Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 02/17/2012 at 12:47 PM News

The Popdust Files: janet jackson, rumors, the x factor

Who better to replace Paula Abdul on X Factor that her one pop peer of the Club MTV era? (Madonna doesn’t count.) Hardest working woman in show business Janet Jackson is now apparently being considered for one of the many openings on America’s third favorite reality music competition, and recent comments of hers made to Anderson Cooper didn’t exactly do much to dissuade rumors about her joining up with the X. “Oh my god. No I’m not a judge on The X Factor,” she told Cooper, before he asked her if those remarks were only about whether she was already a judge. “No, I am not. But that’s all I really think I should say.” Oh, Janet, you’ve already said too much.

Would Double J be a good fit for the show? Hard to say without seeing her in action first hand, but she certainly has the experience—three decades in the industry, longer in the spotlight—to know which end is up, and to demand instant credibility with her contestants and fellow judges. (Not to mention that with with ex-boyfriend of nearly a deacde Jermaine Dupri being one of the most important producers and label heads of the last two decades, she probably has a good deal of industry knowhow from the other side of the studio as well.) Still, it’s impossible to tell with these megastars—you can never tell when they’ll turn out to be insightful, and when they’ll turn out to be drunk all the time. (Perhaps the key is to be both?)

[Vulture]