The Nasty hitmaker hasn't released an album in seven years and her last offering of new music emerged in 2010, when she appeared on charity single We Are the World 25 for Haiti.

She has been keeping a low profile since her 2012 marriage to billionaire Wissam Al Mana, but just because she's gone doesn't mean she has been forgotten by fans and when one Jackson devotee decided to have a little fun with the icon's absence, taking to Twitter.com last week (16Apr15) to share a mocked-up missing persons poster, the singer responded.

The fan urged followers to get in touch "if you have any information about Janet Jackson and her return to the music industry".

The digital flyer also featured a direct plea to the singer, which read: "Seriously Janet, where the hell are you? We NEED you back. We miss you. Your fans miss you. THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS YOU. Come back and show these young whippersnappers how it's done!"

Jackson's frequent collaborator, producer Jimmy Jam, reposted the fake flyer on his Twitter page last weekend (18Apr15) and the message caught the R&B icon's eye.

Responding to Jam's post and replying to the superfan, Jackson simply wrote, "LOL (laugh out loud). Too funny, too sweet."

In a follow-up tweet on Tuesday (21Apr15), she mused, "Letting go doesn’t mean you stop" - a message some fans believe may be hinting at new music.

Jackson has yet to expand on the meaning of her tweet.