The Velvet Rope
| Janet Jackson
The Velvet Rope
The Velvet Rope is the sixth studio album by American singer Janet Jackson. The album was released on October 7, 1997 through Virgin Records America. Upon experiencing an emotional breakdown, Jackson began facing a long-term case of depression, stemming from childhood and adolescent traumas, including body dysmorphia, anorexia and self-harm. She in turn developed her new record as a concept album, using introspection as its theme. Its title is a metaphor for emotional boundaries, as well as an allusion to an individual's need to feel special. Its lyrics address subject matter such as depression, self-worth, social networking, and domestic violence.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
October 30, 1997. The 77-minute Velvet Rope is part of a continuum, building from the self-empowering manifesto Control, the skin-deep social consciousness of Rhythm Nation and the hypersexual make-over of Janet. The thesis this time is that we should all jump over the internal barriers (i.e., the velvet ropes) that we put up in order to protect our hearts and that cause us to put forth fictitious selves.
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Slant Magazine
September 24, 3006. If Janet Jackson made much ado of janet. being the Let’s Get It On to Rhythm Nation’s What’s Going On, then 1997’s The Velvet Rope is clearly her I Want You, respectively Jackson’s and Gaye’s best and least-heralded albums.
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We Plug Good Music
October 3, 2017. The sassy, sensual and sexual Janet Jackson was very much on edge recording this album, and the result was a fairly bold and daring piece of work. She laid her vulnerabilities bare, really putting her head above the parapet.
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BBC - Music
2010. Mature and experimental… Possibly the great lost 90s trip-hop album, in parts.
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Established in 1997
October 7, 2017. These three albums provided a progression and allowed Janet to blossom into the fearless artist she had become. The Velvet Rope was the culmination of this transformation; the full fruition of a a pioneering pop star turned groundbreaking visionary Janet chose the symbol of the Sankofa to represent The Velvet Rope because, to paraphrase, it means that you must learn from your past to move forward – and that is what the album is all about.
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Entertainment
October 7, 2017. Control, Rhythm Nation, and janet. may have been bigger albums with more hits, but The Velvet Rope represents Janet Jackson at her creative peak. Released 20 years ago on Oct. 7, 1997, the LP — yet another successful collaboration with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis — remains her most personal and powerful work.
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The Guardian
Twenty years on, this richly experimental and deeply personal album is still the template for pop rebels. At its core, too, is the enduring relevancy of its subject matter. Written following a severe bout of depression . . . .
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Albumism
October 5, 2017. Jackson’s sixth LP marked a new pinnacle for her, both critically and creatively. . . . By granting temporary access to the “spiritual garden” of Janet Jackson on The Velvet Rope, audiences can experience and celebrate the complexities of this woman, great and small.
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Talk About Pop
October 22, 2018. This was another hit filled collection with five singles released in various territories and perhaps Janet’s biggest and most memorable hit with “Together Again”. The album covered a number of themes and dealt with some of Janet’s more personal demons, such as depression and anxiety.
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Plugged In
Janet Jackson has come a long way since 1977 when she appeared as sweet young Penny on the TV sitcom Good Times. In fact, Janet's idea of "good times" has gotten truly perverse over the past twenty years. Her twisted Velvet Rope is proof positive.
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AllMusic
Where janet., Ms. Jackson's third blockbuster album, implied sexuality with its teasing cover and seductive grooves, its sequel, The Velvet Rope, is sexually explicit, offering tales of bondage, body piercing, and bisexuality.
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Pop Music
May 24, 2014. Janet provokes us enough in the physical department, but for the most part, she lacks in the emotional one, leaving the listener feeling that maybe we haven’t gotten completely inside the velvet rope, but we have gotten a glimpse of what lies behind it.
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Loud And Quiet
2017. It might be her "kink" album or just her "grown-up" one, but either way two decades on Jackson's sixth LP sounds way ahead of its time
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Music Critic
Janet's latest album is one of self-expression. She shows how much she's changed since her last time around, and how open she's become.
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Saint Heron
May 11, 2014. Looking back, The Velvet Rope feels like a gift. We were fortunate to observe an artist in her prime, being beautiful and bold and Black Black Black, tending to her mental health alongside and in front of those who had lived, lost, and loved right there with her through the years.
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Reddit
October 7, 1027. In an incredibly brave move Janet decided to confront her past in the public eye through her riskiest music move yet. She decided to at the peak of her career take a huge creative risk by making music about those heavy subjects and crafting a new sound that catered to those subjects, instead of making an appealing record to the general public.
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Soul In Stereo
May 4, 2018. All the themes that Janet brought to the table in previous releases – sexuality, feminism, social justice – reached their apex with this album. Janet’s boldness and willingness to sing through her pain made The Velvet Rope a classic release.
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Nylon
October 6, 2017. Though Jackson was in her 30s when the album came out, the demons she encountered, the loneliness she experienced, and the hurt she pushed aside as a result of her fame all collided on Velvet Rope.
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Music Musings and Such
March 16, 2019. Jackson put her heart and soul into the album and, whereas there were inner-scars and personal burdens in the songs, The Velvet Rope was a much broader album that looked at things such as same-sex relationships and domestic violence.
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
There's a lot to like here: it's very long, and has a lot of time-wasting interludes ("Speaker Phone"), but also has the most precise songwriting and production since Control - strongly hip hop influenced, though less sample-based - with better vocals.
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An American In London
October 28, 2017. The Velvet Rope feels like a bit of anomaly, then in her oeuvre, because it has singer-songwriter aspirations, but comes packaged as a pop/dance album. At its time, The Velvet Rope failed to establish Jackson as a serious artist, despite the warm critical response, but it retrospect, it’s an album that is at once highly listenable and easy to admire – and that’s not an easy combination to achieve.
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Vinyl Culture
May 3, 2014. This album is more than a collection of songs, it’s a journey. It’s hard to listen to these songs alone because you don’t get the full meaning or theme of the album.
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BuzzFeed News
October 6, 2017. The release of The Velvet Rope twenty years ago helped paved the way for pop music that is both personal and political.
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Snippets
March 13, 2013. In the end, The Velvet Rope is a strong effort from Janet Jackson. There’s definitely no doubt that by her sixth album, she’s matured as an artist and just a person in general; the subject matter on the album is more in depth, and though at times a bit over the top, still heavier than most of her previous releases.
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Dancing On My Own Music
February 6, 2011. Jackson’s The Velvet Rope will remain a classic album of the nineties full of personal depth, textured and eclectic production, and timeless songs feeling fresh still today.
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The Spokesman-Review
October 6, 1997. Her new album, “The Velvet Rope,” is a critical self-examination and an audio journal of a woman’s road to self-discovery.
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Nile Fortner Presents
February 24, 2017. This album is a fine listen throughout, she has great vocals, has good songs, it’s edgy, open minded, and an album I wish more people would associate Janet with. She truly did experiment, and try new things to do on this album. I don’t think it is her best album, . . . .
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d1esel6
January 21, 2013. It’s a really well rounded album with TOP NOTCH production from Jam and Lewis (what they do on “Empty” STILL fries my brain every time I listen to it). It’s definitely a Janet we haven’t heard before, her vocals are a lot less POPPY and it just gives us a sense that Janet is a real person. Finally!
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Daily Vault Album Reviews
December 20, 1997. Janet Jackson grows up with every album. Grows more sure, more sexy, more thoughtful. Growing up is what she does for a living. Does it better than Madonna.The distance between Dream Street and The Velvet Rope is staggering. Change is scary. But with Miss Janet, change is better.
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RhapCity
October 28, 2014. On a twenty-two track album with fifteen songs, she pulls off the nearly impossible feat of having no throw aways. Even the hidden track, “Can’t Be Stopped,” is damn good.
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FYE
Where janet., Ms. Jackson's third blockbuster album, implied sexuality with its teasing cover and seductive grooves, its sequel, The Velvet Rope, is sexually explicit, offering tales of bondage, body piercing, and bisexuality. . . . the album is simply too long, which is unfortunate, because there are good moments on The Velvet Rope.
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Krista Boivie
In Jackson's 1997 album, The Velvet Rope, she continues to explore the various dimensions of her personality. The Velvet Rope is one of the most raw, emotionally charged and complex of her albums. This album explores depression and the various boundaries of her emotions as well as a lot of sex. Although, I can appreciate this album as an expression of her artistry, as a listener the music does very little for me.
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Robert Christgau
Why do I believe that this self-made object's mild kink and coyly matter-of-fact bisexuality are functions of flesh pure and simple? That for her sex really is about pleasure rather than power--or even, except as a side issue, love? Because her sex songs are flavorful where her love songs are all cliche, . . . .
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