That's the Way Love Goes

In 1991, Janet Jackson fulfilled her contract with A&M Records and signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Virgin Records, estimated at between 32 and 50 million dollars, which made her the highest-paid recording artist at the time. Work on her fifth album, Janet., followed, with Jackson writing and producing alongside Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. An early version of "That's the Way Love Goes" had a lovelorn tone that Jackson revised, telling Jam she wanted to take an alternate direction. She was initially indifferent when she first heard its instrumental, so she asked for a tape to take on a brief vacation. Upon returning, she declared the track "absolutely the bomb" and wished to record it immediately.

During a two-week break for the Christmas holidays in December 1992, Jackson went to Anguilla with a cassette of works in progress and played it non-stop. In January 1993, a one-in-the-morning intercom call to Jam delivered the title. The song sampled James Brown's 1974 track "Papa Don't Take No Mess" and the Honey Drippers' 1973 song "Impeach the President", fusing R&B, pop, funk and soul with flourishes of hip-hop. Its themes of romantic lust marked a sensual shift that struck many critics and the public as a shocking contrast to her previous releases.

Although Virgin executives expected the edgier "If" to be the first release, Jam and Lewis pushed for "That's the Way Love Goes", and Chuck D compared its low-key arrival to a Sade record that introduces itself. Released in April 1993, the single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.