R Chiang / Splash NewsJanet Jackson made a welcome return to the stage Monday.
The singer kicked off her Unbreakable World Tour in Vancouver, performing to a near-capacity crowd at Rogers Arena. Jackson, who last hit the road in 2011 for her Number Ones, Up Close and Personal Tour, opened with a new song featuring Missy Elliott; its title, though unknown, is believed to be "Burn It Up."
Before Jackson took the stage, Elliott tweeted, "Positive vibes to my sis @JanetJackson the opening of her tour 2night! U r UNBREAKABLE. Do ya thang." Later that night, the rapper tweeted about their new song, writing, "can't front that new @JanetJackson is a clubbangger @flytetymejam & terry merked dat beat."
Jackson—a 49-year-old, five-time Grammy Award winner—performed a mix of old and new songs during Monday's concert, including "Nasty," "Feedback," "Miss You Much," "You Want This," "Control," "What Have You Done for Me Lately," "Pleasure Principle," "Escapade," "When I Think of You," "All for You," "All Nite (Don't Stop)," Love Will Never Do (Without You), "After You Fall," "Again," "Come Back to Me," "Let's Wait Awhile," "I Get Lonely," "Anytime Anyplace," "No Sleeep," "Got 'Til It's Gone," "That's the Way Love Goes," :Together Again," "The Best Things in Life Are Free," "Throb," "Black Cat," "If," "Scream," "Rhythm Nation," "Should Have Known Better" and "Unbreakable," among many other hits. At one point during the show, Jackson was overwhelmed with gratitude and wiped tears from her eyes.
The singer's 67-show excursion is in support of her upcoming eleventh studio album of the same name. Unbreakable is slated for release sometime this fall, although no firm date has been announced just yet.
Jackson's longtime collaborators, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, recently talked to Entertainment Weekly about how the album came to be. "She revealed to us what her concept was, and as we always do, we just began making music," Lewis said of their music making process. "We don't try to directly flesh out a concept until that time comes. We just try to get creative and start recording and do what feels good musically. She came with the concept, and that became the beginning theme of where we started."
Regarding the album's title, Lewis said, "It's such a broad concept. You can think of it many different ways. Some people think of unbreakable as being hard, but I think unbreakable is just being able to be vulnerable and to be able to withstand what comes to you. She's lived a lot of life in the last few years."
Jackson grew as an artist, but she didn't forget her roots. "I think it's totally different from any of her other albums. But it feels like her," Jam said. "At the end of the day, I go back to that. The thing about this album is there's a lot of different places that it touches, but at the end of the day, it's pure Janet."