Janet Jackson Might Be Releasing A New Album This Summer

Vittorio Zunino Celotto

Janet Jackson Might Be Releasing A New Album This Summer

Vittorio Zunino Celotto

UPDATE: Okay, maybe we’ve established the release isn’t coming through Atlantic, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a new Janet album on the way. According to her fan forum janet.club, the photo of releases in question is actually from a record store.

I called the Ridgewood FYE store, and they confirmed that if you go to the store you can pre-order a new album from Janet Jackson, although there’s no album title, artwork or record label info. So you might be able to get your hands on a new Janet album as early as July. Also, if Meek and Waka’s long-delayed albums and Makonnen’s debut are all coming out at the beginning of July, this is going to be a great summer.

UPDATE #2: Sia’ manager also tweeted excitedly this morning about reliable sources confirming to him that the rumors of a new album from Jackson are true:

This is a developing story that will be updated, original story below.

//

Is this the summer we get a new album from Janet Jackson? According to internet photo ephemera, it is! Fact posted an uncredited, cropped photo reported as a list of upcoming album releases for Atlantic Records. One of the forthcoming releases on the sheet is a record from Janet Jackson, title TBD. If she doesn’t have a title yet and the album is out in just a few months, that doesn’t really bode well. Then again, the prospect of any new music from Janet Jackson does bode well, regardless of title. Her last release, 2008’s Discipline, came out on Island Records.

As far as a Google search will take me, the source story for the photo is the site Hip Hop Vibe, which I have never encountered until today.

Here’s the photo:

Hip Hop Vibe also claim that independent retailers have confirmed their story and shared another dubious “promo” photo.

Let’s do some research and fact-checking on this photo. Side note: nowhere on the picture does it say Atlantic. Meek Mill, Sevyn Streeter and Waka Flocka Flame are definitely all Atlantic artists (though Waka’s not happy there). iLoveMakonnen is signed to Drake’s OVOSound, which does distribution through Warner Bros. Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group, who also own Atlantic, so that technically lines up.

The first place this photo trips up is that R5’s Sometime Last Night is being released through Hollywood Records, part of Disney’s Music Group which is distributed by Warner Music Group, but is its own label like Atlantic is.

Furthermore, Easton Corbin is signed to Mercury Nashville which falls under the Universal Music Group umbrella, not Warner Music Group and Atlantic. For Josh Turner’s latest single and last record, the country artist was signed to MCA Nashville — another subsidiary of Universal Music Group — and has not announced a release through Atlantic. Same goes for Alan Jackson, who put out two albums in 2013 — Precious Memories Vol. II and The Bluegrass Album through his own ACR records imprint via Capitol Records Nashville, who are also under the umbrella of parent company Universal Music Group and licensed through EMI Records Nashville. The country star has announced a new album called Angels & Alcohol, but not a signing to Atlantic, so that would be news as well.

As for Alan Jackson’s fellow country veterans Alabama, who wouldn’t keep milking that extensive catalogue? However, their last album Angels Among Us: Hymns And Gospel Favorites also was not released via Atlantic, but TGA Enterprises, LCC — the band’s own brand trademark.

My point in all this? The photo is almost definitely a fake, done by someone who has very little knowledge of the winding path through country music record labels. Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group are completely separate entities, and artists from both wouldn’t be appearing on a WMG Atlantic release schedule unless there’s been multiple shake ups that haven’t been reported yet — which is possible, but not likely. Alan Jackson also seems unlikely to give up his UMG imprint.

Finally, Atlantic Records has confirmed to me that they are not releasing a new Janet Jackson album. So there’s that.

more from News