-Our next guest is a five-time Grammy winner
and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer
who has sold over 185 million records.
Wow. [ Cheers and applause ]
Her fantastic new documentary, "Janet Jackson,"
just premiered to record ratings,
and you can see all four hours of it
this Friday at 8:00 p.m. on Lifetime.
Here is the one, the only Janet Jackson!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Hi! Yeah! We love you!
Janet, welcome back!
I love you, bud. Congrats on the documentary.
"Janet Jackson" premiered last week.
Huge hit.
Over 15 million people watched this and loved it.
How does it feel to have it finally come out?
-My gosh, it -- it feels great.
And I'm so happy.
I'm very thankful that so many people
watched it and enjoyed it.
-I mean, beyond, beyond, beyond.
It was trending number one on all the socials.
And I'm like, "Oh, I cannot wait to watch this."
And then, at the same time, all of your albums
started going back on the charts.
[ Cheers and applause ]
How crazy is that?
I love that that happened!
I love that that happened. -Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it was all such a surprise to me.
I was not expecting any of it.
And with the documentary,
I was just hoping everyone would enjoy it.
-What made you want to do a documentary?
-Well, you know, I've -- I've had a career.
I started when I was 7.
It's been almost 50 years that I've been doing this.
-That's wild. -And I thought it would be best
to tell my story, if I can,
as opposed to having someone else tell it for me.
-Yeah. I mean, that's wild.
[ Cheers and applause ]
'Cause it feels like -- It's fantastic.
But it does -- in a weird way, it feels like we've known you.
Because I knew you as Penny on "Good Times,"
and you go like, "Oh, yeah, we know Janet."
And then Janet Jackson, you became Janet Jackson.
And "Rhythm Nation" and everything.
But then you go, "Oh, wait. We don't really
know you, know you," and know what goes on
in your life and what you were thinking at the time
or what you were feeling. And it's like --
To watch this documentary, it's like, "Oh, my goodness."
This is -- The amount of just pressure
and everything that goes into every single aspect of your life
and career and relationships. It's --
Is it therapeutic to get it out there?
-It -- ooh!
It was -- It was definitely therapeutic.
It was difficult, at times, to talk about.
But it -- it definitely was therapeutic.
And it took five years to -- to make.
-Wow. -And I was just really so --
so worried that people would find it boring,
to be quite honest with you.
My favorite episode is the first --
the very first episode, because it talks about
my brothers and going back to that time period and my family.
And that's the episode I enjoy.
And then everything else related to myself, I was like,
"Oh, my gosh, they're gonna think this is so boring."
I'm just happy everyone enjoyed it and got to see it.
-Was it difficult to pick different memories
and moments and finding old footage,
never-before-seen footage,
And you're like, "Should I release that?
Should I not?" I mean, you went for it.
-It was difficult 'cause there was so much --
so much to pick from.
I mean, every tour, even when I was a kid,
documenting everything.
So it was -- it's hard to tell your story in four hours.
It's a very difficult thing to do.
-Yeah. You did it. -But we managed
to get a good amount in.
-Then you got to go back to your hometown, to Gary, Indiana,
which you haven't been -- You guys have to see this.
It's amazing. I mean, did you get chills?
Was it weird? What was it like?
-I -- I loved it.
I hadn't been there since I was 8.
And just everyone in the neighborhood, they welcomed us.
I went to my brothers' and sisters' high school
and spent time with the kids at the school for a minute.
-They must have been thrilled. -It was just such
a wonderful feeling. And to know that we all
shared that house and how small it was.
-Yeah, when you're a kid, it seems giant.
-Just incredible for me. -Yeah.
There's so many things I learned about you in this documentary,
but one is that you were going to go to --
you wanted to go to Pepperdine University
and study business law. -Yeah.
-And then your dad's like,
"No, you're going into show business."
What dad says, "No, you're not going to college"?
You say that in the documentary. Like, "Who says that?"
-Yeah. Well, you know, everyone being in show business,
it wouldn't be so bad to be an entertainment attorney, I guess.
-Yeah, you're right. -Still keeping it
within the family. -Yeah.
Quest is actually in -- in the documentary, as well, talking.
How important was it for you to put him in?
And did he pressure you?
-Hey! [ Laughter ]
-No! No pressure at all.
It was very important for me to have Quest in the documentary.
He played a big part in such a huge moment in my life.
He was a huge supporter in getting me inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
along with all the fans.
And I just can't thank him enough.
I mean, that's a huge moment in my career, in my life.
-He loves you so much, as we all do.
But he really, really, really loves you, yeah.
Yeah, he's a fan. He loves you.
[ Applause ]
At the end of the documentary,
there's a snippet of some new music called "Love I Love."
And my question is -- I know, I know, I know.
You're like, "Why? Don't ask me this."
But are we going to get to hear the song, the whole thing?
And is this hinting at something?
What's next? Tell me something.
-It's so funny because that's -- that's --
It was a song that I recorded like three years ago.
And in the documentary, we thought,
"Oh, this would be cool to put this song right here
at this moment, this piece in the documentary."
And everyone started reacting to it.
So, I don't know. We'll just have to see.
Maybe it'll be a -- You know, we'll see.
-Is there other unreleased Janet stuff that we --
like "Love I Love" that we might see?
Oh, I know -- don't ask. [ Laughter ]
-I've recorded so many songs that I've never released.
So, we'll see. -Wow.
Okay, we'll see. [ Applause ]
I want to thank you for doing our show.
You know we love you.
Whenever you're in town, we want to see you.
And I want to give you a big hug.
Congrats on this documentary and on everything.
We're the biggest fans of you over here, so thank you.
-Thank you so much for having me.
It's always a pleasure being with you guys.
-I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Janet Jackson in her documentary,
"Janet Jackson." Take a look.
♪ People of the world today ♪
♪ Are we looking for a better way of life ♪
♪ We are a part of the Rhythm Nation ♪
-And it was a big night for Janet Jackson last night.
She picked up her first-ever Grammy and became
the first woman nominated for Producer of the Year.
♪♪
-You didn't feel like, "Oh, my God.
Like, she's preaching to us." It was dope.
-Yeah, it was. [ Cheers and applause ]
Janet Jackson, everybody!
You can see all four hours of the documentary,
"Janet Jackson," this Friday at 8:00 p.m.
on Lifetime or online at mylifetime.com.