databank said:

Militant said:

This thing with Rita Ora got me thinking. Dig if you will, a picture....

Beyonce/Rihanna/Katy Perry/Bruno Mars/, or anyone of their current status and popularity releases a new single. It's a huge smash. It's catchy, funky, and fun. It becomes one of the biggest songs of the year. But nobody knows who this person is who produced it. All the credits say is "Produced and written by Eos Fire" (This is a name I just made up, btw. Kinda dumb, but insert your own. Nothing obvious that includes the word "Starr" or "Coco" or any pseudonym he's used before)

The PR company of this artist runs an undercover viral campaign around the phrase "Who Is Eos Fire?" and gets the blogs buzzing. The song hits #1. It's everywhere. A couple of weeks later, BAM! Another one of those Beyonce/Rihanna/Bruno etc artists comes out with a song. It's another smash. Same situation. Everyone's trying to find out where these productions and songs came from. Nobody seems to know. All sorts of rumors are flying around. People think it might be Andre 3000, or 7 Aurelius. People are asking the artists in every interview, but all they say is "The song was sent to us through our management."

Two weeks later, Prince (via Epic Records) drops a new song out of nowhere, with a huge marketing campaign, a music video, and announces a full arena tour at the same time in collaboration with Live Nation or AEG. It's advertised everywhere. But, he insists that only his new song can be used in the advertisements for the tour on radio, TV and online. It's a full on minimal electronic catchy funk pop guitar extravaganze, halfway between Kiss and Black Sweat, and just as catchy. A feelgood summer song, one of those songs that you just know will be everywhere the first time you hear it.

3/4's through the song, it breaks down to a funky drumbeat and guitar strums, then out of nowhere, Prince yells, "Eos Fire, jacking my style! You better jump off, NPG get wild!"

And in that moment, we all know. It's "Jamie Starr is a thief" redux. And minds are blown.

This daydream was brought to you by Militant....

Actually -anonymously or not- why don't YOU ask him 2 give a song 2 Swami?! U're big enough, u're on a major, u can reach him thru Universal. So OK I know what u're doing is another thing entirely but a song is a song and u could just either completely rearrange and rerecord it or keep only some basic tracks, and a Prince song rearranged with a banghra sound now THAT would b awesome. IDK if P would say OK but man if I had a band signed at Universal I'd give it a hell of a shot!!!

We actually have a project ongoing with Kobalt as well right now and are scheduled to have a meeting in their LA office next time we're there. And it's a collaborative project with someone who has worked with P before on a Chaka project. Not out of the realms of possibility! Perhaps I'll find a way to make it happen one way or another

Militant said:

databank said:

Actually -anonymously or not- why don't YOU ask him 2 give a song 2 Swami?! U're big enough, u're on a major, u can reach him thru Universal. So OK I know what u're doing is another thing entirely but a song is a song and u could just either completely rearrange and rerecord it or keep only some basic tracks, and a Prince song rearranged with a banghra sound now THAT would b awesome. IDK if P would say OK but man if I had a band signed at Universal I'd give it a hell of a shot!!!

We actually have a project ongoing with Kobalt as well right now and are scheduled to have a meeting in their LA office next time we're there. And it's a collaborative project with someone who has worked with P before on a Chaka project. Not out of the realms of possibility! Perhaps I'll find a way to make it happen one way or another

Could it b David Gamson?

Anyway these news are fantastic! Let us know what happens, I'd so love to see any kind of Swami/Prince collab, that would be a first for him (that kind of music) and a wonderful thing for u!

[Edited 4/17/14 22:11pm]

WetDream said:

No. I'm into Prince so i can escape all the plastic shit out there. I'm into Prince to deliver real music. He should not embarrassingly do tracks for pop products like all you listed, he should be picking up where The Rainbow Children left off. Musically complex, challenging and unique......instead we are getting absolute trite like Fallinluv and Pretzalnologic.
Then fans go and celebrate his dumb-down and put more ideas like this out there for him or his people to potentially read. We need Prince back as an artist and musician, not an embarrassment which he has increasingly become when it comes to studio work and some business decisions (New Girl).

[Edited 4/17/14 12:34pm]

Fully agree with you here, TRC was the best abum he came up with in the last 20 years. Why? Because for once he wasn't trying to chase hits but made an artistic and religious statement.

Don't get me wrong, I still love pop music and really dig proper catchy hits like "Happy" but Prince doesn't pull off catchy pop music anymore like he could in the eighties. His production style is often a bit outdated and his lyrics aren't appealing to teenage fans (or even grownups) with most of his lyrics being halfheartedly sexy and halfheartedly Jehova Witness: not sexy enough to be really horny/raunchy (remember "Get Off", Prince?) and not Christian enough to be proper gospel songs (remember "The Cross", Prince?).

Hell, most of his lyrics nowadays feel like they have been scribbled down in half a minute as an afterthought, not communicating any real emotion (like "How Come You Don't Call Me" or "I Love U BUt I Don't Trust U Anymore") or a real heartfelt and smart message (like "Sign O' The Times").

See what I mean? He has become a bit fake, not willing to go full on religious nor full on worldly/sexy. In the past these two sides of Prince could live harmoniously together on one album, nowadays he combines them into songs that are neither flesh nor fish. These days he looks at a sexy girl, sees she is attractive and expresses some kind of (sexual) interest in her, but then condemns her for looking slutty and being fake, and advices her she should seek God's guidance while he himself (being the good servant of God) stays away from her ("Lolita" anyone?)...

It seems like he doesn't really knows what he actually wants anymore. In the past he seemed to struggle with religion and sexuality too, but then the songs were from his own perspective ("The Question Of U"), about his own struggle. Nowadays he seems to writes from a more judging perspective: him being the devout JW follower, looking at the wordly crowd and comdemning them for not following Jehovah like he does. But at the same time still trying to be 'sexy'. Not very real IMHO, and not very appealing to the average pop music consumer...

Replica said:

Tittypants said:

@ this point, I don't believe Prince has it in him to make a smash hit anymore. He really only had smash hits for himself anyway. But I do get where you're coming from. It's definitely a cool idea.

Wasn't Manic Monday, I Feel For You and Nothing Compares To You smash hits? I believe they were sung by other artists than himself

Okay.....so think of how many other songs he produced for other artist, & how many other "smash" hits come out.

I'll wait.

databank said:

TrevorAyer said:

prince is not good enough anymore for that .. fact

Hit = Good?

Review ur premises ^^

Hit = Marketing.

cant polish a turd .. no amount of marketing makes a hit from a turd

Shawy89 said:

TrevorAyer said:

TrevorAyer said:

databank said:

Hit = Good?

Review ur premises ^^

Hit = Marketing.

cant polish a turd .. no amount of marketing makes a hit from a turd

So how come I hear NOTHING but turds if I turn MTV on?

databank said:

databank said:

TrevorAyer said:

cant polish a turd .. no amount of marketing makes a hit from a turd

So how come I hear NOTHING but turds if I turn MTV on?

well maybe you don't like pop music .. surely even if you don't like bruno or pharrell or beyonce you can see why they have hits .. what made it a hit .. it wasn't the polish or marketing .. there are some good hooks .. even jay z giving away his crap new record with an ap couldn't make it a good jay z record ..

TrevorAyer said:

databank said:

So how come I hear NOTHING but turds if I turn MTV on?

well maybe you don't like pop music .. surely even if you don't like bruno or pharrell or beyonce you can see why they have hits .. what made it a hit .. it wasn't the polish or marketing .. there are some good hooks .. even jay z giving away his crap new record with an ap couldn't make it a good jay z record ..

Bruno has bonafide hits . . . hits that even without a PR campaign are just great. Pharrell's singing voice to me is not the strongest, but Happy is just as good as most other songs that are considered hits. Beyonce, on the other hand, her music is so grating and repetitive but they become hits because of the PR machine working overtime -- a constant barrage of video, radio, talk show and appearances that keep her a star past her prime of about 5-10 years ago.

.

Prince's most radio-friendy songs in the past year or so were Screwdriver and Ain't Gonna Miss U. I say that not because they're the best, but because they fit the radio formula of today. Same as I Wanna Be Your Lover fit disco times, Controversy fit New Wave and TMBGITW hit at a time when R&B ballads were strong.

.

But even saying that, I don't think his songs are accessible to the masses, which is what radio is. Appeal to the lowest common denominator in addition to targeting teens and 20s.

[Edited 4/20/14 8:11am]

TrevorAyer said:

databank said:

So how come I hear NOTHING but turds if I turn MTV on?

well maybe you don't like pop music .. surely even if you don't like bruno or pharrell or beyonce you can see why they have hits .. what made it a hit .. it wasn't the polish or marketing .. there are some good hooks .. even jay z giving away his crap new record with an ap couldn't make it a good jay z record ..

I think I like pop music as much as anyone here.

IDK who Bruno is, I like Pharrel's last album (and work in general) and I have no idea what Beyonce is playing those days. Last time I tuned MTV on (last year) there was a duet between Pink and another dude who almost made me vomit, and then 4 or 5 dance pieces of shit, I wouldn't even know who that was, stuff in the vein of Gaga, Ke$ha and that awful Dirty Dancing cover by Black Eyed Peas. I'm sorry but if u call all that pre-fabricated crap "having a good hook" then please send me a gun so I can shoot myself: I'll give u my home address by orgnote.

TrevorAyer said:

databank said:

So how come I hear NOTHING but turds if I turn MTV on?

well maybe you don't like pop music .. surely even if you don't like bruno or pharrell or beyonce you can see why they have hits .. what made it a hit .. it wasn't the polish or marketing .. there are some good hooks .. even jay z giving away his crap new record with an ap couldn't make it a good jay z record ..

Good, catchy pop music? There's PLENTY of it nowadays, but u hardly ever hear it on the radio on see it on TV.

I could list u dozens of artists and bands who've released catchy pop albums these last few years, and no average teenager in this world, no mainstream music listener in this world has ever heard of 'em. They're there, most of them on indie labels, some even on some majors sub-labels, but if u're not a music afficionado who's gonna go online and try and find new grooves, if u're one of those millions who just eat what they're being fed by mainstream radios and TV's, u'll never know these acts r out there.

Still, I'm not talking u know, experimental artists, I'm talking genuine POP acts: I betcha most of them could have major hits if money and marketing was there to sell it, but majors and medias don't GIVE A SHIT!

Kesha actually has some good songs, her mom is a bonafide country songwriter who worked with Dolly, and she's done some songs with great producers like David Gamson. But it's not what gets pushed as singles. It's been said that she has huge problems with ther production team and label over it and is looking for a way out of her contract with them. The whole time that "Timber" track was #1, she was actually in rehab for alleged body dysmorphia issues, apparently exacerbated by the way her team treat her and things they've said to her. I feel bad for her.

Militant said:

Kesha actually has some good songs, her mom is a bonafide country songwriter who worked with Dolly, and she's done some songs with great producers like David Gamson. But it's not what gets pushed as singles. It's been said that she has huge problems with ther production team and label over it and is looking for a way out of her contract with them. The whole time that "Timber" track was #1, she was actually in rehab for alleged body dysmorphia issues, apparently exacerbated by the way her team treat her and things they've said to her. I feel bad for her.

I've discovered her thru her Facebook page quite a while before she made it, actually (even b4 she told the stoty about breaking into P's house), I think it was precisely thanks to her connection with Gamson, whose love I work. It was quite obvious from the tone of her bio on Myspace that she was a very unstable young lady. I remember she claimed on the page that "Mike Jagger could be my dad, for realz"... that says a lot about where she comes from (she later claimed she has no idea who her father was, so I guess it means her mom was having many lovers, one of 'em being MJ...). The music on her Myspace back then was decent, nothing mindblowing but some decent. After that I juste heard a couple of her single hits... sounded just like... everything else... commercial BS... IDK how her last album sounds but if u say she's got good songs I'm gonna trust u on that. I feel sorry for her too if she's having problems. She's an animal activist, she's a songwriter (not just a singer), I got nothing against her personally, but so far what I've heard from her was an embodiement of everything that's killing the music industry and starving talented artists nowadays.

I just read that her 2 albums got "mixed to positive reviews" from music critics. I know Lady Gaga's albums have been well received as well. And even better I read the other day that Miley Cyrus' albums all got "mixed to positive reviews" too. This leaves me puzzled. If Miley Cyrus' albums are put by critics more or less on the same level than Goldfrapp, Metronomy, Hot Chip and Björk, then what exactly is a bad album? And is there even any album at all that gets negative reviews at all nowadays? How LOW do u have to sink for your album to receive "negative reviews"?

databank said:

Rita Ora is a bonafide star? She doesn't even have an album out in the U.S. yet.

Beyonce likes to take credit for music she didnt write or produce...and I don't see Prince playing those type of games. Not today.

This idea of working with a huge pop star to introduce his new album....no. no gimmicks. they need him more than he needs them.

StyleandFashion said:

Rita Ora is a bonafide star? She doesn't even have an album out in the U.S. yet.

We're not in an albums market. She's had some huge songs here in the UK and appears in the tabloids pretty much daily.

I dont think so. Whats the benefit in being popular for the sake of it? Theres nothing in it. I prefer Prince making his own music to how he sees fit, rather than appealing to pop charts.

Some people just dont bother with popular stuff, and let that be there for the people who want it. It just doesnt really do anything for the guy who doesnt want to be in the scene. Why the want of this in the first place? Just to say Prince is cool again?

Prince is already cool, doing whatever he wanted was what made him cool to even get the pop charts he had before. If it was just a passing thing it was just passing thing. Theres lots of good, and more creative songs than whats on the radio. You can only be so creative appealing to radio and its very limiting. As you have to make music that appeals to a general crowd.

As a person who likes more depth in his music, no interest in this type of scenario.