In honor of her upcoming 60th birthday this Saturday (May 16), we’re doing a full week of Vintage Pop Stardom deep dives into the all-time greatness of Janet Jackson on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast. Each day this week (May 11-15), we’ve looked at a different peak year in Janet Jackson’s singular career — 1986, 1990, 1993, 1998 and 2001 — while hitting on all the albums, singles, videos, dance routines, tours, performances, fashion statements, social and political statements, and other big moments that made Ms. Jackson’s contributions to the music and culture of those years absolutely unforgettable.f
Today, we close things out with Janet Jackson in 2001, when she got one final year in the All for You era as a no-doubt top-flight hitmaker, while seemingly the entire rest of the pop world was rightly praising her as a formative influence and iconic pop legend. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard senior charts and data analyst Trevor Anderson to remember Janet getting one long victory lap of a year to simultaneous enjoy her cemented legacy and contemporary superstardom — before nearly everything would flip for her on one sadly fateful night three years later.
Along the way, we ask all the most pressing questions about ’01 Janet Jackson: Was this the most easily triumphant career of Janet’s entire career? How did this year end up so fun and carefree coming so soon after her divorce? Why isn’t All for You necessarily thought of as on par with the four albums (or eras) before it? Do we wish we could’ve gotten the version of this album where Janet works with a bunch of exciting new collaborators? Is the title track one of her all-time great singles? Why didn’t Britney perform at the MTV Icon Janet tribute? Does Janet have a signature video or signature look from this period? And perhaps most importantly: How much do we blame the Super Bowl for her never having another Hot 100 top 10 hit after this year?
Check it out above, along with a YouTube playlist of Janet Jackson’s biggest 2001 moments — all of which are discussed in the episode — and thanks for listening all week! Please subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom.
And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Destination Tomorrow
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Human Rights Campaign – In Your Area
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