It’s been three years since the last American Music Awards, and since the show is making its big return on Monday, they are pulling out the big guns by announcing that none other than Janet Jackson will be receiving the ICON Award. This is a newer award introduced in 2013 for Rihanna and it has only been handed out one other time back in 2022 to Lionel Richie.
Janet is no stranger to the American Music Awards, with a whopping 11 appearances over the years. She’s performed multiple times, earned the Award of Merit, and also just had the audience erupt in madness at just the sight of her. Her history with the ceremony is laid out well in the show promos too, peep this old school pic from 1990 of Janet and Dick Clark himself. Janet will both receive the award and perform at the ceremony, marking her first award show performance since 2018.
Janet is in what seems like a new prime of her career, at least in terms of good will from the general public. Her 2001 single “Someone To Call My Lover” is still mega viral, pulling in upwards of 500k+ streams a day on Spotify alone, and the next leg of her Las Vegas residency is selling like hot cakes. She also just turned 59 and is now receiving the highest honour at the AMAs… not a bad birthday month. So, in honour of Janet’s big night, let’s take a look at her five most memorable AMA appearances over the years.
5. “Escapade” Live + Wins - 17th Annual American Music Awards (January 22nd, 1990)
Janet’s performance of her smash “Escapade” at the AMAs ceremony in 1990 was complete with the classic all-black suit that she wore throughout the era, a new sleek straight black hairstyle and of course that key earring that became forever associated with her look as a signature Janet piece. Like a majority of Janet’s performances, she does a f-king vamp of a dance routine with pyro and synchronised moves with her troupe of dancers that sent the audience roaring in applause. She had that crowd in the palm of her hand and confirmed what we all already knew, that she was more than a one album wonder. The January 1990 ceremony was the beginning of what would eventually become a crucial time in Janet’s story, as she is widely considered one of the defining artists of that decade. The Rhythm Nation 1814 album that features “Escapade” helped earned Janet a new level of respect from her musical peers, even getting nominated for Producer of the Year at the Grammy’s the following month.
This “Escapade” performance along with the two trophies she took home that night can be used as a pinpoint to the incredible success she would go on to achieve. Over the years, the choreography to “Escapade” has become somewhat of a fan favourite amongst supporters. What’s interesting is that Janet, who had previously worked with Paula Abdul as choreographer, was now working with Anthony Thomas as her main choreographer for this album cycle. Paula had opted to pursue a solo career of her own to immense success, performing at the very same award show that year. Both Janet and Paula also won multiple awards that evening – talk about a full circle moment!
4. Appearing On-Stage with MJ- 2nd Annual American Music Awards (February 18th, 1975)
This one is iconic for obvious reasons, I mean come on it’s literally baby Janet at the very beginning of what would become one of the most illustrious entertainment careers in the history of showbiz. In what is considered to be one of her very first TV show appearances, Janet’s older brother Michael was set to present the award for “Favourite Soul Group” before taking the opportunity to introduce his baby sister Janet to the world, and my oh my did she have attitude honey! Most of us, when we’re younger, we’re more fearless and perhaps slightly less jaded because life hasn’t lifed just yet. I think about this while re-watching eight year old Janet strutting her stuff on that stage. For me, the highlight has to be the moment after she poses on stage and walks up to the podium, only to need to walk up the stool due to her height. So damn cute.
Fans have gotten to know Janet as famously shy and someone who is very softspoken in interviews, but in that appearance? She was anything but shy, serving up glimpses of the icon we’d officially meet during the Control era a decade later. It’s such a striking contrast: little Janet, not yet a teen but already radiating the kind of presence that would define her career as a grown woman.
3. “Together Again” Live - 25th Annual American Music Awards (January 26th, 1998)
By 1998, Janet was one of the biggest pop stars in the world, having just renewed her contract with Virgin Records for a staggering $80 Million which at the time was more than Madonna and her own brother Michael. She had just released her most introspective album to date, The Velvet Rope, and was serving a way sexier image, complete with a nipple piercing, tattoos and fiery red hair, all of which was in full force during this performance, making this the pinnacle of Janet’s look this era. Ok, maybe not the entire look but the nipple piercing did have its moment during another Janet performance… if you know you know. This vintage Access Hollywood clip showing Janet about to walk on stage in her latex BDSM inspired outfit and red curls is the pinnacle of this entire album era which was rich in imagery centred on female empowerment, sex, Afro-futurism and glamour.
Janet was performing the “DJ Premier 100 in a 50 Remix” of “Together Again” which happened to also be at the #1 spot the very week of this performance, so to have her open the show with not just her biggest hit of her career by that point, but the biggest song in the country period? That’s history. Janet delivers flawless choreography throughout the entire performance, not breaking face and staying intensely immersed in the flow of the dance the entire time. Plus, that Tina Landon choreography is next level difficult. The highlight of this era of her career was the choreography and attention to detail she put to every single dance step. This was her first appearance at the AMA’s since eight years prior (she skipped the ceremony during her 1993-94 run for the janet. album), so this stage was also a reminder to her American audience of just how much of an electrifying performance artist she was.
2. “Number Ones” Medley - 37th Annual American Music Awards (November 22nd, 2009)
This performance is what I consider to be the first iteration of Janet as a legacy artist. While she had received countless honours for her legacy in the past (including the Award of Merit in 2001 at this very show), she always had a new album and accompanying era/tour with it. But 2009 was the first time that she truly was riding off the coattails of her own legacy, opening the door for what the next phase of her career would look like. Up until this point, she had been consistently putting out new original records with the exception of her 1995 compilation album Design of a Decade. While things certainly cooled off commercially after Nipplegate, it didn’t slow down her creative flow. If anything it accelerated it, releasing three albums (Damita Jo, 20 Y.O., Discipline) post-Super Bowl in a span of four years – so, 2009 was as good a time as ever for a full career retrospective greatest hits album. Appropriately titled Number Ones, the album featured 33 of Janet’s biggest hit and one brand new song “Make Me” which was heavily inspired by her brother Michael’s “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough”.
She opened the ceremony performing a medley of her greatest hits like “Nasty”, “If”, “Together Again” and “Make Me” to an enthused audience of then A-listers like Fergie, Carrie Underwood and more. The amount of cutaways the camera did to Fergie during this performance was wild, and very telling of the time. This performance also came only five months after Michael died, and while she very well could have used the opportunity to do another tribute to her brother (which would have been the popular choice), she opted out and decided to celebrate her own legacy instead. Besides, she’s the one Jackson who can do so.
1. “Control” Live + Wins: 14th Annual American Music Awards (January 26th, 1987)
The early days of the AMAs were a lot simpler, just the artist and their voice – or in Janet’s case, voice and hard-hitting choreography, and I mean hard. This was Janet’s first major televised performance after her breakthrough album Control – so the pressure was on and she crushed it. While her performance at the 1987 Grammy’s the following month made headlines, it was actually this AMA performance that is considered to be the moment the world knew that Michael had some competition. It’s the ‘80s so she was performing to a track – I mean shoot she didn’t even premiere the famous headset mic until the Grammy’s a few weeks later (we’ll talk about that phenomenon in a future piece).
Her energy throughout the entire dance sequence is incredible, barely breaking a sweat as she gazes confidently into the camera, exuding that same fierceness we saw on the AMA stage back in 1975. If there was ever a moment that can represent the general public seeing her as something other than Michael’s little sister, this is it.
These moments of Janet winning her first awards ever for her music are emotional and touching. You can really see the innocence and love in her eyes as she can barely utter a word besides “this means so much to me” as she holds back tears. Those early years of any artist when they are first becoming stars are to be cherished. The American Music Awards captured that moment in Janet’s career, so there is no better choice for the Icon award this year than Miss Jackson… if you’re nasty.
You can catch the 51st Annual American Music Awards hosted by Jennifer Lopez, this Monday May 26th 2025 on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Attached: Janet Jackson kicking off her residency at Resorts World Las Vegas back in December.
We're talking about Janet on The Squawk (app link here).
