This song was from a breakout album for this groundbreaking singer featuring very assertive songs like "What Have You Done For Me Lately" and "Nasty."
She was born on May 16, 1966, in Gary, Indiana, the youngest of ten children, to parents, Katherine and Joseph Walter Jackson. The family was lower-middle class and devout Jehovah's Witnesses, although today’s singer would later refrain from organized religion.
Her record company even turned down "How Will I Know," which went to Whitney Houston, because it didn't fit the tone of the album. This was one of the lightest songs, but it was her biggest hit from the album and the FIRST of her 10 US chart-toppers.
She was just 20 years old when this was released, but she had already put out two albums, including her self-titled debut in 1982. Growing up in a showbiz family, she was encouraged to perform at a young age and had matured a great deal by the time this song came out.
FUN FACT: The video for this song was choreographed by Paula Abdul. A few years later, Abdul broke through as a “singer”.
After her second album, today’s singer terminated business affairs with her family, commenting "I just wanted to get out of the house, get out from under my father, which was one of the most difficult things that I had to do."
So she set her sights on making this album, aptly named “Control” something which established her firmly on her own ground, separate from her family and her past.
The album produced five top five singles and received six Billboard Awards, three Grammy nominations, including ‘Album of the Year”. It also won four American Music Awards from twelve nominations, an unbroken record. At this point, she was successfully "shaking off the experience of being a shadow [child in her family] and becoming "an artist in her own right"
Speaking of her famous family, when this song hit #1, today’s singer and her brother, MIcheal became the first and only siblings to each have #1 solo hits in the United States.
Janet Jackson...When I Think of You...I Know That Song