20 Y.O. - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Upon its release, 20 Y.O. received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 52, based on 14 reviews, which indicates "Mixed or average reviews".

With a three-and-half out of five star rating, Andy Kellman with Allmusic commented on the album, saying "...the title of her ninth album, 20 Y.O., is her safest and tamest work since 1984's Dream Street... With only a few exceptions, 20 Y.O. provides further refinements of the fun, flirtatious, midtempo songs of her past several albums. This is not a problem." The New York Times music critic Jon Pareles commented saying "On “20 Years Old,” Janet is as crafty and poised as ever. Her flirtations are still a pleasure, but an overly familiar one. She’s done these same slinky moves too often to surprise listeners now." He called the song "Get It Out Me" a "brilliant, pointillistic mixture of 1980’s electro, Indian tabla drumming and vocals arriving from all directions." and referred to the song “This Body” as "snappy, pumping along on a ticking beat, a digitized hard-rock riff, a few electric-guitar sounds and countless fleeting synthesizer hooks. USA Today gave the album three out of five stars, saying "Janet still has the bounce—and the abs—to go at it with other singers barely as old as her career. It comes down to whether people still care now that the angst is gone." Newsday gave the album a grade of A-, and has said of the album: "Jackson may not want to dwell in that past, either. After all, 20 Y.O. shows that her future could be even better."

Eric Henderson with Slant Magazine said "the saddest thing about 20 Y.O. is that Janet's decision to hedge her bets on an album whose backbone is made up of terrible R&B instead of great dance music... will very likely pay off. He also mention the production of Harris and Lewis referring to it as "ice-cold beats have melted into a lugubrious, lukewarm pudding—at under an hour, it still feels almost twice as long as janet. and The Velvet Rope." On a positive note, he called the track "Enjoy" a "seamlessly smooth step groove aboard R. Kelly's "Step in the Name of Love" boat." Richard Cromelin with The Los Angeles Times compared the album with its predecessor, Damita Jo, saying "20 Y.O. primarily has sex on its mind, in terms just slightly toned down from the heavy-breathing level of its predecessor, 2004's Damita Jo." "In the opening set of songs alone, Jackson promises to do it all, says you'll have to work for it, compliments you on a job well done, tells you how to do it and assumes the identity of a model in a men's magazine. And she manages to do this without sounding especially raunchy." WIth a C+ rating, Thomas Inskeepwith Stylus Magazine called it “Half-decent" and went to say "there’s precious little to get, well, excited about here. Janet commits the ultimate sin of making an album that’s thoroughly mediocre. Apart from the sticky ear-candy of “So Excited,” there’s little I’d miss here if I went six months without it. This doesn’t sound like rejuvenation—it sounds like the beginning of the end."

The Village Voice music critic Miles Marshall Lewis commented saying "Janet's been stuck on sex for three records, and it's getting tired." He also called "Enjoy" the highlight of the album "Standing tallest above the rest, though, is "Enjoy," a feel-good rave with harmonizing kids on the outro that recalls the whispery singer's freewheelin' mode..." Evan Serpick with Rolling Stone commented saying "the title of Janet Jackson's latest album refers to the two decades since she released her breakthrough, Control, with hits like 'Nasty' and 'What Have You Done for Me Lately.' If we were her, we wouldn't make the comparison." He also called the duet with Nelly, "Call on Me", a "shameless re-creation" of his duet, "Dilemma" with Kelly Rowland. Angus Batey with Yahoo! Music UK remarked saying that 20 Y.O. was "in their combined desire to take Jackson back to her roots, the cast assembled here has concocted not a great Janet album, but a facsimilie of one, correct in all the details, lacking substance and soul" Robert Christgau gave it a "dud" score .