Janet says "Make Me" (a bit more like my brother)

The video for Janet Jackson's new single, Make Me, premiered at the weekend and it is unbelievably similar to the one she did with Michael for Scream. It's almost as if she's saying, "Hey, look you guys. I know you haven't really been into the whole 'buying my records' thing since that one time I got a little undressed at the Superbowl and you all freaked out, like, big time. But you've forgiven my dead brother for all that weird stuff he definitely didn't do, so it'd be totally awesome if you could spare some of that goodwill for me. Thx, Janet."

The sad thing is, the song is good enough to be a hit without reminding you of Janet's impressive lineage / horrible tragedy. It's one of those Madonna-esque hymns to redemptive power of dance. A bit repetitive, a bit shallow, but utterly awesome in the moment. Lookee here:

Janet - Make Me


Much better is La Jackson's appearance on last night's American Music Awards. A seven-minute medley of all of her biggest hits, with all the original choreography, and the now-obligatory shot of Jermaine Jackson in the audience pulling that face that he thinks looks like pride, but actually looks like he's bitten his tongue and is trying not to scream. It (the performance) reminds you exactly why Janet can release a entire double album of number ones.

It's because she's a-frickin-mazing.

Janet - AMA performance

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