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As ever with these monographs, there are a multitude of approaches that range from entirely personal to the wholly academic. The 33 1/3 series is even more tricky in some ways because music, even where constrained by an album, is that little bit harder to write about - not that there aren't stacks of music journalism out there attempting to do that. So this take on Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope is an interesting one as she is lucky to be unearthing an album that was seen at the time to be a slight critical misstep, and commercially slightly less successful (it would be wrong to say it was a flop in any way). Ayanna Dozier was a kid when the Velvet Rope came out, her mother bought it and its transgressive sexuality and conversations on abuse and depression made it a strange fit in her house's record collection - and also therefore became her absolute favourite. The monograph flies when we get a window into this world, the personal touch really works here, though it is clear that due to her own personal attachment she is very keep on making as reasoned and evidenced an argument for it being good on its own terms rather than just her subjective experience.
Writing about Janet Jackson in 2020, but about a 1997 album comes with baggage. Writing about any Jackson comes with family baggage, not just Michael but our knowledge about how Joe Jackson was a patriarch and some of that legacy. Wisely Dozier parks Michael right at the beginning - not least because as an artist Janet has always been compared to him, often in a belittling and derogatory sense. Also we are seven years before her effective cancellation by MTV and US radio after the Superbowl incident, it has no real bearing on The Velvet Rope (beyond underlining some of the misogyny and hypocrisy that was embedded in the media). There is a terrific moment where Dozier talks about how freeing the early days on the internet were (there is a dial-up modem interlude on the album), and for me recalling what the media and world of 1997 was was difficult, history to her, memories for me. All of which to say thematically, personally and musically this does a great job of picking apart the Velvet Rope and making it feel like a masterpiece.
Is it a masterpiece? That's an interesting question - I hadn't heard it beyond most of the singles (I wasn't doing pop in the mid nineties much). I listened to it before I read the book. I liked it so much I listen to it quite a few times, and then listened to it while reading, and the arguments are persuasive. This is an album that surprises, plays with genre but with a central superstar sounding vulnerable and unsure. I'd like to think if I had just listened to it without knowing I was going to read the book I would have a similar response, but the book definately allowed me to wallow in it, enjoy some behind the scenes takes and some subtext that I probably wouldn't have otherwise delved into. A good read on its own, it manages to unfold the album and make a case for it at the same time - along with enough personal history to illustrate yet again how music, and an album, can really affect someones life.
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