ALTERNATE ALBUM COVERS:

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NOTES:
20 Y.O. is the ninth studio album from Janet Jackson, released on September 26, 2006 by Virgin Records. The album was executive produced by Janet, hip-hop producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri, who was also her boyfriend at the time, and the team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The album's concept and its title are a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of her breakthrough album Control.

Musically, the songs lean more towards R&B and hip-hop, a style whose influence was brought by Dupri. The album was mostly recorded at Dupri's Atlanta studio. Songs on the album were produced by Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Manuel Seal, No-ID, Bobby Ross Avila, and Issiah "IZ" Avila.

The goal of the project was to take the sound and vibe of the Control album and mix it together with the style of modern-day music. Subtle musical references to Control can be heard throughout, such as the use of certain keyboards and synthesizers that were used on that album. The spoken-word interludes on 20 Y.O. also feature Janet reminiscing about her last twenty years.

When Virgin Records made the announcement that Janet would be releasing the album, it originally had been titled 20 Years Old, however when Janet saw that fans on the internet were abbreviating the title to a shorter 20 Y.O., she liked that name better and the title was changed just a few weeks prior to its release.

The album reached #2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It is certified platinum by the RIAA, and has sold over 655,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

20 Y.O. was the final studio album Janet was required to release under her multi-album contract with Virgin Records, which she had entered into a decade earlier. She subsequently departed the label after its run of promotion, publicly explaining in later interviews that she was not happy with the support given to her during her last few years with the label.

Janet had intended on supporting the album with a concert tour and was actually in the middle of its rehearsals a few months after the release of the album. However, since her record contract with Virgin Records ended, she decided to sign a new deal with Island Def Jam Music Group, and that company then asked her to immediately cancel plans for a concert tour and go back into the studio to record her next album, which that label would release.

A "Deluxe Edition" of the album was released worldwide on the same day as the standard edition. It contains the CD inside of special gold cardboard packaging that also has a bonus DVD, which features behind-the-scenes footage of photo shoots, Janet rehearsing and recording the album, dancer auditions, and the making of the "Call on Me" music video. This edition also contains a forty-eight-page color booklet.

The United States version was originally released using five individual album covers: the official version, plus four other versions that were a part of a "Design Me" internet contest through the Web site Yahoo! where fans were given several photos of Janet and then asked to design their own covers for the album. Four winners were chosen by Janet, and a limited number of their covers were printed during the first pressing of the album in the United States. These versions are no longer in print. The contest was created before Janet changed the name of the album to its shortened 20 Y.O., which is why all of the "Design Me" covers say the original 20 Years Old title.

The Japanese version of the album contains the bonus songs "Roll Witchu" and "Days Go By."

SINGLES RELEASED:
"Call on Me," "So Excited," "Enjoy," and "With U."

ALBUM CREDITS:
Janet Jackson, Nelly (vocals); Khia (rap vocals); Paul Jackson, Jr. (guitar); Suzie Katayama (string arrangement); Gerardo Hilera, Robert Peterson, Liliana Filipovic, Charlie Bisharat, Sara Parkins, Michele Richards, Josefina Vergara (violins); Cheryl Kohfield (viola); Rudolph Stein, Yao Zhao, Larry Corbett, Steve Richards (cello); IZ Avila (drums, percussion); Bobby Ross Avila (keyboards, bass, drums); Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (additional music)

Producers: Jermaine Dupri, LRoc, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson, Manuel Seal, No-ID, Bobby Ross Avila, Issiah "IZ" Avila.

Engineers include: John Horesco IV, Ian Cross, Phil Tan, Jermaine Dupri, Josh Houghkir, Chuck Wilson, Rowdy Rik {Tadd Mingo}, Matt Marrin, Ghian Wright