Janet Jackson: All for You (2LP) [VIRGIN]

Why you'll love it

This gatefold 2LP set gives All for You four full sides. It was Janet's fifth straight No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and the title track topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks and won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

After the heavy, confessional Velvet Rope, Janet Jackson wanted to make something that felt like sunshine. All for You is that record: bright, flirtatious and built for the windows-down months, made with her longtime partners Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and, for the first time in years, a fresh outside producer in Rockwilder.

The title track rides a breezy disco sample into one of the happiest choruses of her career, and "Someone To Call My Lover" strums along on a gentle soft-rock loop to a No. 3 Hot 100 peak. "Come On Get Up" and "Trust A Try" bring the rock and funk muscle, "China Love" leans on East Asian textures, and "Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)" is a sharp, swaggering kiss-off. "Doesn't Really Matter," from the Nutty Professor II soundtrack, and "Better Days" keep the mood light right to the end.

She was named MTV's first Icon around the album, and critics have since traced its influence through Rihanna and Ariana Grande. We'd suggest playing it on the first warm day of the year, which in Toronto gives you plenty of time to practise the choreography.

Also at Kops: more Janet Jackson on vinyl · browse Pop

Tracklist

Listen

On Virgin (cat# B0030232-01), a reissue of the 2001 album.