would you expect him not to release anything in the upcoming year and just take a break from performing, recording and releasing?

I expect him to send Larry Graham and his wife back to the abyss, and to start cursing and swearing again. To rediscover the synth and banish all jazz influences from his next release.

Yes, I expect these things.

i suspect that the next prince album won't waver too far from what looks like his adopted new style,"smooth jazz".
i suspect the usual senior citizens he has had hanging out since the late 90's
will be providing the horn section once again.
i suspect there will be absolutely no cursing on the album(he might throw in a "duck" or 2).
i suspect john blackwell will overplay the drums on 4 to 6 tracks.
i suspect prince will once again force HIS religeous beliefs on us,and tell us
that we are wrong if our beliefs are not the same as his and mani's and larry's and tina's.every track on the album will try to accomplish this lyrically except
the 2 to 3 tracks he reserves for his outdated "party songs".
i suspect that there will be thousands of speculated release dates for this album before it hit's stores.
i suspect that we are gonna buy it up in droves....

REAL DRUMS PLEASE!!!