The Jackson Dive

Janet Jackson is 41. She's sold more records than anyone this side of Madonna, made enough money to buy Jamaica and is, according to Guinness World Records, the most searched for person in Internet history. Her latest album, Discipline, became her sixth to reach No.1.

You might say Janet, baby sister of the notoriously famous, driven and dysfunctional Jackson clan, is all grown up.

But she wouldn't.

"A lot of people who start work at a very young age never grow up because they never got that opportunity to be a child, so they hold on to that and still do a lot of childish, silly things," she told The Observer in London. "And it's OK. I think it's fine never to grow up, as long as you still remember yourself as an adult when need be."

So, is Janet Jackson remembering that she's an adult when need be?

Control Freak
Janet's first recording came in 1978—a duet with brother Randy titled "Love Song for Kids." By the early 1980s she was appearing on such shows as Diff'rent Strokes and A New Kind of Family. But her father thought she could make more money in music, and he pushed the young diva into the industry.

"Who am I to complain or nag about it, because I had more of a childhood than my brothers," she tells The Observer. "Yeah, I do think kids should be kids. You have the rest of your life to be an adult. But this was my life. It wasn't something I said I definitely wanted to go into. It was something that just kind of happened."

Her first two albums went nowhere, but then came 1986's Control, which made her a superstar. When manager John McClain suggested she become more overtly sexual for her next album, she rejected his advice and instead released the more socially conscious Rhythm Nation 1814—an even more stunning commercial achievement. It sold 6 million copies. And four of its songs hit No. 1 (a better track record than even brother Michael achieved with Thriller).

After 1814, Jackson dumped her label, secretly married her longtime boyfriend (the marriage would last nine years) and went about recrafting her image—this time by belatedly taking McClain's advice and embracing sexuality.

New Kid on the Block
In 1993, she released janet., a sexified effort that sold 7 million copies, and she posed topless for a notorious Rolling Stone cover in which her breasts are covered only by somebody's else's hands. Then Jackson's personal and professional life began to trend southward. She suffered a breakdown in 1996 and divorced her husband in 2000. Her albums were receiving mixed reviews and, commercially, not matching her earlier achievements.

Enter Justin Timberlake and the 2004 Super Bowl. Janet later apologized for her infamous breast-baring appearance, and Timberlake dismissed the incident as a "wardrobe malfunction." But the damage was done. Jackson was barred from performing at that year's Grammy ceremonies and her recording career went into a tailspin. Her next two sexually charged albums were considered disappointments.

Time to return to 1814, right? Not Janet. Discipline, on which she places pictures of herself clad in leather and brandishing a whip, is so frank that it would probably shock the Marquis de Sade himself. I won't share any lyrics here. (My editor wouldn't print them, anyway.) I will only say that the title track—to pick one song—deals in blindfolds, "punishments," "disobedience," crying and sexualized whimpering.

Define "Advanced"
Perhaps it's not too surprising that Jackson's freewheeling attitudes on sexuality extend beyond the recording studio. She has no plans to marry longtime love interest Jermaine Dupri, though she does want to be a mommy. "In this day and age, I feel we don't need that piece of paper," she told Fox News. "For myself, I don't need that to validate what I have with someone." And when the TV show Extra asked her about a reference to "threesomes" on Discipline, she said, "I think whatever you're into, as long as you both are into it, it's cool."

Jackson bemoans what she considers the United States' sexual prudery. "You guys [in Europe] are so advanced," she tells the British Observer.

Right. And America's still stuck in 1814.

Jackson, at 41, may be all grown up. But she admits that she's still pretty immature in a lot of ways. On that point, I think, we can all agree.