James Debarge of the 80’s R&B group, Debarge, also known as Janet’s ex-husband! Janet was married to him at the time if “What Have You Done For Me Lately’s” production. Like we said earlier, Jimmy Jam let the cat out of the bag on this one. When he and Terry Lewis were working on Janet’s album, “Control,” this song was created to document the turmoil Janet’s and James’ marriage.
Here’s what Jimmy Jam said:
“The lyric came up because of a relationship Janet had gotten out of [her marriage to soul singer James DeBarge, which was annulled a year earlier]. The concept was basically, ‘he used to do nice things for you, but what has he done for you lately?'”
Who would’ve thunk it?!! Now that we know this, it all makes sense – Janet has repeatedly talked about the fact that she is an “emotional eater” who tends to eat a lot of junk food when she’s stressed about something going on in her life, resulting in weight gain (although she still looked great in my humble opinion). Not only did we see her experience a little weight gain during the era of her “Control” album, during which she had just gone through the divorce with James, we also saw this same weight pattern for her role on Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too, which was filmed shortly after the death of her big brother, Michael Jackson. In both instances, she did a phenomenal job using her craft and creating powerful performances.
Janet is currently touring to promote her new album, Unbreakable, and her recent wardrobe choices have many assuming that her more toned down, classy look is due to her respecting her husband, Wissam Al Mana’s Islamic religion (and probably also her’s). My first thoughts when I heard that, was ‘not every women in her late 40’s or early 50’s wants to still dress like she’s 20 (*coughs* Madonna).’ Maybe Janet is respecting her husband’s religion, or maybe she’s simply flossin’ a new style choice, either way, that woman is fine at 49 and she could be dressed in a potato sack for all I care…she will always be sexy Janet to me! Keep showing these youngins how it’s done Ms. Jackson.
