Matthew McConaughey still loves Janet Jackson’s “That’s the Way Love Goes.” What he stopped loving was the marijuana experience that once kept him listening to the song in his car until his own birthday party had ended.
In a new Rolling Stone interview about the music that has shaped his life, the actor revealed that Jackson’s 1993 hit is tied to the reason he stopped smoking weed. In his latest telling of the story, McConaughey said he played the song 24 times in a row after taking a hit from a particularly potent joint.
He had already arrived outside the club where friends were waiting to celebrate his birthday. Instead of going inside, he remained in the car listening to Jackson until he finally emerged and discovered that everyone had gone home.
“Love the song, didn’t love the weed,” McConaughey said, according to Entertainment Weekly. He added that he still likes the track, making Jackson’s song an unlikely dividing line in one chapter of his life.
McConaughey Says the Weed Was Stronger Than What He Was Used To
McConaughey placed the episode around a period when, in his experience, marijuana was becoming considerably stronger. He contrasted what he remembered as milder weed with hydroponic marijuana that he said affected him very differently.
On the night of his birthday party, a friend handed him a joint before he left. McConaughey drove himself to the club, arrived outside and took a hit while he was still in his vehicle. “It was not like the weed I’d smoked before,” he recalled.
What followed was an extended encounter with a single song. McConaughey said he listened to “That’s the Way Love Goes” 24 consecutive times because, in that moment, staying in the car with the song seemed more important than entering his own party.
By the time he finally went inside, the celebration had ended and everyone had left. McConaughey now directly links that experience to his decision to stop smoking marijuana, while stressing that his feelings about Jackson’s song never changed.
He Previously Said He Played the Song 34 Times
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The incident was already part of McConaughey’s collection of personal stories before the new Rolling Stone interview. During a December 2025 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, McConaughey said the incident happened around his 35th birthday. He recalled making it all the way to the venue but never getting out of his vehicle.
On Kimmel, McConaughey said he listened to “That’s the Way Love Goes” 34 times, rather than the 24 times he recalled in his latest interview. He also said he sat in his truck crying as he listened to the song and thought it was beautiful. When he finally went inside, the guests had already left.
Music Has Been Part of McConaughey’s Acting Process Since ‘Dazed and Confused’
The Janet Jackson story came up as part of a much broader Rolling Stone conversation about songs that have followed McConaughey through different stages of his life. Music also plays a practical role in his work as an actor, with McConaughey saying he creates playlists while developing characters.
He traces that habit back to Richard Linklater and Dazed and Confused. McConaughey recalled Linklater giving actors cassettes containing music their characters might listen to, allowing them to develop a feel for the characters without receiving conventional acting instructions.
McConaughey said he still builds playlists by listening for music through the perspective of whatever character he is preparing to play. For him, music can establish a sense of rhythm and place without explicitly instructing an actor how to perform.
That process is particularly relevant to The Rivals of Amziah King, in which McConaughey plays the title character. The film’s official synopsis describes Amziah as a musically gifted man in rural Oklahoma who leads a bluegrass-playing group while overseeing his community’s premier honey-making operation.