I was just thinking... When Emancipation was released, the whole theme of the album was based around Prince's "freedom" from his record company and his newly found happiness with his wife, Mayte. It was the first album that viewed Prince in the "mature artist/elder statesman" role that we know of today. From the outside, it may have looked as if Prince was getting it all back together - A new label, a new wife, a new approach... Gone were the days of writing "slave" on his face along with all those "angry" tracks that characterised the 1992-95 era.

However Emancipation is far from being as glossy as it seems. Behind all the sappy love songs and the somewhat stale up-tempo tracks lie some of his most hauntingly lonely and heart felt songs: Right Back Here In My Arms, Somebodys Somebody, White Mansion, Dreamin' About U, Slave, My Computer, One Of Us, Emale etc. I find these songs are the most powerful songs on Emancipation and I can't help but feel that deep down, he really wasn't happy no matter how much he tried to be positive about his uncertain future. I guess what I'm trying to say is that art reflects life more than we sometimes want it to... Anyway, I'm rambling - what do you all think?
[Edited 9/7/05 7:51am]

They're just songs. But Prince has never really seemed to me to be the happiest, most balanced individual anyway. He writes really good, happy uptempo songs like "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" but that's just his artistry. His greatest gift is writing those overtly happy songs that do also qualify as great art, which certainly is not the case with most "party song" writers.

I think "Emancipation"'s theme was indeed "emancipation". It's a lonely, lost individual who finds a more blalanced, mature outlook on life during the process of making this record. Personally, I think he was cheating himself with the "I'm Happy Now!" -facade he was publicly showing during those days.

I also liked those songs mentioned by you and some more ...Right Back Here In My Arms is an underrated gem that should be played live one day...I think he did an acoustic version at the Park long ago. Don´t know if that track would sound good though, it´s just one of those fat beats that are hard to play live, some rare songs sound better as a studio version, like When Doves Cry and this one...but I´m still wondering what it would sound like.