It's here, everyone. It's finally here. Months after starting this train by releasing her single "No Sleeep," Janet Jackson dropped a new song, "Unbreakable," from her upcoming album. It's the title track on the LP, due on Oct. 2, and it's closing the gap on the seven year musical silence Jackson has maintained since releasing Discipline in 2008. Basically, all of our butts are numb at this point from being so close to the edge of our seats for so long waiting for this moment, and true to form, Jackson does not disappoint. "No Sleeep", which featured J. Cole, was more of a sexy, slinky number about being far away from your lover, while "Unbreakable" is sounds like more of a self-reflecting ballad. The song just delivers Jackson's voice, surprisingly pared down, with some tinkly piano and a minimal beat that comes in as backup, but doesn't pull focus from her impressive pipes.
And this bare bones style is how I came to notice how very much Jackson sounds like her brother Michael Jackson in this song. Obviously, I have a pair of ears and a brain, so I've noticed the vocal similarities between Janet and her late brother before, but she is really channeling him this time around. Which, to be honest, makes a lot of sense. Michael passed away in 2009, less than a year after Janet released Discipline, so this is the first music we're getting from her since that tragedy. It's right there in the title of the album — Unbreakable — that she was bowed but not broken by something, so it's both eerie and beautiful how much Janet seems to remind me of Michael in a track with the same title.
Beautiful, right? I kind of love it. There are any number of people that Janet could be dedicating this to, with me misreading the signs that it's Michael, but the fact that her voice sounds so much like her late sibling's gives the song another beautiful layer for me, whether she intended it or not.
