B-side "Accept Me" Length 4:42 | Recorded 1997 Label Virgin | |
Released September 3, 1998 (1998-09-03) Format CD single
7" single
12" single
cassette single | ||
"You" is a song by American recording artist Janet Jackson from her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope (1997). It was released as the album's fifth single on September 3, 1998.
Contents
Song information
A trip hop-flavored song, "You" contains a sample from War's 1972 hit song "The Cisco Kid", penned by Harold Brown, Sylvester Allen, Morris Dickerson, Howard Scott, Leroy Jordan, Lee Oskar, and Charles Miller.
Responding to Q's suggestion that backing vocals on The Velvet Rope sounded like her brother, Jackson said: "You're the second or third person that's said that. It's not him, though. You know what? When we did 'You', I thought the ad-libs sounded too much like him, so I re-did them. But I guess I didn't make them sound different enough."
Although the single received a promo release in the United Kingdom, it was ineligible to chart there.
The Japanese commercial release includes a B-side from The Velvet Rope called "Accept Me", a song about a woman begging acceptance from her lover, family, and the world. The song would also be released on follow-up single "Every Time".
Jackson only performed the song on The Velvet Rope Tour.
Music video
The video for the song was shot at the SECC Arena in Glasgow, Scotland on June 2, 1998 in front of a select group of fans. Made to look like a live performance, it is spliced with actual concert footage of Jackson's The Velvet Rope Tour, filmed at the same location the next day. The footage contains highlights from the entire show, including the moment when Janet pulled 16-year-old Wilson Kelvin McQuade on stage and did a lap dance for him during the song "Rope Burn". The video appears on the DVD edition of 2001's All for You and on the 2004 DVD From Janet to Damita Jo: The Videos.
Track listings
- "You" (single edit) – 3:56
- "You" (album version) – 4:42
- "You" (album version) – 4:42
- "Every Time" (Jam & Lewis Disco Mix) – 4:16
- "Accept Me" – 4:07
- "You" (short version) (video) – 4:13