Janet Damita Jackson has gone from being Michael's youngest sister to being Michael's potential successor.
As the erstwhile King of Pop undergoes a painful, public dethroning because of recent allegations of child molestation - charges many say he will never recover from - Janet has become the highest-paid female in pop (thanks to a $40 million contract with Virgin Records), a whirlwind of fashion, personality and slick musical packaging rivaled only by Madonna and Whitney Houston in today's pop pantheon.And she hasn't been riding anyone's coattails for some time.
Jackson will perform twice in Salt Lake City this weekend, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 26 and 27, in the Delta Center. Tickets, at $32.75, may still be available for both shows. Mint Condition is the opening act.
Jackson has overcome several obstacles to stardom:
Her first two lackluster albums languished in obscurity.
The former television star ("Good Times," "Fame") received so-so reviews last summer in the critically shredded John Singleton film "Poetic Justice."
She's been hounded by charges of lip-syncing on her current MTV-sponsored tour, a show whose most talked-about moment may be the prayer she asks audience members to say for her troubled brother.
When she returned to the video screen recently with a sexy new image and a slimmed-down, worked-out stomach, there were even whispers of her using a body double.
Yet Jackson, 27, remains clearly established as both role model and sex symbol. But where does she go from here?
"To say that Janet is going to be the next Michael is a little hard to do at this point," says music/culture critic Nelson George, author of "The Death of Rhythm and Blues" and his latest release, a novel called "Urban Romance."
"I mean, come on, who's ever going to be as big as Michael?
"But there's something to be said about what she's accomplished. Out of all of the teen-appeal artists, none of them have the weight of icon status, and she does," adds George, a longtime R&B columnist for Billboard magazine and a contributor to the Village Voice.
"What worked for Michael 10 years ago is working for her now. She's not the singer Michael is, but she has the making of the all-around entertainer he is. Michael was clearly the voice of the '80s, those that grew up with him since Motown. And with the themes (independence, social consciousness and upfront yet responsible sexuality) that she's addressing in her albums and the popularity she's enjoying, she could very well be the voice of the '90s. I can see the parallels being drawn."
"On one level, we are competitive," Janet Jackson said in a Los Angeles Times article last June. (She has declined interviews since the start of her tour.) "I want to sell more records than Michael - and he knows it. We both aim high because we feel that nothing is impossible. It's one of the things my mother taught us."
"If Janet listens to me and works a little harder, she'll be as big as Michael." Father Joe Jackson just may have been prophetic when he made this statement to Spin magazine seven years ago.
At the time, his youngest was hoping her latest effort, "Control," would erase memories of her first two albums ("Janet Jackson" and "Dream Street"); and older brother Michael was still collecting armfuls of awards and accolades for the best-selling album in history, "Thriller."
At the time, such a statement could easily have been called far-fetched.
But now, to her credit, Jackson has become the first artist to place seven Top 5 singles from one album (1989's "Rhythm Nation 1814") on the Billboard pop chart, surpassing records held by her brother and rocker Bruce Springsteen. Plus Billboard reported that with "Control" and "Rhythm Nation" combined, she has 12 Top 5 hits from two albums, surpassing her brother's record of amassing 10 Top 5 hits from his "Thriller" and "Bad" recordings.
But perhaps what distinguishes Janet most from her nine siblings in the most famous family in show business is that she's widely considered "the normal one."
"With Michael going through all of this mess about him molesting kids, La Toya dogging him and the rest of them feeding off the name, it's just crazy," says 25-year-old Mitchell Brown of Augusta, Ga., who woke up "way earlier than I'm used to" to purchase his tickets for Janet's show in Atlanta. "Janet is the only one that seems like she's got any sense. I feel like I know her, like I grew up with her since she was Penny on `Good Times.' "
Actually, Jackson's public debut predates her appearance as the abused child Penny Gordon on that television series. She hit the road at 7, traveling with her brothers as part of their nightclub act. Four years later she entered TV in "Good Times." Then came "A New Kind of Family," "Diff'rent Strokes" and finally "Fame."
After those short-lived stints, and a seven-month marriage to James DeBarge, her former record label A&M put her in the production hands of whiz duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and she became serious about her recording career. She took "Control," so to speak.
Jackson's popularity hasn't been enough to impress critics, though. Along with the lip-syncing charges, there have been a few cancellations because of illness, and one performance in Chapel Hill, N.C., was canceled by the city because of the pyrotechnics used in the show.
Still, the current tour has gotten some half-salutes:
"There are some sharp ideas and clever moments, but the parts are far greater than their sum. . . . On just her second tour, Jackson has improved as a performer - but only slightly," said the Boston Globe.
"The video-age arena spectacle is in good hands with Janet Jackson. . . . There's not a spontaneous moment in its 110 minutes of hits and would-be hits," said the New York Times.
And USA Today called it "two hours of engrossing entertainment," but added: "The glitz can't hide the thinness of her vocals on ballads, and in her rock segment, she's nearly swallowed by her overly ambitious, seven-piece band. . . . She seems a small gust in a visual whirlwind."
"With all that's been said, or what's been hinted at, I think you should just ask the crowd, the people that have come to have a good time," says Dwayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Tone!, which has been an opening act for Jackson.
"I see the audience's faces every night and every night people leave with smiles. She does her thing and does it well."