Janet Jackson spouts philosophical about her upcoming album titled Discipline. The set, due Feb. 26 is a new direction for Jackson as she strives to connect to a younger audience through the use of producers such as her man Jermaine Dupri, Rodney Jerkins and “it” boy Ne-Yo.

Jackson, whose last album, 20 Y.O., was widely considered to be a commercial flop, claims the set is autobiographical, down to the title’s inspiration.

“Well, I guess if I go back to the beginning I see a little girl, 10-years-old, who’s appearing on `Good Times’ and sets her own alarm clock to wake up at 5:30 AM in order to be at work by 7,” Jackson reminisced. “Then I think about a 15-year-old starting to make records. For the next 25 years, she makes an album every two or three years without fail. Going a little deeper, she learns that the music most connected to her heart has a rhythmic and harmonic complexity that requires work. That means hours and hours trying to compose lyrics and melodies that ring true; hours and hours in the studio layering the vocals that contain the different voices she hears inside her head. Then, of course, the months she spends planning and executing world tours, one after another.”

The seeming pity-party turned out to be nothing of the sort when she claimed she saw this all as “a blessing.”

“Funny, but my first big album also had a one-word title—Control. I was naïve in thinking that I could control every aspect of my life. The only one who really has control is God. But it took discipline—the discipline of thought, the discipline of action, the discipline of creating music—to make me see that. Finally, discipline has to do with faith. I have faith that a gentle but steady discipline will let me continue to grow as an artist and a woman.”

Bleck! Hopefully the new music will be more interesting than these overthought, rehearsed responses.