Janet Bares Belly, Not Soul

Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri and their bling pose at yesterday's press junket. Superproducer Dupri is Jackson's boyfriend and business partner. (By Michel Du Cille -- The Washington Post)

There was another question about the new album, "20 Years Old," vis-a-vis the actual 20-year-old album, "Control," which was Jackson's first multiplatinum hit in 1986. She said there were some similarities, and she noted that some of the keyboards that had been used on "Control" were used on the new album, which comes out Sept. 26 and -- hey, check out those hoop earrings! So big, so shiny!

Jackson was also wearing a floppy white hat, and she had on relatively low-riding denim jeans and dozens of bangles on each wrist -- so many that it looked like she was wearing gold Slinkys around her forearms.

There were other questions, some more inane than others. Somebody wondered, via notecard, why Jackson had come to Washington.

"It's an important city like L.A., New York. It's a big city." Oh, the elucidation!

Any embarrassing party stories lately, Janet? (She hoped not.)

You gonna have kids? (Mebbe.)

What's it like working with your boyfriend? (Great.)

Anything to prove? (Nope.)

There was no chance for follow-ups, or late notecard submissions, so nobody could ask how she could feel that way coming off one of the poorest-performing studio albums of her career, 2004's "Damita Jo." (It was Jackson's first album since 1984's "Dream Street" that neither topped the Billboard charts nor went multiplatinum.)

Anyway, Jackson sat safely on a cushioned wicker chair, next to an end table on which two bottles of Fiji water, a glass and a candle were placed just so. The black carpet on the riser had that just-vacuumed look, and there was an arrangement of bamboo and other fancy, sticklike things behind her. There were minions all around -- security guards, publicists, various folks of unclear purpose.

There were large glossy pictures on easels on the sides of the stage, featuring two poses, both sultry: In one, Jackson was sprawled out on a metallic-colored daybed, wearing a bra; in the other, she was upright but pulling her jeans down by their front belt loops.

The moderator asked our most pressing question, as we wondered why Jackson was doing this. Press junkets are an atypical way for a recording artist to promote a new project. Discuss, please.