Janet Jackson just released a new single called “Dammn Baby”. Coming from a woman, who had just cancelled a part of her successful tour for trying to become pregnant, it’s tempting to assume that the song might be about that journey. That is not really the case, or is it?
You could assume that the music business is full of people who are, for whatever reason, trying to avoid traditional life. They rebel against it, at the very minimum. This is why a lot of musicians get a lot of slack, when they make the decision to give priority to their personal lives, rather than put the music first, at all times - against any price.
Lauryn Hill once said that she had been made out a fool for getting pregnant at the height of her success. Therefore, Iggy Azalea recently got praised from the business for postponing her wedding to do a tour, obviously fueling the gossipers about relationship problems. But the music business believes that your love for music should always mean personal sacrifice.
And then there’s Janet Jackson, who just cancelled her tour for the chance to make one of her other lifelong dreams come true. Becoming a mother. I so applaud her for doing this. Setting an example to other artists, that life is about more than work and career.
I know you could easily argue that she’s a big star and could afford to make this move, but there are many industry people who will disagree with you. This turned out to be her most successful comeback and most successful tour in recent years. To pull the plug on that, is not something to take lightly.
For Janet Jackson, it was one of the last chances she would have at motherhood, so the urgency for her was greater than with Lauryn Hill at the time, who became a mother in younger years. It’s been surprising to see that not every Janet fan has been supportive of her choices here, but I’d have to agree with her lines in “Dammn Baby” about getting off the automatic and the rest will fall in line.
This week, it was reported that she’s finally pregnant, so it was all worth it too for her and her husband.
Even though the new single, seems to be as simple as an encouragement to choose your path in life and follow your dreams, to me, it does incorporate this part of Janet’s personal story. She’ll be a fabulous mom.
