I was thinking about this and the reason it was underwhelming is because it's Janet and no one can quite embody her presence. I thought they all did a really great job but they're no Janet. Even as great of a dancer Ciara is, she just lacks the intricacy of choreography in general. Jason and Tinashe did great but when you're performing the songs of one of the greatest entertainers of all time, you're going to fall short somehow.
"No Sleeep" is doing very well on the charts because it's authentic. No one said it was gonna be a smash but it's performing well and setting her up very nicely. She didn't release it because she wanted a smash single
I thought she would have performed but I'm glad she didn't actually. It's a slow song so to follow up with some of her monster up-tempos would have been foolish. It wasn't about her performance or capabilities, it was about paying homage to someone we admire and appreciate so much, not for her to try to upstage everything hey just did. I get it.