I was thinking of certain things in Prince songs that either make them either too descriptive, obsolete, or "dated".

• All of the Mayte mentions - during the era, it was OK, but later on it was becoming a bit too much. Given his track record, I think he should avoid naming women in his songs!

• The Emancipation-era baby mentions - a very sad outcome For this example I guess it was just a little premature, since the album came out first. I think the album is salt in the wound, so to speak.

• Mentioning other artists in songs (Common, ?Love, Macy). This does not apply to anyone who is making a guest-appearance, just the name-dropping.

I know that he's documenting his life at that moment, which I love, but I think he could do that and still keep it open for interpretation. I guess I am addressing his mid-90's to early 00's work.

For example: Lovesexy was an overall spiritual experience, without being too specific. The Rainbow Children, on the other hand, was specifically JW-minded.

Getting all personal is what makes his music interesting.

Who wants to hear generic phony stuff? Let's keep it real!

There's enough plastic pop out there.....in fact there's too much!!

Honesty is always the best policy.....the truth will always get out there someday!!

I thimk that this is part of Prince's motivational strategy.....put out an album as a cathartic experience and move on when that period is over.....is quite literal 'sublimation'!!

I agree with most of Se7en´s points, especially the namedropping makes the music sound a bit dated after a couple of years, and I never really was a fan of Macy Gray to begin with.

The interesting thing about Prince´s music being too personal and descriptive is that it has always been like that, even back in the days, but back then he said things in a way that more people could relate to because he wasn´t mentioning any names except for some rare occasions like that fictional Martha on Insatiable.
Adore, The Beautiful Ones, When Doves Cry, probably most of his classics are said to be based on personal experience but these are songs everybody can relate to on a worldwide level.

Some of the recent output and the songs mentioned in the title thread are also highly personal, just like in the past, but not everybody can relate to them because for some reason, they´re more specific, i.e mentioning names, places, brandnames, rappers, etc.etc.
I would also say that they sound more "American" if you catch my drift, not as universal as the old music, but I´m not saying that´s a bad thing...I just don´t see the average German Joe Public jamming to tunes from Emancipation or Rave or TRC..but the average world citizen was for sure enjoying the unique and timeless music and lyrics of Parade, SOTT, Purple Rain etc.etc.which of course were also based on American roots, but somehow they sounded more timeless than some of the 90´s output...
Prince´s mind is just very fresh and young , that´s all, so he incorporates lots of elements from contemporary music like RnB and Hip Hop.



The point about his "universal" spirituality against his " JW" spirituality has been discussed very often so I don´t want to go there again, especially since it doesn´t bother me that much because he did similar things during his Purple Rain and Lovesexy days...I enjoyed it back then even though the Bible and Jesus were never really my cup of tea on a personal, cultural and intellectual level.

I think Prince is a very insecure person.
Insecurity can be heard on a lot of his ballads.

muirdo said:

contrasted with supreme self confidence on his "uptempo toe-tappers"...he's definitely a Gemini

LittleSmedley said:

good point.

KoolEaze said:

Exactly. I just spent days, weeks and hours writing this essay proving that his message really hasn't changed much over the years.

I like when his songgs are personal, cause they have more sincere emotion
in the way he sings and plays them.
Thats what his song writing is all about.

But besides mentioning his favorite artists or TV-show or sexual position or current faith and black politics, I don't consider his songs particularly personal in general. It is my impression that his songs mostly deal with how he wants to be perceived (i.e. as a "victim" in Eye Love U, But I Don't Trust U Anymore) rather than telling how he really feels. And when he comes close, like with Comeback, the song seems unfinished somehow - like he gets started but doesn't develop it fully. I think he prefers not to deal with too personal issues in his work. A sense of honesty and urgency like in The Beautiful Ones is all too rare in Prince's work this side of 1994. And that's what makes music so appealing, like Madonna's Ray of Light and Wendy & Lisa's GirlBros. Boy, were those albums personal! I wish Prince would dare make something akin to that.

Interesting thread.

I definitely agree about mentioning other artists-of-the-moment dates a song (and also that's just annoying, imo) and such.

As for the "too personal" aspect..I dunno. I think Prince gets just personal enough to make the song a real extension of himself and his life - which, to me, is intriguing because it sort of give the Prince fan a glimpse into his mind and psyche and life - but I think Prince stops short of truly being personal in a song. He's too private to put anything out there for public comsumption and analyzation. Look at what he did with the song "Wally", which was supposedly EXTREMELY personal, on a very meaningful level. Look at how secretive he is, and how he makes everybody sign confidentiality agreements left and right - he doesn't want his TRUE self revealed much, and if/when he does, he only wants it so on his terms and meted out by him so that he has total control of it.

I agree with what scififilmnerd said: I think Prince often uses his music to shore up or create his own persona, image, mystique..whatever you want to call it. Prince is shrewd. He doesn't leave himself open - he says and does and lets us know only the very carefully constructed 'truth' about him.

I do wonder what Prince would do if somebody ever wrote a truly 'personal' song about their own relationship or feelings about him. Or used a recording of him orgasming on their song. Somethin tells me he wouldn't like it. hee

Imago777 said:

x 1000

you need 2 stop.

MrsJimmyFallon said:

- ow!