"If" is a song by American singer-songwriter Janet Jackson from her fifth album, Janet (1993). Jackson co-wrote and co-produced "If" with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with Harvey Fuqua, John Bristol and Jackey Beavers receiving songwriting credits for the sampling of their composition "Someday We'll Be Together", performed by Diana Ross & the Supremes. "If" was released as the album's second single on July 13, 1993, by Virgin Records. It fuses various genres, including rock, trip hop and industrial music, with elements of new jack swing and hip hop.
"If" received critical acclaim, with most critics noting Jackson's evolution into a sexual persona from her prior reserved, celibate public image. It received a BMI Pop Award for Most Played Song and was also ranked among Slant Magazines Best Singles of the 1990s. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. It also performed well in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The accompanying music video for "If" portrays voyeurism, sensuality and intense choreography, while depicting technology that was unavailable at the time, such as touch screens and web cameras. The video received various accolades, including Best Female Video and Best Dance Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, and a Billboard Award for Dance Clip of the Year. It was also voted the second best female video of the decade by Idolator. Jackson performed "If" at the MTV Video Music Awards in a medley with "That's the Way Love Goes", in addition to several of her concert tours.
Background
Jackson's role in the film Poetic Justice gave her the confidence to attempt edgier themes musically, commenting "I know it would shock people, but I'm not doing it for shock value. And I know there are some people that are going to say, 'No, I will not be able to accept this because this is a little girl that we saw when she was seven years old.'" She continued, "Everybody says, 'Oh, my God, you've changed so much. Is this really you?'," described to laugh before saying, "Of course it's me." Virgin Records wanted the song to be janet's lead single, saying "it could have a great dance video." Jackson disagreed, deciding to release it as the album's second release. The song was written by Jackson in a conference room during a label meeting. Describing the process, Jackson said "Once you get into recording, it almost has a life of its own. We really got rolling when we did the song "If". Writing a song can happen any kind of way ... Jimmy [Jam] was watching a ballgame and playing around on the keyboards. I ask him to play the chords he was playing again ... "If" turned out to be funkier, gritter." Speaking about its theme, she stated "the song is about fantasizing. I've had those feelings [expressed in the song]..it's my time to share!" Jackson added, "[its] about a girl who goes to a club and fantasizes about this guy: serious fantasies about the things she'd do to him if she was his girl – the positions and things like that. But she's not, so she can't, so she gets pretty frustrated in the second verse – without it being too much. It's still within good taste."