Collection: 8. Janet Jackson - Control

By 19, Janet Jackson had already appeared in several television shows, been married and divorced, and released two bubblegum pop albums. But it wasn’t until Control, a record as genre-defining as it was career-defining, that she was empowered enough to reclaim her body, her art, and her story.

Within the album’s nine tracks, Jackson oscillates between warm, feminine sexuality and stony strength. The explosive title track doubles as a mission statement, while screeds like “Nasty” and the kiss-off “What Have You Done for Me Lately” demand respect and raise the standards for who could have the pleasure of her company. Elsewhere, the flirty “When I Think of You” and the sentimental ballad “Let’s Wait Awhile” offset her take-no-prisoners attitude with girlish crushing—the kind of vulnerability that is reflective of a soft heart but isn’t a full surrender. She separated herself from the overbearing men in her life and those who sought to write her narrative, and found more natural collaborators in producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. She did what she needed to do for herself, which remains one of the most revolutionary things a black woman can do. In finding her voice on Control, Janet Jackson cut a path by which future women pop stars could chart their own trajectory. –Briana Younger / Pitchfork.com