Janet Jackson: No Sleeep (feat. J Cole)
Details
Pros:
To prove her point, Janet uses swagger, cute dance steps and avoids the scantily clad video vixen campaignCons:
Not exactly revolutionary in detail and directionJanet uses ol’ school subtleties in new school video
Janet uses ol’ school subtleties in new school video
Janet Jackson‘s new video for “No Sleeep,” a mild Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis ballad from her highly anticipated forthcoming album, is making its rounds on the Net, and not for the reasons some would suspect. No, Janet isn’t showing off her sexy curves and infamous cleavage. She isn’t making out with some Adonis to the sexy slow jam. No, she’s dressed in a baggy black outfit, fully clothed in what looks like a return back to her Control-era wear. And she’s also wearing that red crinkle hair look, giving viewers a taste of a Velvet Rope-ish throwback. She walks all around a slick penthouse, showing off light dance moves and fighting insomnia with an umbrella blow smile the whole time. Rapper J. Cole jumps halfway into the track, and serenades Jackson with a little hip-hop bait, even addressing that smiley face planted on her face: “Too much sugar they say is bad for your smile.”
The Dave Meyers-directed video isn’t exactly a breakthrough, nor is the actual song. It does show off some neat neon blue colors in the deluxe loft, and fires up a Matrix-like sequence when Jackson plays with a magnifying glass. There’s even a cute #TBT pic with Pop Jackson in the first few seconds of the vid. And then that same computer-generated technology helps turn J. Cole into a family of clones. But “No Sleeep” won’t be known for being innovative or taking home a handful of MTV Movie Awards, but it will be known for his subtleties. For comfortably taking us back to the Janet we once loved.
