Janet Jackson on ‘American Idol’ (VIDEO)

2010-5-27

Wednesday night, you missed Janet Jackson’s performance on American Idol. A lot of people are saying it was fantastic, but as I’ve never been a big Janet Jackson fan, I was indifferent and probably not the best person to ask how it went.

Jackson performed “Nothing,” the song she recorded for the soundtrack to Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too, before disappearing only to reemerge in a skin-tight, black body suit to belt out her 1986 hit “Nasty.”

You can get mad at me all you want, but I have to tell you, while she was singing “Nothing,” I kept nudging my fiance in the ribs and saying, “She sounds like Michael. Doesn’t she sound like Michael?”

Growing up listening to the Jackson clan achieve number one hits over and over again through the 1980s and 1990s, I distinctly recall there being a big difference between Michael and Janet Jackson’s voices. Wednesday night on Idol, I could not hear that difference.

I know they’re brother and sister, but it was almost like she was channeling her brother through her voice, and I didn’t hear Janet in there at all. Maybe she always sounded like him, and I just never noticed before. I don’t know.