Show caption In Control... Janet owning The Pleasure Principle. Composite: YouTube Janet Jackson Wall humps! Crotch grabs! Why Janet Jackson’s Pleasure Principle is pop’s most influential video If Dua Lipa and Silk City’s video for Electricity feels familiar that’s because Janet did it first In 1986. Here’s how the video changed the pop landscape Leonie Cooper Fri 5 Oct 2018 03.00 EDT Share on Facebook

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Let’s not dick around: Janet was always the best Jackson, a queen of both serious choreography and lite controversy, from that iconic boob-cupping Rolling Stone cover to the storm in a D-cup that was the 2004 Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. It has now been 32 years since the release of Janet’s very, very good, multi-million selling electronic R&B standard Control. Her third album, it not only set the tone for Beyoncé, J-Lo and Aaliyah, but was home to The Pleasure Principle, a song with a video that burrowed its way firmly into the minds of generations upon generations of artistic directors. In 2018, you’re more likely to find a pop promo that has been influenced by the “let’s have a dance on my own in an extremely spacious, unnervingly open-plan loft apartment that seems to contain at least one lone Elgin marble, two basic dining chairs, a smattering of classic cars and a car boot sale-ready selection of battered old lamps while wearing double denim” aesthetic than one that hasn’t.

The video’s simple, ballsy dance moves see Janet literally throwing shapes. There’s the classic Jackson family crotch grab, the drunken semaphore, the John Wayne wide-leg wobble, the power scarecrow and a brisk but effective wall hump. Barry Lather’s choreography is tense and taut. It’s not about being sexy, it’s about being tough. In The Pleasure Principle, Janet Jackson is very much Not Here For Your Shit. It might end with her wailing “Love me, love me”, but you get the feeling she doesn’t give a damn if you do or don’t. She’s too busy cementing her status as an icon while also doing some deep calf stretches.

Christine and the Queens, AKA Héloïse Letissier recently spoke to BBC Radio 1’s Clara Amfo about the influence of the video on her own work. “There is a beautiful sense of intimacy because she’s performing on her own and she’s owning the pain through the dance moves.”

There may be pain in the song’s lyrics, but there’s little of it in the video’s industrial imagery. Janet doesn’t break a sweat but still manages to move like that in high waisted, non-stretch jeans. It is nothing less than a triumph for rigid fabric. This is a woman who does not need spandex to move, merely some expensive Manhattan square footage. The interior is important here. It’s the kind of warehouse space that Kevin McCloud would have shaken his head at two years ago but is now amazed at what you’ve managed to do with the place, despite not having a project manager and with £100,000 cut from the original budget due to the twins’ school fees going up yet again.

The latest video to reference Janet’s version of a Grand Designs success story is Electricity by Silk City, AKA Diplo and Mark Ronson with guest panache and youth from Dua Lipa. The track is a full-on homage, right down to Dua’s knotted crop top. Though hers is, granted, a fair few inches shorter than Janet’s and she’s also switched out the black jeans for red knickers. Must be a seasonal thing. Flashes of underboob and the aforementioned knickers make it a more sexualised version of Janet’s original, as does the arrival of some greased-up yoga bros. The whole loft then turns into a giant house party, swapping out Janet’s display of independence and strength for a vibe that’s a season one of Skins level of debauch.