Much has changed in music since Janet Jackson last performed in Hawaii 13 years ago — hip-hop becoming even more pervasive in pop music, the rise of EDM, the way computers have changed how we buy and find music, to name just a few.

One thing that hasn’t changed? Hawaii loves Janet.

Jackson’s 1999 show at Aloha Stadium filled a venue-record 38,000 seats, and her return three years later to shoot an HBO special also drew more than 20,000 fans.

So when promoters announced in June that the Blaisdell Arena would host a show on Jackson’s "Unbreakable" tour, the choice of venue seemed a tad conservative. Sure enough, second and then third shows were added as each show sold out at a speed matched in recent years only by local-born pop star Bruno Mars.

Even with the 14 years since her last radio hit, Janet is a draw in Hawaii.

Jackson’s enduring appeal here should be no surprise, given her massive popularity in her heyday and the state’s affection for danceable pop music. (There’s a reason those "Ladies of the ’80s" shows keep coming around every couple of years.)

But Jackson has always been more than an empty vessel for the latest dance-floor beats. She has slyly built herself a nice resume as a voice for social consciousness in general and for women specifically.

Similar to actors who alternate popcorn fare with serious films, Jackson has mixed radio sugar such as "When I Think of You," "Because of Love" and "Alright" with socially provocative tracks such as "Rhythm Nation," "Black Cat" and, more subtly, an array of songs that gave the fairer sex its strongest spokeswoman in the pop-music realm.

Starting with her 1986 breakthrough track — "What Have You Done for Me Lately," a declaration that she won’t accept being taken for granted by her boyfriend anymore — Jackson has unleashed a litany of songs that speak for women in a way that showy pop peers such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey rarely did.

As longtime Jackson co-producer Jimmy Jam said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the song was a game-changer:

"The only way to get on pop radio (in 1986) if you were a black artist was basically to put a ballad out. Now all of a sudden you have this aggressive, hard-hitting female singing. It changed the way radio sounded."

Whether it was an overt declaration of her independence (in this case, from her father) such as "Control" or more discreet as in "Let’s Wait Awhile" — which asserted a woman’s right to have a say in how fast a relationship progresses — Jackson has demanded respect every step of the way.

She established "Control" in 1986 with the album of that name (her third) and advocated for social change three years later with "Rhythm Nation" ("Join voices in protest to social injustice"), but her next album, 1993’s "Janet," is the one that would set the tone for the rest of her career.

Jackson hinted at what was to come with the last video from "Rhythm Nation," "Love Will Never Do (Without You)," in which she cavorted in the desert with Antonio Sabato while wearing a halter top and jeans. Gone were the dark, long-sleeved outfits prevalent in her previous videos, and Jackson showed with "Janet" that this was not a one-off, that this was her new persona.

Her emerging openness about sex took center stage with the videos for "That’s the Way Love Goes," "If," "Any Time, Any Place" and "You Want This." Importantly, though, she made it clear that she was no "boy toy," that she was still in control.

Jackson summarized what the album was about in a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone:

"A woman who finally feels good enough about her sexuality to demand a man’s respect. It’s insulting to be seen as some object; he must call her by name. … Women want satisfaction. And so do men. But to get it, you must ask for it. Know what you need. Say what you want."

In "If," Jackson makes a man the object of her fantasies but makes it clear her love comes on her terms, declaring, "If I was your woman, the things I’d do to you, but I’m not, so I can’t, and I won’t."

On "You Want This," Jackson makes it clear her needs are as important as a man’s and that she has the leverage: "Girls may have been easy, but you have to please me. What makes me think that I can say this to you? I know how bad you want this."

Jackson topped it off with a video in which she and her crew stalk two men, subverting society’s standard gender roles in a way that’s become common in the two decades since but was revolutionary at the time.

As she said bluntly in that 1993 interview, "Sex has been an important part of me for several years. But it just hasn’t blossomed publicly until now. I’ve had to go through some changes and shed some old attitudes before feeling completely comfortable with my body. Listening to my new record, people intuitively understand the change in me."

And that change was permanent, with Jackson’s eroticism becoming a major part of her identity going forward. "The Velvet Rope" in 1997 explored bondage and homosexuality, and "All for You" in 2001 featured a sexually brazen hit single of the same name, the last of her nine No. 1 singles. In Jackson’s 2002 concert at Aloha Stadium, she brought a lucky member of the audience on stage and basically gave him a lap dance.

Then, a bit of untimely sexualization cost her her status as a radio queen. A "wardrobe malfunction" during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl exposed one of her breasts to the world for all of half a second, causing much of America to lose its collective mind and Jackson to be apparently blacklisted from national radio conglomerates. Justin Timberlake, her performing partner, escaped unscathed. Had all Janet’s speaking up for women been for naught?

(The blacklisting has never been confirmed, but Michael Powell, FCC chairman at the time, seemed to acknowledge it to ESPN last year: "I personally thought that was really unfair. It all turned into being about her. In reality, if you slow the thing down, it’s Justin ripping off her breastplate.")

Jackson has lain somewhat low in the 11 years since. The few albums she’s released have still charted high — every album of hers starting with "Control" has reached at least No. 2, and her latest, "Unbreakable," topped Billboard’s pop chart — but radio has largely stayed away.

Staying away is something Hawaii fans are not doing, as they are still interested in what Janet has in store. As she approaches age 50, Jackson has played it close to the vest, not doing any press for this tour and heavily restricting photography by media at her shows. There was also her management’s controversial handling of fans’ Instagram posts of video from the concerts (some people found their accounts suspended; Jackson claims she only wants to limit the length of the videos).

Reviews have hinted that the focus has been on the music, with Jackson trying to stuff as many of her 30 or so hits as possible into a lively, dance-heavy two-hour show, and that she is downplaying her sexuality with more conservative attire.

As much as the world of music has changed in the 13 years since Janet last visited, it should be interesting to see how much she has changed.