On the morning of Feb. 1, 2004, it was chillier than normal in Houston. As the National Football League's 38th Super Bowl was to be played later in the day, a radio weatherman advised that anyone heading down to the open-air Reliant Stadium might wish to bring a jacket, or perhaps a sweater, because there'd likely be a little nip in the air.
Well, the radio man got it right. Outrageously, due to Janet Jackson's boobylicious performance at the contest's halftime, Super Bowl XXXVIII became Super Bowl DD.
Jackson, at the time, explained away the breast flaunt as a wardrobe malfunction, even though accompanying singer Justin Timberlake sang, I'm gonna have you naked by the end of the song, just as he flicked off a cup of Jackson's bustier, revealing a boob which was bare, save for a starburst-shaped nipple shield.
The singer, in her apology, referred to the incident as a costume reveal, and now that term comes roaring back to mind. Publicizing her new album 20 Y.O.
(short for 20 years old, which refers to the elapsed time since the release of 1986 breakthrough disc Control), Jackson is revealing herself once again.
Jackson's exposure is nothing short of massive -- magazine stands are awash with glossy images of a singer who is newly svelte, yet improbably vivacious. Publications with the recording artist on their covers -- in various states of disrobe -- include King, Ebony, Giant, W, FHM, U.
S. Weekly, Jezebel, Bounce, Upscale, Vibe, Vanity Fair (European edition), Blues Soul and Black Hair.
Many of the periodicals appeal to black audiences, with music magazines not overly represented.
One photo inside November's King's is particularly explicit, with the recording artist in unzipped slacks, suspenders and . . .
that's it! For the covers of Vibe and October's FHM, a bawdy men's journal, Jackson is topless. The pull-quote alongside FHM's shot says it all: I've never worn so little.
Inside, the article is just as revealing, with the 40-year-old laying tummy-down and in high heels, with her be-thonged rump suggestively offered.
The exhibitionism is not new -- in 1993, Jackson was shirtless on the cover of Rolling Stone, her then-smaller breasts covered by the hands of her then-husband. (In 2000, the magazine named it its Most Popular Cover Ever.
) This is the one that always wants to pop out, Jackson says in the FHM piece, referring to her mischievous right breast. Look, it's trying to pop out of my bra right now!
The FHM cover -- where the singer dons a white bathing-suit bottom, with a broad ribbon across her sociable nipple -- aroused enough controversy when it was released that Jackson felt compelled to respond.
Sometimes I really don't understand America, she said. We're so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to sex. In other places, the body is seen as a beautiful thing God created.
Amen to that.--
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