Janet Jackson on coping with 2009 lack of brother Michael Jackson
Janet Jackson is opening up on how she copes with the loss of her late brother Michael Jackson some 15 years after his June 2009 death.
The 58-year-old singer-actress chat with the BBC about their 1995 collaboration Scream, which was Michael’s first major release in the wake of the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations that had a significant impact on his life and career.
The Grammy-winning artist, who is currently on her Together Again tour, performs the song in concert opposite video footage of her late brother, noting that it’s an emotional feeling ‘listening to him every night, seeing him, remembering us.’
The Gary, Indiana-born entertainer looked back on creating the track with her late sibling, saying, ‘Mike and I wrote that song in New York, in his apartment.’
Janet said that she relives ‘that whole journey, listening to him sing it’ and recalling ‘what he was going through at that time’ as he sought to rebuild his reputation and career amid the damaging accusations.
Janet Jackson, 58, is opening up on how she copes with the loss of her late brother Michael Jackson some 15 years after his June 2009 death. Pictured in London in October of 2022
Janet and her late brother Michael Jackson pictured at the Grammys in LA in February of 1993
‘And just me being his little sister, always by his side, and being that support system,’ Janet said. ‘That’s always been my role.’
In the track, Michael addressed his frustrations with the fallout of the allegations and the media coverage of the issue. Lyrics included: ‘I’m tired of injustice, I’m tired of the schemes/ Your lies are disgusting/ So, what does it mean, damn it?’
In her self-titled 2022 Lifetime docuseries, Janet said of her late sibling, ‘Mike was going through a lot, and I think it was taking its toll on him.’
The song hit the fifth spot on the Billboard Hot 100 amid a 17-week stint on the chart, garnering the Best Music Video award at the 1996 Grammys.
The black and white music video featured the famed siblings performing with one another, which Janet said in the docuseries was a complicated process as music industry executives involved looked to keep them apart.
‘It was tough – Michael shot nights; I shot days,’ Janet said in 2022. ‘His record company, they would block off his whole set so that I couldn’t see what was going on. They didn’t want me on set.
‘I felt like they were trying to make it very competitive between the two of us. That really hurt me, because I felt I was there fighting the fight with him. Not to battle him.’
Janet said that her sense of nostalgia in the collaboration with her sibling had fallen short during production of the clip.
The singer-actress chat with the BBC about their 1995 collaboration Scream, which she is performing on her current Together Again tour
Janet said she recalled ‘what he was going through at that time’ as he sought to rebuild his reputation and career amid the damaging accusations
The music video featured the famed siblings performing with one another, which Janet said in 2022 was a complicated process as executives involved looked to keep them apart
‘I wanted it to feel like old times between he and I, and it didn’t,’ she said in the docuseries. ‘Old times had long passed.’
In the interview with the BBC, Janet also addressed the sexism she faced amid her career, despite the massive success of albums such as 1986’s Control, 1989’s Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, 1993’s janet, 1997’s The Velvet Rope and 2001’s All for You, among others.
She said, ‘In the industry, [I was] told no, more than once. “You’re a girl. Girls don’t do that.” And I was like, “Well, why not? What’s wrong with trying?”‘
Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50 as result of a cardiac arrest following an overdose of the surgical anesthetic drug Propofol.
A Lionsgate biopic about his life titled Michael is in the works, starring his nephew Jaafar Jackson.
