Janet Jackson: a new love, a new nation and new Black pride

Ebony, Feb, 1990 by Robert E. Johnson

JANET JACKSON

THE GOLDEN glow of an early morning sun caressed the beautiful face of singer/dancer/actress Janet Damila Jackson as she arrived on a location near Paris' 100-year-old Eiffel Tower to shoot a video seene for "Come Back To Me," a song she co-composed about a lover trying to recapture the rapture of a romance that blossomed and faded away a long time ago.

Just as she walked toward the set to begin filming, she was handed a bulletin cabled to her in care of Richard Frankel, head of art direction and design for Los Angeles-based A&M Records. "Your Rhythm Nation album has sold 2 million copies in less than five weeks and has gone platinum," she was informed.

The sales message had a special meaning for the 23-year-old, ninth-born member of the famous multitalented Jacksons because some critics had chastised her for wearing black, producing the Rhythm Nation video in black and white and using the album to espouse her racial views.

There were even some skeptics at her record company who believed that the album and video wouldn't have "crossover" appeal to Whites. But the decision-makers at A&M Records not only recognized the vision of Jackson's new nation, but supported her idea of doing a 30-minute film on it. The Rhythm Nation video is the most far-reaching single project the company said it has ever attempted.

For the gifted show biz wiz who was born the year (May 16, 1966) that her brothers. The Jackson Five, won a citywide talent contest in Gary, Ind., creating Rhythm Nation was the most ambitions album since her chart-topping Control sold over 5 million records in the U.S. alone in 1986.

She was naturally disappointed with some critics and minced no words during an interview with EBONY in her trailer after filming an episode for her video in Paris.

"One critic said that Rhythm Nation is 'dark,'" she says. "The album, the cover, the video--everything. But I think he might be missing the message we're trying to convey. First of all, there was a reason the video was shot in black and white and not in color. There are so many races in that video, from Black to White and all the shades of gray in between. Black and white photography shows all those shades, and that's why we used it."

"Wearing black shows that for once that I can represent something positive and not negative," she emphasizes and offers harsh words for those who equate evil with anything black--like referring to the day that the stock market crashed as "Black Monday." Her mood shifts toward anger as she sounds off. "I'm just so tired of all of that. I really am!" She was especially miffed over the comments of a Black critic who called her black attire "drab" and didn't like the video in black and white. "He's been brainwashed because he can't see what I'm trying to show--and that hurts me so bad. I would hope that everyone will understand that for once black represents something good. That's why we were all dressed in black. We're united to do something good, not coming out in white uniforms to save the day--with the white horse mentality. Black is so beautiful to me."

As determined as she is to give black a positive image, Jackson recalls how one woman challenged her sincerity. "A lady came up to me and asked, 'Why do you always wear so much black? Is it because it is slimming?' I got so mad. Of course, I know that my weight fluctuates. We all know this. I told her if I were skinny I would still wear black. I would wear it even if the fashion experts say the color black is out. How could the color black be out?" she asked. I feel like th positive messages that we are trying to bring in about black are pushed out."

She says that it is her hope that the children who listen to her album or watch the Rhythm Nation video will get the message about the color black and Black pride. "Because the children are our future," she says: "I know I can't change the world. I know that this album won't change the world, but I believe that there are people out there who are listening to the album and are considering some of the social problems I'm trying to address--bigotry, illiteracy, drugs, violence, the homeless. Even if only one person out of all those who listen to the album makes a change, that's an accomplishment."

As creative consultant on Rhythm Nation video, Rene Elizondo plays an important role in the public and private life of the multi-talented performer. She acknowledges the positive influence he brings to the relationship. And when their dating got serious, her parents got concerned. "It was really difficult in the beginning," she says of her parents' anxieties. "I could understand this. They were checking him out to see where his head was." He was in her corner, preoccupied with creative and useful ideas that contribute to her phenomenal success as a singer, songwriter, dancer and actress.

"He has helped me a great deal with visuals and things. He co-directed and wrote the video, Let's Wait Awhile," she smiles. "Rene wants to direct. He comes from a family that is in the film business. His dad is a director of photography and his uncle is a director. His whole family is in the film business and he wants to direct and I know that he will because he has the talent.