Rolling Stone (10/30/97, p.67) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...there's plenty of emotional navel gazing here, but there are also moments of unsullied pop bliss....it's a testimonial to the record's merits that it's ultimately stronger than Jackson's sense of self-importance." Spin (1/98, p.87) - Ranked #15 on Spin's list of the "Top 20 Albums Of The Year." Entertainment Weekly (10/10/97, pp.89-90) - "...In the end, the most daring thing about THE VELVET ROPE isn't its sex talk but its honesty. Tempting as it may be to compare the album to similarly sultry stuff like Madonna's EROTICA, it's much closer in spirit to the unabashed emotionalism of Joni Mitchell's BLUE..." - Rating: A Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #24 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.