Unbreakable

The album’s movements flow like natural metamorphosis rather than wild swings thanks to Jackson’s voice. Unbreakable finds her continuously rediscovering new crevices in her vocal range.

Unbreakable is the mature album, free of commercial ambition, her all-too-breakable brother never made.

R&B legend makes up for lost time in first new album for seven years.

Unbreakable feels like Jackson’s most timeless album.

These hallmarks are mixed in with on-trend beats, finger-snapping R&B and even stylistic references to her late brother Michael and the Jackson 5. But it's the ballads - a side of her repertoire that had taken a back seat to forgettable chart-chasers - that show Jackson's at her vocal and songwriting best.

Unbreakable is a synthesis of ideas Jackson’s collected and tested throughout her career.

It's a successful return for Ms. Jackson, a grown-ass album that refuses either to pander or wallow in nostalgia.

The best thing about Unbreakable is that it proves Janet can still surprise us.

Unbreakable is overall Jackson’s strongest album in a decade, a mature and nuanced career progression that sounds effortless.

Janet has calculatedly played the humble-grateful card countless times in her career, but Unbreakable, a ready-made collection of deep cuts, is one of the first times she's given a fully convincing performance.

Janet is reflective, optimistic, and offering encouraging, motivating lyrics to those listening. It’s the album I wish Janet made years ago.

Unbreakable is truly a reflective body of work in which Janet refuses to succumb to trends but remains true to what feels and sounds right.

No one but Jackson can directly reference previous triumphs, address her audience, and yet move forward quite like this.

Unbreakable nonetheless feels like the liveliest, freshest album we’ve received from Miss Janet in nearly 15 years, and one that feels like a genuine step forward for her artistically.