UNBREAKABLE is her best album since THE VELVET ROPE, but the other post-SB albums have their merits.

DAMITA JO has some outstanding unreleased cuts that are better than some of the stuff that actually made the album (Put Your Hands On, Ruff, Could This Be Love), and the Just Blaze mix of Just A Little While titled Love Me is way better than the album version of the song. As for the album tracks, my faves are the Bag & Arnthor songs All Nite (Don't Stop) and SloLove, the slutty Strawberry Bounce, the Cathy Dennis-penned Island Life (which should've been a single) and the super-dirty Warmth. Sexhibition is filled with word play and is another good track. This album also has some wonderfully dreamy interludes. It totally suffered from SB backlash and undoubtedly would've been another in her string of #1s if not for the silliness of the tit situation.

20 YO is probably my least favorite (for the title alone), but it, too, has some good cuts. Enjoy is pure bliss reminiscent of MJ, Take Care is one of her best baby-making ballads ever and Do It To Me makes wonderful use of a Brenda Russell sample. So Excited was the second single but it's miles better than the album's debut single, the Nelly duet Call On Me. She was still knee-deep in love with Jermaine Dupri at the time, and his stamp is (unfortunately) all over this record.

DISCIPLINE returned her to her #1 album status and benefitted from the infectious dance floor-filling first single Feedback (a top 20 hit and a favorite of Madonna's--go figure). This album is track-for-track superior to 20 YO, with awesome songs like Rock With U, LUV, What's Ur Name, Rollercoaster and 2Nite (the latter of which appeared on the Sex and the City film soundtrack). Janet was now signed to Def Jam after leaving Virgin because of her fulfilled contract and a desire to work with a new record company. DJ president LA Reid's first mistake was pushing Rock With U as the second single, which went against what Janet wanted, which was for LUV to be the second single. Though RWU was likened to Donna Summer's I Feel Love with its techno/disco beats and ethereal vocals, and was ahead of its time in that every R&B artist today is now releasing Europop/EDM tracks, it fizzled at radio due to improper promotion. The mishandling of the album's promo by shady LA rubbed Janet the wrong way and prompted her to ask to be let out of her contract while she was on tour, and I can't say that I blame her. LA has a history of shady dealings with his artists.

UNBREAKABLE continued her #1 album streak and was rightfully heralded by critics and fans when it was released in 2015 as her best album in close to 20 years. With nary a sex song on it (a switch for Miss Jackson), it is deep, resonant, thought-provoking and charters waters Janet has never sailed lyrically, vocally and production-wise. Some standouts are the Fleetwood Mac-ish Take Me Away, the socially conscious Should've Known Better, Gon' B Alright (which sounds like an homage to her brothers' grooviest Motown-era songs), the club-banger Dammn Baby, the R&B AC #1 No Sleeep, the haunting Promise Of You, the ode to fallen black men Black Eagle, and the country-tinged Well Traveled.