New Janet Jackson Documentary to Debut in 2022

Janet Jackson made it clear on her last studio album, Unbreakable, that she wouldn’t be here without the love she stands on. With a storybook career that spans close to 40 years, the global icon is ready to let out the truth from her lips in a two-night, four-hour documentary in collaboration with Lifetime and A&E. 

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of her self-titled debut album, which was released in September 1982, the retrospective-feature doc, tentatively titled JANET, is slated to air on both networks in early 2022. 

The authentic film, produced by Workerbee and Associated Entertainment Corporation, and directed by Ben Hirsch, has been in the works for three years, capturing Jackson’s endless history and what made her the legendary force she was destined to be for millions. 

Described as “intimate, honest, and unfiltered,” JANET will cover her mammoth successes as well her unbelievable tragedies that were designed to cripple her career, like the Super Bowl XXXVIII appearance with Justin Timberlake. She goes a step further and discusses her brother and music demigod Michael Jackson’s death and becoming a mother later in life. 

Another great loss to be mentioned in the doc is the passing of her father and patriarch of the Jackson family, Joseph. He died in June 2018 from pancreatic cancer. 

Included in the anticipated doc will be never-before-seen home videos, along with star-studded interviews from those who know Jackson best. 

Jackson and Randy Jackson are signed on as executive producers for JANET, along with Rick Murray (Workerbee) and Brie Miranda Bryant (A&E). 

In other news, Jackson is reportedly working on her next album Black Diamond. We rounded up everything we knew about the follow-up to 2015’s Unbreakable in an editorial last spring. 

Speaking on Unbreakable, in October 2020, Rated R&B revisited Jackson’s eleventh studio album for its fifth anniversary. We argued the LP’s sizable parallel to her Michael’s 2001 album Invincible. Revisit the anniversary feature here.