Let's Wait Awhile
Janet Jackson | Artist Essentials
First released: 1986 (year verified)
Original 1986 Control album recording
MusicAtlas editorial note: The original album setting gives the restrained melody room to unfold.
YouTube opens a title-and-artist search. The selected recording and date are identified below.
Release evidence and recording details
First released: 1986 (year verified)
The original recording is documented in the 1986 release history of Control. Only year precision is assigned; later singles, charts, remasters and live versions do not establish its first release.
Recording: Original 1986 Control album recording
Credit: Janet Jackson
Role in this collection: Primary artist
Original album: Control
Control - original A&M album metadata
The original 1986 nine-track program identifies Control, Nasty, What Have You Done for Me Lately, The Pleasure Principle, When I Think of You and Let's Wait Awhile. Later remasters and remix editions are separate. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Control - official original release history and program
The artist store explicitly dates the original album to February 1986 and lists its nine original tracks. The current CD sale is not used as a release date. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Annual version match under review
The selected recording has release evidence, but its version has not been matched to the retained annual entry. It is omitted from Beyond the yearly lists until this match is resolved.
The selected original Control album recording and the separately named Control: The Remixes version are distinct cataloged productions. The actual retained 1987 annual row has no edition detail, so its candidate stays provisional.
Control - original A&M album metadata
The original 1986 nine-track program identifies Control, Nasty, What Have You Done for Me Lately, The Pleasure Principle, When I Think of You and Let's Wait Awhile. Later remasters and remix editions are separate. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Let's Wait Awhile - separately cataloged remix
Control: The Remixes explicitly labels a remix separate from the original album. Its default January 1 date is not used as evidence of that remix's first public release. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
About Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson's recording career took a decisive turn with Control in 1986, made with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Its mixture of funk, synthesizers, dance rhythms and vocal arrangements established a musical identity distinct from her famous family. Rhythm Nation 1814 followed in 1989, combining dance music with social subject matter. Her later albums continued to explore R&B and pop, while choreography and music videos became closely connected parts of her recorded and live work.
Artist background sources
Janet Jackson - Recording Academy Songbook career survey
1986 Control and Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis partnership, funk/synthesizer style, 1989 Rhythm Nation 1814, later R&B direction, choreography and videos. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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