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)

"I think it's nice to come up with something that's a little unique, to try to switch it up," Jackson said. "And it makes it more fun for me, too."

Later, she contradicted herself, when the moderator asked, on somebody else's behalf, what's good and bad about being Janet Jackson.

Good: Sharing your life with Jermaine Dupri! (Dupri dutifully nodded from the back of the room, where he was observing the proceedings from behind a pair of designer aviator glasses.)

Bad: Press conferences. (We dutifully nodded from the middle of the room.)

Note: This was the second of five news conferences Jackson's camp has scheduled, with others to come in Chicago, Atlanta and New York.

For the final question, the moderator read something passed along by a Voice of America listener in Iraq.

How do you want to be remembered?

Jackson seemed to want to get this one right. She squinted. She sighed. She leaned forward. She said: "I want to be remembered for making people smile."

Nobody in the room smiled. And then, it was over.