to this tour if they also pre-order her new LP, which still does not have a name but will feature the single “No Sleeep.”
If this single is any indication, the album will run in the tradition of Jackson’s reputation for being sultry, sexual and provacative, both in her music and in her performances. Ever since her nipple slip at the Super Bowl a few years ago, Jackson has become a model of female defiance against the regulation of female bodies. Many of her fans have expressed on Twitter their hope that she will continue in this vein.
“I promised you’d hear it from my lips,” Jackson said in a recent video announcement. “This year, new music, new world, a new movement. I’ve been listening. Let’s keep the conversation going.”