You Want This Explained

You Want This
Cover:Janet Jackson You Want This.png
Border:yes
Type:single
Artist:Janet Jackson featuring MC Lyte
Album:Janet
Studio:Flyte Tyme Studios, Edina, Minnesota
Length:
  • 4:46 (single mix feat. MC Lyte)
  • 5:05 (album version)
Label:Virgin
Chronology:Janet Jackson
Prev Title:Throb
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:Whoops Now/What'll I Do
Next Year:1995

"You Want This" is a song by American singer-songwriter Janet Jackson from her fifth studio album, Janet (1993). Released as the album's seventh single (sixth and final in the US) in October 1994, the track was written and produced by Jackson and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The single version, also used in the music video directed by Keir McFarlane, featured an additional rap verse from MC Lyte. The song was listed in the book Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era (2005) by Bruce Pollock.[1]

Song information

Based on samples from Diana Ross & the Supremes' 1968 song "Love Child" and Kool & the Gang's 1973 song "Jungle Boogie", the song is about Jackson being told by her girls that a guy is watching and wanting her. Jackson proclaims if the guy wants to be with her, he has to work for it. The single contains two B-sides, the janet. track "New Agenda" and the then-unreleased "70's Love Groove", which also appears on 1995's janet. Remixed. In the United States, however, "70's Love Groove" is listed as a double A-side with "You Want This" on Hot 100, starting on its third week.[2]

MC Lyte said of the song: "By that time, Janet and I were friends. It was just a matter of her asking if I wanted to do it. I was just about to go on tour with her and do her U.S. leg. Coupled with that, they asked me to do a song with her that we could perform while we were on that tour.”

Critical reception

Larry Flick from Billboard described it as "a bouncy ditty that plunges from a sample of "Love Child" by the Supremes into a rollicking jack/funk beat." He added, "The groove sparks an appealing vocal that is by turns playful and seductive."[3]

Chart performance

The single peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and was moderately successful internationally, making it to the top twenty in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The single entered the UK R&B Singles chart at #2.[4]

Music video

The accompanying music video for "You Want This" was directed by Keir McFarlane and filmed in Desert Shores, California in August 1994. Loosely based on Russ Meyer's 1965 film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, it centers around Jackson as a female gang leader with the singer and her friends encountering two men.[5] MC Lyte declared, "I was totally psyched to be in a video with Janet Jackson. The only thing I wish I did know how to do was dance [laughs]. Have I been able to dance I could have really participated."[6] A black-and-white version of the video was first released to music channels, while a colorized version was released one month later. CST Entertainment Imaging Inc. was responsible for the transformation, with 30 to 40 members of the company's Color F/X division split into three shifts and worked for nearly three weeks to create this version.[7] Both versions are available on the 1994 video compilation janet. The colorized version is featured on the repackage of 2001's All for You as well as the 2004 DVD .

Live performances

Jackson has performed the song on five of her tours, janet. Tour, Rock Witchu Tour, the Number Ones, Up Close and Personal, Unbreakable World Tour, the State of the World Tour, and the 2024 Together Again Tour. Michael Jackson would often add a vocal sample of the opening "you know you want me" line from "You Want This" in live performances of his song "Dangerous".

Track listings

  1. Disco Theory (No Rap) – 6:16
  2. E-Smoove's Underdub – 7:21
  3. E-Smoove's House Anthem – 9:48
  4. E-Smoove's House Dub – 6:32
  1. Mafia & Fluxy Club Mix – 6:28
  2. Mafia & Fluxy Dancehall Mix – 4:31
  3. Spoiled Milk. Remix – 4:44
  4. Remix – 4:46
  5. "New Agenda" – 4:00
  6. "70's Love Groove" – 5:45
  1. E-Smoove's Anthem 7" – 4:24
  2. Smoove Soul 7" – 4:16
  3. E-Smoove's Anthem Dub – 6:32
  4. Disco Theory – 6:16
  1. Remix – 4:46
  2. LP Edit – 4:15
  3. Mafia & Fluxy Dancehall Mix – 4:31
  4. Spoiled Milk. Remix – 4:44
  5. "New Agenda" – 4:00
  6. "70's Love Groove" – 5:45
  1. E-Smoove's House Anthem – 9:48
  2. Disco Theory (No Rap) – 6:16
  3. "70's Love Groove" – 5:45
  4. E-Smoove's Underdub – 7:21
  5. E-Smoove's Anthem Dub – 6:32
  6. Smoove Soul 12" – 6:20
  1. E-Smoove's House Anthem – 9:48
  2. E-Smoove's Anthem Dub – 6:32
  3. E-Smoove's Underdub – 7:21
  4. Funk Extravaganza – 7:42
  5. Smoove Soul 12" – 6:20
  1. E-Smoove's House Anthem – 9:48
  2. E-Smoove's Anthem Dub – 6:32
  3. E-Smoove's Underdub – 7:21
  4. Disco Theory – 6:16
  5. Smoove Soul 7" – 4:16
  1. Remix – 4:46
  2. E-Smoove's Anthem 7" – 4:16
  3. Mafia & Fluxy Dancehall Mix – 4:31
  4. Spoiled Milk. Remix – 4:44
  5. Disco Theory – 6:16
  6. Funk Extravaganza – 7:42
  7. Smoove Soul 12" – 6:20
  1. LP Edit – 4:15
  2. Mafia & Fluxy Club Mix – 6:29
  3. "70's Love Groove" – 5:45
  4. "And on and On" – 4:49
  1. Remix – 4:46
  2. "New Agenda" – 4:00

Official remixes

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1994–95)Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[20] 16
Canada Contemporary Hit Radio (The Record)[21] 3
Canada Dance Tracks (The Record)[22] 16
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[23] 54
Europe (European Dance Radio)[24] 3
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade)[25] 2
Netherlands (Dutch Top 100)37
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)11
UK Airplay (Music Week)[26] 29
UK Club Chart (Music Week)[27] 5
US Cash Box Top 100 Singles[28] 6

Year-end charts

Notes and References

  1. Book: Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era. 2005. Routledge. second. Pollock, Bruce. 0-415-97073-3.
  2. Web site: Billboard . 5 November 1994 .
  3. Larry . Flick . Single Reviews . . 1994-10-08 . 77 . 2021-03-21 . Larry Flick.
  4. Web site: Official R&B Singles Chart Top 40 | Official Charts Company. Official Charts.
  5. Book: The Road Movie Book. 9781134824366. Cohan. Steven. Hark. Ina Rae. 2002-01-04. Routledge .
  6. Web site: Full Clip: MC Lyte Breaks Down Her Entire Catalogue (Brandy, Janet Jackson, LL Cool J & More) . September 7, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150715091128/http://www.vibe.com/photo-gallery/full-clip-mc-lyte-breaks-down-her-entire-catalogue-brandy-janet-jackson-ll-cool-j-more?page=7 . July 15, 2015 . 2011-01-07 .
  7. Web site: Billboard. 1994-10-29.
  8. http://www.discogs.com/release/459216 Janet Jackson - You Want This
  9. http://www.discogs.com/release/459206 Janet Jackson - You Want This
  10. http://www.discogs.com/release/1033384 Janet Jackson - You Want This
  11. http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=37434 Janet Jackson You Want This USA Promo 5" CD SINGLE (37434)
  12. http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=36102 Janet Jackson You Want This USA 5" CD SINGLE (36102)
  13. http://www.discogs.com/release/195837 Janet Jackson - You Want This
  14. http://www.discogs.com/release/180145 Janet Jackson - You Want This
  15. http://www.discogs.com/release/146192 Janet Jackson - You Want This
  16. http://www.discogs.com/release/166437 Janet Jackson - You Want This
  17. http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=309914 Janet Jackson You Want This Australia 5" CD SINGLE (309914)
  18. http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=162822 Janet Jackson You Want This UK DOUBLE CD SINGLE SET (162822)
  19. http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=35420 Janet Jackson You Want This - Remix Japan 3" CD SINGLE (35420)
  20. Web site: Janet Jackson – You Want This – swisscharts.com . swisscharts.com . November 29, 2008.
  21. Book: Lwin, Nanda. Nanda Lwin. 2000. Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide. Music Data Canada. 140. 1-896594-13-1.
  22. Book: Lwin, Nanda. Nanda Lwin. The Record 1994 Chart Almanac. Music Data Canada. 1995. 124. 1-896594-00-X.
  23. EUROCHART HOT 100 SINGLES . Music & Media . 11 . 49 . December 3, 1994 . May 8, 2020.
  24. European Dance Radio Top 25. Music & Media. December 24, 1994. 18. May 27, 2023.
  25. Web site: Tipparade-lijst van week 3, 1995. Dutch Top 40. May 6, 2022.
  26. News: Airplay. 27 November 1994. April 30, 2023.
  27. The RM Club Chart. Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert). November 19, 1994. 6. May 20, 2023.
  28. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 Singles . . December 24, 1984. 6 . 6 July 2024.
  29. Web site: Billboard Top 100 - 1995 . 2010-08-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090815124541/http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php?year=1995 . 2009-08-15 .