Don't Stop The Music

It's going to be an exciting month next month, because there's not going to be one Jackson album, but TWO Jackson albums! How often does this happen, you might ask. Not that often actually.

The last time the two Jackson siblings released albums in the same calendar year was in 2001, when Janet released All For You in April followed by Michael's Invincible in October. Before that, you would have to look at 1995, when Michael released HIStory in June and Janet with her Design Of A Decade compilation in October.

So by a strange alignment of the stars, we have the two siblings releasing their albums just two weeks apart next month.


MJ's 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller will be released worldwide on 11 February, followed by the US release the following day. It is actually technically not accurate, as the album was released on 1 December, 1982, so the 25th Anniversary should have been 2 months ago. But well.


Anyway, the package will be enhanced with bonus remixed tracks by Akon, Will.i.Am, Kanye West and Fergie. Of all these, I quite like Will.i.Am's remix of The Girl Is Mine and Akon's Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. Fergie's Beat It duet is just horrendous, while I felt that Kanye could have done much, much more with Billie Jean.


There's also a bonus DVD of the Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller videos, as well as MJ's famous Motown 25 Billie Jean performance, where he debuted the moonwalk for the first time. Actually these videos have all been released before, so it's not that big a deal. I was hoping they could release some never-before-seen performances or studio sessions, that would have been cool. But I'm still getting it anyway.

On 26 February, Janet will be releasing her 10th studio album, titled Discipline. I'm really looking forward to this one because it's new material and it's her first album under Island Def Jam.

Since the announcement last week that EMI is going to cut 2,000 jobs, I already feel that Janet's doing all the right things by leaving the wretched Virgin, which is owned by EMI. I really can't imagine her releasing another album with Virgin, and there will really be zero promotion this time round.

Anyway, Discipline is off to a good start. I've seen many music videos (trust me on this) and I haven't been as excited by a music video for a long time as I have seeing the Feedback video. I'm glad it wasn't OTT like Call On Me, just a simple and minimalistic look that reminded me a little of Scream (maybe it's because it's set in outer space as well).



But yeah, the video's damn hot and Janet's looking damn fine too. The dance is awesome and I can't wait to see it performed live. The choreography is killin' me.


The album cover is smokin' hot too, though I have some reservations about her hair. But overall, I'm glad she's taking a more bold approach this time and not just flashing her pearlies.


No news yet on the second single, but it's still early. Feedback is at #51 on the Hot 100 this week. Not fantastic yet, and I hope it can reach the top 10. #1 would be sweet, but let's not give ourselves too high hopes yet.

Anyway, I just bought the Rihanna album. I've been wanting to for some time now, and I finally got it. I'm so digging track 3, Don't Stop The Music, which as mentioned before, samples MJ's Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. It's such a stomper and it really sums up how I'm feeling now. Don't stop the music! Keep it coming!!!