Janet Jackson – Discipline
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“This bathroom is just too funky for me.”
Thus ends ‘Bathroom Break’, track six of Discipline and one of nine spoken-word interludes on this album. It is never explained whether Janet is referring to the smell of the bathroom – or that the toilet is dancing and therefore preventing her from peeing.
It’s one of many strange things about this album, her 10th since 1982. First there’s the title. Why would you call a record Discipline, when it has 22 meandering tracks and contains more filler than a cavity wall insulation van?
Then there are the lyrics. Back on 1997’s The Velvet Rope, Janet flirted with bondage imagery. Here, it’s as if she doesn’t so much flirt as start a swingers’ club. ‘The Meaning’ is the sound of Janet touching herself while reciting the dictionary definition of flagellation. This is not a joke.
And it gets dirtier. The title track is built around the groaned "Daddy, I disobeyed ya / Now I want you to come punish me," food for years of psychoanalysis, particularly given her family background. (When she’s not talking sex, Janet’s lyrics are astonishingly bland: “You got me on a rollercoaster – I go woah”).
Despite these peculiar moments, Discipline is not exciting. Janet dips into ‘Toxic’-era Britney territory with ‘Feedback’, steals some Timbaland drums for ‘So Much Betta’ and even sounds like Kylie on ‘2Nite’. It’s slick, professional and fails to get the heart pounding once. 2006’s 20 Y.O. peaked at 63 in the UK charts. Discipline won’t achieve much more. Unless, perhaps, she reveals the real story behind that funky bathroom.
Jon Horsley
