You Want This

Album: janet. (1993)
Charted: 14 8
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Songfacts®:

  • Janet Jackson wrote this sassy song with her producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. This trio was dynamite - starting with Jackson's 1986 album Control, they vaulted her to heights occupied by Janet's brother, Michael.

    Starting with Control, Jackson's albums each produced several singles that kept her on the charts for about two years. "You Want This" is part of her 1993 album janet., released as the seventh single. The album was issued in May 1993, and the single reached its chart peak of #8 in December 1994.
  • MC Lyte does the rap on this song. One of the first female rappers to make an impact, in 1995 she teamed up with Xscape for the hit "Keep On, Keepin' On." She also appears in the video for "You Want This" and was an opening act on some dates of Jackson's subsequent tour.
  • That little musical break that shows up a few times in the song is from the 1968 hit "Love Child" by Motown greats The Supremes. Before they began recording the album, songwriter/producer Jimmy Jam and Janet Jackson would play music for each other to find inspiration. Jam was drawn to old Motown hits and, as a result, decided to excerpt the song.

    "You Want This" also uses elements of Kool and the Gang's 1973 hit "Jungle Boogie."
  • The action-packed music video for this song was partially based on Russ Meyer's 1965 film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, about man-murdering women with very large breasts.

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