Janet Jackson Discusses The Making Of The ‘Someone To Call My Lover’ Video
The singer breaks down the story behind her massive 2001 single.
Vevo and Janet Jackson have teamed up for a new episode of Vevo Footnotes, celebrating her massive hit “Someone to Call My Lover,” the second single from her 2001 seventh studio album, All For You. The episode arrives amid the song’s viral resurgence and ahead of Jackson being honored with the Icon Award at the 2025 American Music Awards.
The video offers a behind-the-scenes peek at the making of the song, which blends two classic samples: the guitar riff from America’s 1972 “Ventura Highway” and a sped-up melody from Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédie No.1,” made famous by Claude Debussy. Initially, Janet didn’t recognize “Ventura Highway” when producer Jimmy Jam played it in the studio. Jackson reportedly “felt bad” about not instantly recognizing it. Jackson first heard “Gymnopédie No.1” in a commercial as a child, and the melody stuck with her. “My son loves it,” she once told SiriusXM. “He falls asleep to that song.”
Also in the episode, Janet shares that she first sang the vocal melody over the phone to Jimmy Jam. Upon hearing the melody, Jam urged Jackson to come to Minneapolis to record the track.
The video also notes that Jackson once said that the album contains, “songs that feel right, songs that feel good. That you could see you’re in the car, the top down, you’re cruising, it’s summertime.”
Reflecting on the lyrics, Jackson says the song is, “really about the next person you want to be with and call yours.”
More than two decades after its release, “Someone to Call My Lover” has found new life online, leading to a 600% surge in daily streams and earning a spot in the encore section of her 2024 tour, marking a rare return of the track to her live set. Between the years of 2002 and 2017, Jackson rarely performed the song during her concerts.
Buy Janet Jackson’s song “Someone to Call My Lover” on vinyl now.
