Janet Jackson is all about the silence.
The pop icon revealed that she doesn’t like giving interviews, or speaking in general, during an appearance on the radio show “Heart Evenings with Dev Griffin” on Wednesday, July 17. Jackson dished on her preference to remain quiet when Griffin asked her which question she prefers not to answer during interviews with reporters.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to be honest with you. Please stop asking me questions,” Jackson said with a smile. “I’ve never thought I give a good interview. I really don’t like speaking, so I’d rather stay quiet and listen to other people talk, and that’s always been me.”
Jackson went on to jokingly say, “Don’t ask me questions. Are we finished?”
Griffin responded positively to Jackson’s reveal, laughing and saying, “If it means anything, Janet, this is one of my favorite interviews I’ve ever done in my whole life,” to which Jackson responded, “That’s very sweet.”
The “All For You” singer, who is currently performing on her “Together Again” tour, also opened up about the artists she admired during the conversation. Jackson explained that she’d have to “exclude family because obviously, that spoke to me first, seeing my brothers, my sisters, my cousin Stevie [Wonder] — seeing him perform was a huge inspiration.”
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She went on to list Prince and Earth, Wind & Fire as two acts that she loved, explaining that her brothers used to take her to shows when she was younger.
“My brothers would often take me with them when they would go to concerts, and I remember seeing Earth, Wind & Fire as a kid — just unforgettable,” said Jackson. “I’ll never forget that. Really blew me away, the musicianship, and then the body of work. I absolutely loved it.”
“And then I remember seeing Prince when I was in my early, early, early, early 20s,” she added. “He did some songs that I wasn’t that familiar with and didn’t do songs that I was familiar with, and I thought, ‘If I ever perform on this level, I don’t want to do that. I want to at least do songs that people are familiar with, for sure.’”
