JANET JACKSON.

 

The Lifetime documentary, JANET JACKSON., is Janet’s first time opening up about her life from her unorthodox childhood into adulthood.

Within the four-part documentary, the story I looked forward to the most was in the final section, where she talks about her Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. I feel like she helped to clear up a lot of the frustration that people, including myself, had with Justin Timberlake. It’s still sad the way things turned out for her and how she didn’t get the recognition that she deserved for a long time after. But I liked that she didn’t let this one moment define her. She still continued to make music and act, not letting what other people were doing or saying to her and her family deter her from her work.

Her relationships with men was also an interesting topic. She seems to be someone who loves hard and make excuses for men, even when they show her who they are. I definitely got the impression that was wasn’t the best judge of character. 

This lack of judgment can also be seen within her relationships with her now deceased father and her brother, Michael. She was defensive of both of them in this documentary and blamed others for their behavior. She stated it was the era and their poverty that were the excuses for her father's abuse toward his children. For Michael she said they grew apart and that others tried to compare them and make them compete, which made the filming of their music video, Scream, awkward for her. This was the only time in the documentary that I felt like Janet was being inauthentic and that her statements were perfectly curated for her brand. 

A lot of the information within the documentary were stories that I already knew but it was still an interesting series and it was great to hear some of Janet’s old hits.