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Background and writing
Following the critical and commercial breakthrough of her album Control (1986), Jackson was motivated to take a larger role in her next album's creative process. According to Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits (2002), record company A&M Records encouraged the singer to record an album similar to Control, but she refused to do so. The singer had initially desired to work with duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis again, but negotiations between them delayed the start of the project. Motivated by the close friendship they had with Jackson, Jam and Lewis forced their attoyneys and management to get a deal done with her. Jackson returned to Minneapolis in September 1988 to start working on the album, and the duo had several songs ready for her to hear on their first day at the studio.

"Miss You Much" was among the first songs written for the album. Jam recalls that on their first day in the studio together, he was working on the track that would become "Miss You Much"; Jam pointed at a note on the keyboard and told Jackson to press that note, which ended up becoming the high string line in the song's chorus. They did not record Jackson's lead vocals during her visit to Minneapolis, as the idea was to do the background vocals first to get her voice back in singing shape, as she had not sung for nearly two years. At that point, the track was the only song they already had a lyrical concept for, because they wanted a song to kick off the project. The idea for the title came from Jam's girlfriend, when she sent him a letter and wrote "miss you much" at the end of it, and he thought it was a "cool" title.

Release

 * https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1989/BB-1989-08-19.pdf
 * https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1989/BB-1989-08-26.pdf
 * https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/80s/1989/M&M-1989-09-09.pdf
 * https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/80s/1989/M&M-1989-10-01.pdf
 * https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1989/MW-1989-08-19.pdf

Composition
The first three tracks on Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 brought a strong socially conscious message. The mood of the album then changes with an interlude which Jackson asks, "Get the point? Good, let's dance!", before giving way to dance-oriented songs, beginning with "Miss You Much". Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson described it as a "sweet-and-sour bridge from efficacy to escapadery". Musically, the song mixes dance-pop and new jack swing into its composition. For Chuck Dauphin of Billboard, it is a dance number with an undeniable pop groove, The track is formed around a heavy backbeat complemented by a bassline, with Mirage keyboards underlying Jackson's heavily layered vocals. Some reviewers noted resemblance to the work of Prince, specially his track "Kiss" (1986), on the line "I'll tell ya mama, I'll tell ya friends". and Jackson's own song "Nasty" (1986). "Miss You Much" is set in common time with a medium funk tempo of 116 beats per minute. Composed in the key of E minor, Jackson's vocal range spans from A3 to E5.

The lyrics of "Miss You Much" deal about the stage of a new relationship where Jackson is dizzily infatuated, where she can not stand to be away from her loved one, as evidenced by the line, "Not to say that I'm in love with you, but who's to say that I'm not?/ I just know that it feels wrong when I’m away too long". Jude Zhu from Billboard described the song as a "dancefloor banger, pining-for-your-lover-but-make-it-funky style", a sentiment later echoed by Sabrina Soormally of Clash, who wrote it was a "pining, subversive love song".

Critical reception
"Miss You Much" attracted positive reviews from music critics. Gary Smith from Music Week called it "ultra-smooth and deceptively simple" featuring a "relentless and almost brainwashing dance beat", and predicted that the track was "guaranteed to linger on, long after hearing". From Gavin Report, Dave Sholin wrote, "Programmers had good reason in wanting to get this on the air as quickly as possible", as Jackson and the producers "have cooked up a super hot track unlike any of her previous winners". Milton Kent wrote for The Evening Sun that "Miss You Much" was a "clever little piece with a heavily emphasized beat and lean instrumentation". According to Steve Morse from The Boston Globe, it was one of the lighter songs on the album, given the record's overall social-oriented theme. The Fresno Bee's Don Mayhew observed that there was "something a little overly familiar", but wrote that there was no doubt that Jackson and her collaborators could "lay down a groove and then crank it up". David Browne of the New York Daily News said that the track was worthy of "aerobies workout material". Vince Aletti of Rolling Stone viewed it as "an angular, clipped number in the familiar Jam-Lewis mold".

Paul Craver of the Nottingham Evening Post wrote that he was "trying to figure out if this is not actually her comeback single but a sly move on Paula Abdul's part". The staff of Lincolnshire Echo considered that "Miss You Much" was the only time Jackson "breaks new ground" on the album. For The San Francisco Examiner's Barry Walters, "Miss You Much" was the album's least distinctive track. According to Alan J. Craver from Lancaster New Era, the song does not match the expectation set by the opening numbers on the album.

Clash's Sabrina Soormally described the song as "undeniably sexy with assertive lyrics and a manoeuvring dance beat over Jackson's signature sweet yet teasing style".

Kevin O'Donnell of Entertainment Weekly praised "Jam and Lewis' amazingly dense, club-wrecking production and Jackson’s ecstatic vocals" on the song, observing how it "still sound[s] as excitable as ever".

According to Chris Gerard from Metro Weekly, the song's manic vocal arrangement during the chorus is "particularly genius" and complimented how Jackson sounds "playful, self-assured and upbeat".


 * https://www.allmusic.com/album/rhythm-nation-1814-mw0000532143
 * https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/410/mode/2up?q=janet+jackson
 * https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1989/BB-1989-09-02.pdf
 * https://www.allmusic.com/song/miss-you-much-mt0006498305
 * https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/jun/03/janet-jackson-10-of-the-best
 * https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/janet-jackson-songs-best-hits-list-7998755/
 * https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/15/janet-jacksons-30-best-songs-ranked
 * https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/programs/classic-albums/classic-albums-janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-1814/11511866

Accolades
At the American Music Awards of 1990, "Miss You Much" received two prizes in the categories of Favorite Dance Single and Favorite Soul/R&B Single, with Jackson also nominated for Favorite Dance Artist. The song also won the award for Best Female R&B Single at the 1990 Soul Train Music Awards. It also received two nominations at the 32nd Grammy Awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.

Commercial performance
In the United States, "Miss You Much" debuted at number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week of September 2, 1989, and was the week's top new entry. After three weeks, as "Miss You Much" entered the top 10 of the Hot 100, music industry prognosticators theorized that the song would become Jackson's second number-one song to top the chart. However, the song started facing competition from fellow singer Madonna's single "Cherish", which also moved into the top five the same week. The popular media pitted the two women against each other and tried to create rivalry between them. The song eventually topped the chart on October 7, 1989, while "Cherish" peaked at number two the same week. "Miss You Much" remained at the top for other three weeks, and was present on the Hot 100 for a total of 20 weeks. Based on changing metrics of how chart performance is evaluated, Billboard listed the single as Jackson's all-time biggest Hot 100 hit. It also topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Dance Club Songs charts. On November 3, 1989, "Miss You Much" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting a million copies sold across the United States.

In the United Kingdom, the single debuted at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart on the week dated September 2, 1989, before peaking at number 22 a few weeks later, spending seven weeks on the chart. In April 2021, it was revealed by the Official Charts Company that it was Jackson's 31st most downloaded track in the region. "Miss You Much" achieved moderate success in other European regions, reaching the top 30 in countries such as Belgium's Flemish region, Finland, Italy, and Switzerland. The single's commercial performance in the European countries helped it attain a peak of number 40 on the European Hot 100 Singles chart, on the issue dated October 7, 1989.

In Canada, "Miss You Much" debuted at number 87 on the RPM Singles Chart on August 28, 1989. In its 12th week on the chart, the song reached number two, and was the 16th best-selling Canadian single for 1989. It received a gold certification by Music Canada (MC) for shipments of 50,000 units across the country. In Australia, "Miss You Much" entered the charts at number 45 on the week of November 1, 1989, and reached its peak of number 12 in the following weeks. It attained more success in New Zealand, where it debuted at number 26 on November 8, 1989, and peaked at number two four weeks later. Worldwide, "Miss You Much" became the second best-selling single of 1989 with four million copies sold, behind "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins.

Music video
The music video for "Miss You Much" was directed by Dominic Sena, who had previously directed Jackson's video for "Let's Wait Awhile" (1987), and premiered on August 19, 1989 on MTV. It was part of long-form Rhythm Nation 1814 film, which also included the music videos for "Rhythm Nation" and "The Knowledge"; the project was filmed on A&M's soundstage and in a variety of locations in Los Angeles in a period of three weeks, including several dancers and actors as well as 200 extras. The visual centers around two boys whose dreams of pursuing music careers are destroyed through substance abuse and drug trafficking. Sena referred to the film as the "1814 Project", attempting to keep the public unaware that Jackson was filming on the streets of Los Angeles. The project had a budget of $1.6 million and was aired entirely on MTV prior to the album's release, on September 16, 1989. The project was filmed entirely in black-and-white, as a nod to Jackson's vision of a color-blind society.

Each of the three segments on the film serve a different purpose, beginning with affinity and companionship in "Miss You Much"; it begins with a bunch of dancers in a hangout spot that looks a like a dance-musical set, gossiping about Jackson and her boyfriend. Jackson enters the room as her dancers suddenly become quiet and look at her. One dancer asks Jackson what she has been doing lately. As the beat of the song kicks in, she begins dancing, and is quickly accompanied by the dancers. The choreography starts playful, but then changes as the dancers move together in military lockstep. The video ends as Jackson and two male dancers sit on chairs before she calls, "That's the end?". The version on Rhythm Nation 1814 continues as a collective answers, "No!" to her question, and then performs a dance routine with the chairs accompanied by the dancers, which was choreographed by Terry Bixler.

Upon the video's release, Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times noted it was "full of joy and giddy goofiness", and estabilished "shyly grinning" Jackson as "winsome and human after some of her earlier ice-goddess poses". The New York Daily News's Jim Farber wrote that the singer's videos "have historically bucked the trend and her latest, a comeback effort, is no exception", writing how it "may not have the sweep or color of Jackson's 'When I Think of You,' but it's a taut, muscular work nonetheless". Grace Medford of PopCrush called the clip video "intricate and kinetic", with the choreography "never stopping even between motifs as Janet’s body keeps bouncing like a jogger forced to stop for traffic." The chair routine in the video is often regarded as iconic, with Steffanee Wang from Nylon writing how it "remains impressive no matter how many times you've watched it". The choreography has been referenced by several artists, such as Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and Tinashe.

Live performances
"Miss You Much" was first performed at Jackson's Rhythm Nation World Tour 1990 as the encore, with the singer recreating the chair routine from the music video. The song was then performed as part of the Janet World Tour (1993–95), with The Daily Telegraph's David Cheal selecting the performance as one of the concert's hightlights. "Miss You Much" was included on the setlist of Jackson's 1998-99 The Velvet Rope Tour, in a medley with her past singles "Runaway" (1995), "Escapade" (1990), "When I Think of You" (1989), and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" (1990). During the performance, Jackson wore a jester's headdress and satin bustier, with her dancers dressed as "flowers, Mad Hatters, and horny gnomes" amid a "blindingly bright, poppy-induced set design" with varied props, which include a smiling clock tower, inflatable moons, mammoth chaise, vases, and books. The performance of the medley at the October 11, 1998, show in NYC, at the Madison Square Garden, was broadcast during a special titled The Velvet Rope: Live in Madison Square Garden by HBO, and was included on the concert's video release, The Velvet Rope Tour: Live in Concert (1999).

It was also performed during the All for You Tour in 2001 and 2002, in a medley with "Runaway", "When I Think of You", and "Escapade", with the stage decorated with "colorful inflatable blow-up props", and the singer dressed as a pink flower; some music commentators viewed the performance as too similar to that of the previous tour. The final date of the tour on February 16, 2002, at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, was broadcast by HBO, and included a performance of the medley. This rendition was also added to the setlist at its video release, Janet: Live in Hawaii, in 2002. The song was also part of the 2008 Rock Witchu Tour, her first concert tour in seven years. New York Daily News's Jim Farber observed that the performance of "Miss You Much" re-proved its great appeal and rarity, but but also made Jackson's heyday seem distant. The singer performed an eight-minute medley of six hits during the American Music Awards of 2009. It included "Control" (1986), "Miss You Much", "What Have You Done for Me Lately" (1986), "If" (1993), "Make Me" (2009), and "Together Again" (1997). It was later added to her concert at the 2010 Essence Music Festival, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, which she headlined. On the Number Ones, Up Close and Personal in 2011, Jackson again performed a rendition of "Miss You Much", with Jane Stevenson of The Winnipeg Sun stating that "she really hit her stride" with her performance of the song.

It was then included on the setlist for the 2015-16 Unbreakable World Tour. In April 2016, Jackson announced that due to family planning, all remaining dates of the tour would be postponed. In 2017, the concert tour was resumed in the form of the State of the World Tour, and the track was performed in a medley with "Nasty", "Feedback" (2008), "Alright" (1990), and "You Want This" (1994). Rachel Williams of the Dallas Observer pointed out that during the rendition of "Miss You Much", the arena was "not just enthused. The audience is singing along with the gusto of a child on Christmas morning who’s just awoken to a Costco box of golden retriever puppies". In 2019, Jackson performed the track on her Janet Jackson: Metamorphosis residency concert in Las Vegas, as part of a section dedicated to Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 and its 30th anniversary. Later that year, it was also included on the Janet Jackson: A Special 30th Anniversary Celebration of Rhythm Nation tour, which also had a special section dedicated to songs from the album. The track was included on the 2023 Janet Jackson: Together Again tour, with Jackson and her dancers recreating the song's video break.