"Got 'til It's Gone" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson, featuring American rapper Q-Tip and Canadian singer Joni Mitchell, from her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope (1997). It was written by Jackson, Jam and Lewis, with additional writing by René Elizondo Jr., Mitchell, and Kamaal Ibn Fareed. The song was produced by Jackson, Jam and Lewis. It was released as the lead single from The Velvet Rope in 1997, by Virgin Records. The song was recorded at Flyte Tyme Studios in Edina, Minnesota. For "Got 'til It's Gone", Jackson opted for a less polished and more authentic alternative hip hop and trip hop-influenced sound. "Got 'til It's Gone" was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics, with most praising its fusion of Jackson's pop style with hip hop, and for its revealing theme. "Got 'til It's Gone" was not released as a commercial single, making it ineligible to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the song peaked at number 36 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and reached number three on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Internationally, "Got 'til It's Gone" reached the top 20 in several European markets, including France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video for "Got 'til It's Gone" was directed by Mark Romanek and filmed at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, and was premiered right before the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. Jackson portrays a lounge singer in the video, which takes place during the time of apartheid in South Africa. It was called a masterpiece by critics, winning a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. Jackson has performed "Got 'til It's Gone" on all of her concert tours since its release. The song was also covered by singer Marsha Ambrosius, and was also a source for several book titles. Background and release In 1996, Janet Jackson renewed her contract with company Virgin Records for $80 million—the largest recording contract in history at that time and a breakthrough she achieved for the second time in her career. She then began developing her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope, which chronicled Jackson's struggle with depression and intimacy. In an interview for MTV, she discussed how the depression had made her frequently sad and caused her to take breaks from her music career. She felt this was heightened by her estrangement from the rest of