The song is about the e trip, and him re-evaluating his choices:

"Between white (what's good or right) and black, night and day, black night (The Black Album) seemed like the only way, so I danced (made the Black Album).

"Music late, nothing great (he just explained why he shelved the Black album), no way to differentiate (his judgment was clouded), I took a chance....

"Gregory looks just like a ghost (Prince is freaking) and then a beautiful girl the most (Ingrid) wets her lips to say (she speaks transforming words to him):
"You could live for a little while, if you could just learn to smile, you and I could fly away."

The first stanza is about profound loss and loneliness. The whole song is about Prince seeking solace - something to numb the pain. Think about what he has gone through to this point in his life (late 1987): an erratic relationship with Vanity, megastardom he so loathed that he deliberately sabotaged it by cancelling a world tour and releasing an off-pace album, the end of his relationship with Susannah, firing the Revolution, releasing what many still consider his masterpiece only to see it fall off the charts (and himself derided as a washup - people were already talking about comebacks!). All of that is backdrop to the Black Album, which he regularly explained afterwards was his ego lashing out.

He didn't realize how much he regrets the choice ("I took a chance") until the trip, when he freaked out but was comforted by Ingrid validating how hurt and empty he feels inside.

So, in typical Princely fashion, he gives her a new name (Anna Stesia), which is a play on the word anesthesia. (On a lark, I googled "definition anesthesia", and this was the first result: "In the practice of medicine (especially surgery) and dentistry, anesthesia or anaesthesia (see spelling differences) is a temporary induced state with one or more of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), amnesia (loss of memory), and unconsciousness.")

The song totally made sense if you were around at the time the Black Album was released and then immediately shelved, and replaced by Lovesexy (where this song appears). Not any more complicated than that -- and it has nothing to do with Tsarina Annastasia (I cringed recently when I heard a British interviewer call it that to his face), other than the mild homophony between the two names.

donnyenglish said:

We all know that Anna Stesia is a play on the word anethesia to describe a lucid state between here and the spiritual world. That first Piano & Microphone show at Paisley was surreal. He went through his life and career and just before playing Anna Stesia he talked about lucid dreams. At the end he said "liberate me." He has been talking about how he doesn't sleep much for years like in Way Back Home when he says he roams in his dreams. He died during one of these lucid dreams looking for Anna Stesia. Also no coincidence that medicine/anethesia finally put him to sleep. [Edited 5/30/16 4:56am] [Edited 5/30/16 5:05am]

No.

EnDoRpHn said:

EnDoRpHn said:

donnyenglish said:

We all know that Anna Stesia is a play on the word anethesia to describe a lucid state between here and the spiritual world. That first Piano & Microphone show at Paisley was surreal. He went through his life and career and just before playing Anna Stesia he talked about lucid dreams. At the end he said "liberate me." He has been talking about how he doesn't sleep much for years like in Way Back Home when he says he roams in his dreams. He died during one of these lucid dreams looking for Anna Stesia. Also no coincidence that medicine/anethesia finally put him to sleep. [Edited 5/30/16 4:56am] [Edited 5/30/16 5:05am]

No.

+1

luvgirl said:

But it's obvious that "The Black Album" was a ploy, no? Hence, "Don't buy The Black Album, I'm sorry"! Lol [Edited 6/26/16 9:31am]

Not sure if you're being serious given the Lol, but the "Don't buy the Black Album" text showed up in the Alphabet St. video, which is also off Lovesexy, and also after Blue Tuesday.

luvgirl said:

It's funny how everyone interprets this song differently. In my understanding, I believe Anna Stesia to be a representation of all the women he loved trying to fulfill a loneliness and void that only God could provide. He was looking for love in all the wrong places so to speak, to only find out that it was God he needed all along...

Really good insight! I agree with that interpretation as part of the song's meaning, and I'm not sure if it's so much that everyone interprets the song differently (although there certainly are at least some differing interpretations) as much as there's just quite a bit going on at once lyrically in "Anna Stesia."

I hadn't originally thought of the anesthesia play on words that seems to be most people's choice for the song's central meaning, but after reading this thread, I feel like that definitely seems to be a major part of the concept, too - that P/the narrator has been (and/or is considering) numbing himself, as one would with anesthesia, through meaningless sex and other ways of looking for love and the answer to his loneliness in the wrong places.

It also seems that, considering the timing and context of "Lovesexy," P is likely incorporating his experiences and thoughts regarding his MDMA trip and his reaction to it, which would probably include hallucinations (or at least vivid feelings that seem almost tangible and like lucid dreams) and could certainly help inspire the sort of passionate feelings behind much of the song, and especially the devotional flourishes at the conclusion.

I also think the idea of Anna Stesia as the representation of the woman/women that he hopes will fill the void he carries inside, but who can't fill that emptinesss (because only God can) rather naturally ties into the Anastasia Romanov legend. The idea of naming the woman in the song after the teenage princess rumored to have somehow survived the massacre of the rest of the Russian Royal Family and to be living under an assumed name fits with the song's other themes IMO, as P/the narrator fantasizing about an idealized mythical Princess who is very likely not even alive - (well, she'd be an old lady by then if she had survived, but was very likely not even alive after the initial massacre a few decades earlier) - adds to the whole mood and general theme of the song. It may not be the main point, but I think Prince must have been aware of Anastasia Romanov being the most common reference point for the name Anastasia (aka "Anna Stesia") as she was regularly mentioned in pop culture for various reasons during the 70s and 80s and, somewhat famously, directly sung about in a line from the Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil" (so, by referencing her, P also brings to mind that song to at least a slight extent, along with its decision to sing/observe life from the Devil's POV, which P rejects and embraces God and Love instead during "Anna Stesia")

And it seems that there may also be yet another reference point for the name/title "Anna Stesia" that is connected to Anna Fantastic, who, from what I understand, acted like a spoiled (in a cute way, but still something P would likely tease her about) "princess" at times. I'm not sure about the timeline regarding Anna Fantastic, but if P was hanging out with her or dating her then, using her first name in this way probably would be more than just a coincidence.

I generally feel like Prince is an out-of-this-world-amazing musician but a somewhat inconsistent lyricist (which, when all is said and done, still makes him my favorite musical artist by far!), but I love the lyrics to Anna Stesia, as its myriad meanings somehow all seem to work together simultaneously and match just right with the track's beautiful, perfectly fitting music.

[Edited 7/11/16 2:41am]

Keep in mind, anesthesia puts one in an altered state of consciousness. While under anesthesia, one has no ego, no consciousness of one's own body, of time, of anything (out this space and time). It is as though one ceases to exist. In meditation, one has awareness, but does not identify with any sensations, but rather feels at Oneness with everything. There is no "this" or "that", it is all Self. Prince did meditate (even had a room set up at Paisley Park that I remember seeing during the first Celebration). He believed in chakras (stated in an interview once that chakras were science and once wanted a reporter to sit and listen, claiming that he could open the reporters chakras while he performed) and even his last band was called "3rd Eye" girl. The 3rd Eye is the seat of the Christ consciousness.

I have always heard Anna Stesia as a song about this experience of, or the journey towards, Christ Consciousness. It is as though when one sits in meditation, that they are being "ravished" in a very delicious way during the process of "liberating the mind". (It is a little known, or maybe widely known with the advent of the internet, fact that meditation can bring about orgasms, though one does not identify with the experience of that.)

Another aspect of meditation is the loss (no way to differentiate) of dualities (white and black, night and day). Before it finally culminates with the knowledge that this experience is just a play in God's Master Plan and that God is Love and Love is God.

The other song that reminds me of this experience is "Thunder". "Thunder all through the night, promise to see Jesus in the morning light." In meditation, one can hear "thunder", as well as other sounds that correlate with musical instruments.

[Edited 7/11/16 10:00am]

AnonymousFan said:

LewArcher said:

I generally feel like Prince is an out-of-this-world-amazing musician but a somewhat inconsistent lyricist (which, when all is said and done, still makes him my favorite musical artist by far!), but I love the lyrics to Anna Stesia, as its myriad meanings somehow all seem to work together simultaneously and match just right with the track's beautiful, perfectly fitting music.

[Edited 7/11/16 2:41am]

sometimes i wonder if the lyrics are like that on purpose, as a sure way to open the imagination

benni said:

Keep in mind, anesthesia puts one in an altered state of consciousness. While under anesthesia, one has no ego, no consciousness of one's own body, of time, of anything (out this space and time). It is as though one ceases to exist. In meditation, one has awareness, but does not identify with any sensations, but rather feels at Oneness with everything. There is no "this" or "that", it is all Self. Prince did meditate (even had a room set up at Paisley Park that I remember seeing during the first Celebration). He believed in chakras (stated in an interview once that chakras were science and once wanted a reporter to sit and listen, claiming that he could open the reporters chakras while he performed) and even his last band was called "3rd Eye" girl. The 3rd Eye is the seat of the Christ consciousness.

I have always heard Anna Stesia as a song about this experience of, or the journey towards, Christ Consciousness. It is as though when one sits in meditation, that they are being "ravished" in a very delicious way during the process of "liberating the mind". (It is a little known, or maybe widely known with the advent of the internet, fact that meditation can bring about orgasms, though one does not identify with the experience of that.)

Another aspect of meditation is the loss (no way to differentiate) of dualities (white and black, night and day). Before it finally culminates with the knowledge that this experience is just a play in God's Master Plan and that God is Love and Love is God.

The other song that reminds me of this experience is "Thunder". "Thunder all through the night, promise to see Jesus in the morning light." In meditation, one can hear "thunder", as well as other sounds that correlate with musical instruments.

[Edited 7/11/16 10:00am]

wow thanku

Wow very very interesting points I am get enlightened just reading all these interpretations.

As you can tell by my handle on the org, this is one of my favorite jams. I love, love this song and each time i hear it I am trying to make sense out of it. If you check out Prince's live performance of this song during the 1988 Dortmund Germany show, it is stellar. This is one of my favorite performances by Prince due to the emotion he is feeling. He is even crying after the first chant of Love is God, God is Love. I believe he is explaining a lot about this song in this performance.

+++

What I took from this performance is he has tremendous love for God - for Jesus Christ, but he is a conflicted soul. He is struggling with being human and weak, sinning and doing all the things that separate us from God. But he understands now what he is doing and how awesome, loving and forgiving God is for his children, and wants to love God. I feel he is thinking back to all the "bad" things he did in his past, in his wild days with women and tons of mistakes that he made, and feels bad and wants to repent and change.

+++

Just look up Anna Stesia Prince on YT and watch this performance.

benni said:

Keep in mind, anesthesia puts one in an altered state of consciousness. While under anesthesia, one has no ego, no consciousness of one's own body, of time, of anything (out this space and time). It is as though one ceases to exist. In meditation, one has awareness, but does not identify with any sensations, but rather feels at Oneness with everything. There is no "this" or "that", it is all Self. Prince did meditate (even had a room set up at Paisley Park that I remember seeing during the first Celebration). He believed in chakras (stated in an interview once that chakras were science and once wanted a reporter to sit and listen, claiming that he could open the reporters chakras while he performed) and even his last band was called "3rd Eye" girl. The 3rd Eye is the seat of the Christ consciousness.

I have always heard Anna Stesia as a song about this experience of, or the journey towards, Christ Consciousness. It is as though when one sits in meditation, that they are being "ravished" in a very delicious way during the process of "liberating the mind". (It is a little known, or maybe widely known with the advent of the internet, fact that meditation can bring about orgasms, though one does not identify with the experience of that.)

Another aspect of meditation is the loss (no way to differentiate) of dualities (white and black, night and day). Before it finally culminates with the knowledge that this experience is just a play in God's Master Plan and that God is Love and Love is God.

The other song that reminds me of this experience is "Thunder". "Thunder all through the night, promise to see Jesus in the morning light." In meditation, one can hear "thunder", as well as other sounds that correlate with musical instruments.

[Edited 7/11/16 10:00am]

Thank you so much quite interesting, wholeheartedly agree on your point of view. Is a masterpiece of a song, beautiful and heartfelt, in my mind i visualize the video for it.