''Starting Over'', also known by its working title ''Startin' Over'', is a 2011
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. by American singer
La Toya Jackson
La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956) is an American singer and television personality. The fifth child and middle daughter of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, ''The Jacksons'', ...
. The EP contains two top twenty-five U.S. ''
Billboard''
Dance Club
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
hits; "
Just Wanna Dance" and "
Free the World
"Free the World" is a single by American singer La Toya Jackson. Jackson spent six years in seclusion after divorcing her abusive late ex-husband and manager, Jack Gordon, in 1997. After her years in exile, the September 11th attacks inspired Jac ...
". The autobiographical EP is described as the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
to her memoir ''
Starting Over''.
Conception and recording
Work on the album began in 2001 when Jackson was moved to write "
Free the World
"Free the World" is a single by American singer La Toya Jackson. Jackson spent six years in seclusion after divorcing her abusive late ex-husband and manager, Jack Gordon, in 1997. After her years in exile, the September 11th attacks inspired Jac ...
" in the wake of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. The song's positive reception spurred on Jackson to write more songs, ending up with a full album. The album's title is a reference to the six years Jackson spent out of the public's view in order to rebuild her life after divorcing manager
Jack Gordon.
[CNN.com - Transcripts: Interview With La Toya Jackson](_blank)
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
Larry King Live
''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly.
Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles ...
, March 4, 2003
The original ''Startin' Over'' was completed in September 2002 and issued as a promotional copy the following year in order to secure a distribution deal.
[Emrick, Matt]
Church of La Toya Exclusive: Interview with La Toya's Manager
, Churchoflatoya.net, 22 January 2007 In 2006 the promo was
leaked to the internet. The album's official release was beset with delays for years and in the interim Jackson recorded entirely new material that is expected to be released in the future.
[La Toya Jackson Talks Michael Jackson, New Book -- Video]
Theboombox.com
''Starting Over'' includes autobiographical tracks about Jackson's relationship with her abusive ex-husband and former manager
Jack Gordon. Several of them hint towards brutal beatings and plans to have her family killed.
The opening track, "Mafia Style" is a reference to Gordon's meetings with mobsters on New York's
Mulberry Street. According to Jackson, "I was hearing a whole lot that I probably shouldn't have been hearing. I was the only girl, and they called me 'the kid', because these were older men and they would say, 'Is the kid going to talk?' and
ordon Ordon may refer to:
* Juliusz Konstanty Ordon, a Polish rebel
* Ordo (palace)
An orda (also ordu, ordo, or ordon) or horde was a historical sociopolitical and military structure found on the Eurasian Steppe, usually associated with the Turkic ...
would always say, 'No, the kid doesn't talk,' because I would always say, 'I know nothing about nothing.'"
The title track, "Starting Over", was recorded in 2006, but plans to release it as a single that year were scrapped. Instead, the song was reconstituted as a jingle for Australian beverage maker Star Ice.
In early 2007, Ja-Tail released "
I Don't Play That", based on Jackson's experiences on the CBS reality series ''
Armed and Famous''. In 2009, Jackson released "
Home" as a charity single to benefit
AIDS Project Los Angeles
APLA Health is a non-profit organization that is focused on building health equity and promoting wellbeing for the LGBT and people living with HIV."
APLA Health is one of the largest non-profit HIV service organizations in the United States. Its ...
. "I Don't Play That" and "Home" are not included on the EP.
Release and promotion
''Starting Over'' was digitally released on June 21, 2011 to online music retailers, to coincide with the same-titled book. The EP's title track was first previewed on Jackson's official
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channel at the end of May. A remix of "Starting Over" by Vibelicious was played during Jackson's ''Live and Uncensored''
Stickam event on July 31, 2011. She performed "Starting Over" on the September 4, 2011 episode of Mexican television series ''
La Academia
''La Academia'' (''The Academy'') is a Mexican reality musical talent television series shown on Azteca, that premiered in June 2002 and is currently in its thirteenth installment. Although the show itself is not affiliated with the Endemol fr ...
''.
Track listing
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starting Over (La Toya Jackson Ep)
La Toya Jackson albums
2011 debut EPs