 Later reviews continue to find the album favorable. Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine expressed that the misconception that Control is Jackson's debut album only confirmed the "quintessential statement on personal and artistic self-actualization" that it set out to accomplish. Henderson claimed critics who judged Jackson harshly for her thin voice "somehow missed the explosive' gimme a beat 'vocal pyrotechnics she unleashes all over" Nasty "... Or that they completely dismissed how perfect her tremulous hesitance fits into the abstinence anthem" Let's Wait Awhile. "However, Henderson also commented that the" Jam-Lewis formula wasn 't completely infallible "as" You Can Be Mine "and" Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun) ", were two of the album's least impressive misfires. While William Ruhlmann of Allmusic commented Jackson" came across as an aggressive, independent woman ", he asserts the album's true value is the production talents of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album four stars out of five.
