WAIT… La Toya Jackson Had BOPS?! The Music Career Everybody Forgot About

WAIT… La Toya Jackson Had BOPS?! The Music Career Everybody Forgot About

Baby, somebody call the music historians because we need to have a meeting!

Apparently, there are people walking around in 2026 who had NO IDEA that La Toya Jackson actually had a music career.

Yes. THAT La Toya Jackson.

Michael Jackson's sister. Janet Jackson's sister. The soft-spoken Jackson who has given us interviews, reality television, family drama, glamorous outfits, and enough interesting moments to keep the blogs working overtime.

But some of y'all are just discovering that La Toya didn't spend the 1980s sitting at home waiting for Janet and Michael to come back from the recording studio.

La Toya was in the studio too!

And she wasn't playing.

PUT SOME RESPECT ON MISS LA TOYA'S DISCOGRAPHY

La Toya released her self-titled debut album, La Toya Jackson, in 1980.

That's right — 1980!

Some of y'all weren't born. Some of us were young. And TikTok wasn't even a thought.

Her early music leaned heavily into R&B, disco, funk and pop. One of the songs people should revisit is "If You Feel the Funk."

And let me tell you something: the title alone tells you what kind of party we're attending.

This isn't Adele sitting at the piano crying about somebody who stopped returning her phone calls.

We're dancing!

Then there's "Night Time Lover," which has an especially interesting Jackson-family connection: Michael Jackson worked on the song and provided background vocals.

So when somebody tells you La Toya didn't have any music, tell them to go do their homework.

THEN CAME "HEART DON'T LIE"

Now we're getting to one of my favorites.

"Heart Don't Lie."

Baby!

If you're going to start exploring La Toya's catalog, this is one of the songs I would put near the top of the playlist.

It's pure '80s.

The production.

The synthesizers.

The hair.

The fashion.

The ENERGY.

You hear it and immediately feel like you should be walking through a shopping mall in 1984 carrying six bags while somebody follows you with a giant boom box.

La Toya wasn't trying to be Michael.

She wasn't trying to be Janet.

She had her own quirky little lane.

And that's what makes revisiting her music so much fun.

WHY DON'T PEOPLE REMEMBER HER MUSIC?

Now here comes the messy part.

When your last name is Jackson, being "pretty good" isn't enough.

Imagine going home for Thanksgiving and somebody asks what everybody has been doing.

Michael says, "Oh, I'm just becoming one of the biggest entertainers in music history."

Janet says, "I'm working on becoming a global superstar myself."

Then everybody looks at La Toya.

HELLO?!

How are you supposed to compete with THAT?

Most artists would love to have multiple albums, music videos, singles and decades of entertainment experience.

But inside the Jackson family, the standards were completely ridiculous.

You weren't competing with the woman singing down at the neighborhood lounge.

Your competition was sleeping down the hallway!

That probably explains why La Toya's music career sometimes gets reduced to a footnote.

AND THEN THINGS GOT… INTERESTING

As La Toya's career continued, her image became more provocative.

By the late '80s and early '90s, Miss Jackson was serving bigger hair, louder fashion and an image that was a long way from the wholesome Jackson-family presentation people remembered.

Songs like "You're Gonna Get Rocked!" showed a different La Toya.

She was giving attitude.

She was giving pop star.

She was giving, "I have arrived, now somebody turn on the smoke machine."

Was every song a masterpiece?

Now you know I'm not about to sit here and lie to you.

No.

But that's part of the FUN.

Going through La Toya's catalog is like opening a musical time capsule.

Some songs make you say, "Wait a minute, this is actually good!"

Other songs make you say, "Well… the outfit was cute."

And that's okay!

SHE EVEN WENT COUNTRY

Just when you thought you understood La Toya Jackson, she said, "Move over, Nashville."

Yes, La Toya experimented with country music too.

Because apparently R&B, pop, funk and dance weren't enough.

La Toya said we're going to try EVERYTHING.

And you know what?

I respect it.

Artists today talk about not wanting to be placed inside a box. La Toya was jumping out of boxes decades ago.

MAYBE SOCIAL MEDIA CAN GIVE THE MUSIC ANOTHER LIFE

This is where things get interesting in 2026.

Old music doesn't necessarily stay old anymore.

TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels can take a forgotten song from 1983 and suddenly have teenagers dancing to it like it dropped Tuesday.

That's why I wouldn't be surprised if another La Toya record eventually has a viral moment.

Imagine millions of people discovering "Heart Don't Lie" and asking:

"WHO IS THIS?"

Meanwhile, those of us who remember would be sitting in the corner saying:

"Baby, that's La Toya!"

MY REVIEW OF LA TOYA'S MUSIC

La Toya Jackson's catalog deserves another listen.

Not because I'm going to pretend she had Michael's career.

She didn't.

Not because I'm going to pretend she had Janet's career.

She didn't.

But those comparisons are exactly why her own music tends to get overlooked.

When you remove the Jackson-family expectations and simply listen to La Toya as an artist, there's some genuinely fun material there.

The music represents an era when pop stars could be weird, glamorous, dramatic and experimental without everything being analyzed five minutes later on social media.

And La Toya definitely gave us DRAMA.

Vocally, she had a lighter approach than some of the powerhouse singers of her generation. But not every record requires somebody screaming through the ceiling.

Sometimes I just want a cute beat, a catchy hook and somebody telling me the heart doesn't lie.

Let me LIVE.

THE JACKSON SISTER PEOPLE NEED TO REDISCOVER

La Toya Jackson may never be the first name mentioned when people discuss the Jackson musical dynasty.

Michael's legacy is enormous.

Janet created a legendary career of her own.

The Jackson 5 changed music history.

But La Toya still has a place in that musical family tree.

She recorded albums.

She made videos.

She performed.

She experimented with different genres.

And decades later, people are still discovering the music.

So the next time somebody says:

"Wait… La Toya Jackson sings?"

Just smile.

Pull up "Heart Don't Lie."

Turn the volume up.

And say:

"Welcome to class, baby. You're late."

CALL TO ACTION

Now I need to hear from YOU!

Did you already know La Toya Jackson had a recording career, or are you just finding this out?

What's your favorite La Toya song?

Are we giving "Heart Don't Lie" its flowers?

And be messy in the comments: Which La Toya song deserved to be a MUCH bigger hit?

Drop your opinion below, share this post with another old-school music lover, and follow the blog because we're going back into the musical vault and pulling out the records everybody forgot about.

And Miss La Toya?

Baby, dust off that microphone. The internet is finally catching up.