All For You

Album: All For You (2001)
Charted: 3 1
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Songfacts®:

  • "All For You" is musically based on the 1980 song "The Glow Of Love" by the funk group Change. Luther Vandross was lead singer of the group at the time (Luther and Janet also recorded the hit duet "The Best Things In Life Are Free" in 1992).

    Jimmy Jam, who wrote and produced the song with his partner Terry Lewis (Jackson also co-wrote the song), told Songfacts that working with Janet was great because she was receptive to so many ideas and styles. Said Jam: "When we did 'All For You' and I played her the 'Glow of Love' sample from Change, she had never heard that song before. But she loved it."
  • In this song, Janet has spied a guy who has his eye on her but is too intimidated to approach - it's Janet Jackson, after all. She puts him at ease, letting him know she has that effect on all the guys, but he's welcome to join her.
  • When she headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004, Jackson opened with this song before yielding to Nelly, P. Diddy and Kid Rock. To close the set, she returned with "Rhythm Nation" and then joined Justin Timberlake to play out his song "Rock Your Body," which ended with him ripping off part of her costume to expose her breast, an incident they would both blame on a "wardrobe malfunction."
  • "All For You" won the 2001 Grammy for Best Pop Dance Recording, the fifth win of Jackson's career.
  • "All For You" was the longest-running #1 song of 2001, topping the US chart for seven weeks in April and May. It ended up being the last of 10 #1 hits for Jackson in America, starting with "When I Think of You" in 1986. In that 15-year span from 1986-2001, Jackson released five albums, all of which went to #1. The one with the most impact was Rhythm Nation 1814 in 1989. That album had seven huge hits and a number of iconic videos.
  • Although the album, named for this song, offered plenty of explicit content, it still managed to sneak past the censors and was released without a Parental Advisory sticker. A cleaned-up version wasn't released until the middle of the following year (2001).
  • Janet performed this song as a musical guest on season 6 of The X Factor (US) in 2009.
  • "All For You" was used as the name of Jackson's 2001 tour. Some of the shows had to be postponed or canceled when Jackson needed emergency dental surgery. One show in Madison Square Garden was bumped for a WNBA playoff game.

Comments: 2

  • Spanky from OntarioAFY "based" on TGOL? A straight rip to me.
  • Claire from Oak Ridge, TnI concur. Besides it wasn't her fault. Stupid metrosexual Justin perv! I guess you got tired of grabbing Kylie Minogue's perfect ass, eh Tiberlake?
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