When I was 3 years old, I received Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation: 1814 short film VHS for Christmas. I’m not sure if I knew who Janet was at the time, but it would forever change my life and basically become my bible. I would watch the VHS every day after school trying to memorize all the dance moves from the music videos. My mom even purchased a little chair for me so I could perfect the chair dance in the “Miss You Much” video. It’s no shock I would become a huge fan of the Jacksons, I was even named after Marlon Jackson’s offspring (which is the real reason behind my unique spelling of my name). From that moment at Christmas, my love for Janet just continued to grow throughout the years and now as  an adult I continue to have the same love for her I did as a kid.

When Janet had announced she was coming out of hiding and would hit the road for a world tour, there was no way I was going to miss another tour of hers. Yup, that’s right; I had never seen any of her tours in person. Back in 2015, I got together with my sister and we immediately bought tickets for her show in Cleveland. Between then and now, she cancelled the tour twice and I thought my chance of seeing my favorite pop star would never come into fruition. But on December 3rd, that all changed.

The night before the concert, I was stuck in the emergency room after suffering with chronic migraines for three days straight. The first thing I told the doctors was “whatever you do, just make sure I’m good enough to see Janet Jackson tomorrow.” I was not letting an excoriating migraine come in between me and Janet. Luckily, I was released late that evening and with enough rest, I was back to my old self in time to see “Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty.”

Our seats were perfect!  When she walked on stage, I legit teared up and I was angry that the people around me who were supposedly huge Janet fans didn’t know the lyrics to “State of the World.” It was truly everything and more. The dancing was on point (although, I wish she did more old school choreography), she performed all of her classics and most importantly she looked flawless. How is she 50 and still looks so amazing? She performed all my favorite songs including “Somebody to Call My Lover,” “Got Til It’s Gone,” “When I Think of You,” and “Throb.”

December 3 might go down as one of my favorite nights ever. If I ever have kids, I will always rank my favorite days as the following, 1. Seeing Janet live. 2. Having floor seats in a small venue for Prince, 3. Meeting Pharrell. And maybe 4. Childbirth?! ! I’m not sure but, you can see where my head is and how important pop culture and music means to me.