This is possibly a subject that's been covered before, if so, I apologise, but;

People a kvetching about the new song, about Musicology and a lot of new stuff Prince has produced. Do you think that this more mellow sound stems from the fact that he's happy now? A lot of his creativity came from searching for answers, about himself and others, from anger and unrequited (spelling?) love. Now he's married, found his God, found his answers, the music we are hearing is created by a content man. If this is the sound of Prince being happy, then we're going to have to learn to deal with it... however much we'd prefer him to play Darling Nikki all over again.

Actually I don't think Prince looks very happy latley.

I prefer tot think that he's just bored.
He needs new inspiration and I agree with Krystal, he doesn't really look happy.
And you know what I do when I'm not happy or bored? I eat...

But I'm not saying this is a fact this is just a theory... maybe he really is happy. But if so I don't like him al that much.

Me too. Prince hasn't looked happy for a good while.

I think he lacks the confidence to do something more dynamic.

I don't know if he is in love because his music is more bland with very little emotional impact these days.

It's nice and easy listening but a bit confusing.

I have yet to find any intelligence in pontificating on what Prince needs, thinks, or feels and how it affects his work. There is no reasonable way to verify any of the specualtion and hypothesis that pollute this website so frequently. In that way, much of it is of no more value than the adolescent fan drivel and rumors that can be found in the average teen age pop magazine.

TrickyDeansPorkSausage said:

Well, duh.

If he is not happy, is this music really a true sign of a maturing Prince? I had hoped he would follow George Clinton's path, been a bit more grungy, a bit more subversive.

If he is not happy, as some suggest, where has the anger and inquiry, that produced much of his most innovative and creative music, gone? I love angry Prince, he plays guitar. This song is a little insipid, though I'm reserving full judgement until I ehar it as part of the album it belongs to.

NouveauDance said:

P.S. Is the sky still blue?

BoySimon said:

Prince not being happy doesn't mean he is angry!
There are more feelings than just happy and angry.

I know that, Eline, what I was clumsily trying to ask was where has the fire gone? A lot of the music that catapulted Prince into the limelight was based around his anger and his searching for answers. When asked about his guitar playing, back in the mid-eighties I believe, he said something along the lines of feeling angry on stage. There is the quote from Lovesexy, during the US-leg of the tour, when he said 'if I could just get one person to understand'. The music we get from Prince now suggests complacency and/or contentment. Has he settled for his lot in life? Has he found all his answers? If so, and if this is the music that stems from it, then all well and good. It simply means that Prince fans are going to have to get used to a more benign artist and more middle of the road music.

I think this is a shame, mainly because I'm not entirely sure the answers he has found spiritually are the right ones, but, hey, that's just me. I though he had it right back in the Lovesexy days, but what do I know, I'm just a screwed up catholic kid! I think his love songs have improved tremendously over the years as he has grown, the lust of his earlier albums evolved into the love of Emancipation. I just want him to re-consider certain aspects of his life. But that's just me. Of no importance. If he is content then fine. If this means we get more insipid music... well, I guess I'll have to listen to Queens of the Stone Age a lot more, or dig out an old Sly Stone record.

Question: do you think Prince has the same level of self-confidence he had back in the day?

Less? The Same? Or more?

Just interested...

BoySimon said:

For me I feel like Prince tries to fit in too uch now.

Where before he was a subversive and revelled in it.

He sung about religion in a new and refreshing way, embracing who you were and not giving a flying fuck what anyone else thought apart from what you thought
yourself.

His music was about freedom of mind, body and spirit and it definately did seem to touch a nerve with people.

Now his music seems nice enough but it has less questions about who you are and what you want out of life etc..

His music was often described as "cryptic" yet to me it was incredibly straightforward even if I didn't know how to put it into words.

I always thought that Prince was so brave to write music that was so personal and full of insecurity and questions about life and the universe.

Although people often decribe himas contrived, for me he writes in a refreshingly honest way. Especially when he talks about God and sex.

Maybe after years of being so heavily critised he lost the confidence to do that.

He seems to play it safe or is so cryptic he is harder to understand so people (the media) describe it as non-sense.

I know exactly what prince needs.


Get yo mind upout the gutter.

"Play it safe"... what an awful thing to have to write about Prince. It's such a shame that fans of this man are thinking thoughts like this. At least we can console ourselves with the thought that he isn't covorting around in a leotard and nicking bits of ABBA songs.

BoySimon said:

Well that definately would be subversive...

BoySimon said:

Hey, say what you want but Madonna is the talk of the town again because of that...
But it truly is a big shame that Prince seems to want to play it safe.

NOT HAPPY.....Ya can tell Happiness. He has a blank Expression.... He's the Best Musician In The World and he should be Totally Gleeming. Something is Missing. I think Prince just wants to do and venture into Different avenues. If he is Still Mourning then he has got to Move on and away from the bad feeling.

Mourning? The baby? Why do you think he's still in mourning?

Re: Madge, she certainly is the talk of the town.... the townsfolk are wondering that she's mixed the pop-socks and leotard look with a thigh/arse joint that looks more plastic than Prince's!

(Please pay no heed to this reaction to Madonna; I just hate the song... and all things ABBA - university discos have a lot to answer for.)

Losing a child is one of the worst things that can happen to you but it's been over 9 (?) years now right? I think he has some what learn to deal with it by now.

And yeah it may not be good what the people are talking about with Madonna but over here they don't even know Prince is still alive! In my mind bad publicity is still good publicity...

And I'm not a fan or something (although I have to honestly say that I like that new song, I just love electro stuff)

I thought this thread was about how Prince would be as a "leader" and I seen no reason anyone should be questing his happyness. I have seen several other posts to that nature.

WHERE's He going to LEAD you? Princeville?

The thread title refers to the fact that he appears to be taking a new direction, hence he is leading us in a new way.

Eline, you are absolutely right. I would give anything for Prince to appear in his old leopard skin briefs, just for the notoriety and the press. There is another thread that says the new single is on sale in the UK. It ain't in Coventry.

Don't know he's alive... spot on. and to think, the UK used to be a hotbed for Prince fans and he used to love coming here... well after the 1985 nastiness had stopped anyway.

BoySimon said:

That's because there's hardly any record shops left in Coventry. Is Virgin Megastore still there ? HMV ? I'm not surprised Prince's newest offering is hard to find there.

In London even classic albums are not always available. Maybe Oxford Street but not everywhere.

I had a big debate with a guy in HMV in Canary Wharf where they only had a few copies of a hits CD (not the good one). They didn't even have SOTT or Purple Rain....

It's a sorry day when that happens....
[Edited 12/23/05 6:42am]

Very true... but even the mainstream ones are not carrying it. Well, I couldn't see it... but my vision was blurred with Xmas-itis, a fear of standing in queues in shops. Horrific.

It honestly doesn't surprise me. I remember a time when it was the exact opposite...Those were the days when I would stand in Our Price for what seemed like hours debating what I would spend my pocket money on...

(I had to make it stretch in those days)
[Edited 12/23/05 6:51am]

Virgin and HMV still exist. They have a fair selection of most Prince CDs, in actual fact, just not the new single.

Both, however are marginalising the CD buyer - the majority of the Virgin now seems to be DVDs and computer games. With the advent of I-pod it appears that Cd buyers are a thing of the past. That is a terrible shame. I remember the thrill of the gate-fold LP. The very first record I was bought was the Adam and the Ants 'Prince Charming' LP - glorious artwork and 'bigness'/'realness' to the thing. Ahhhhh, memory lane.

BoySimon said:

Do you think we know each other ? Are you from Coventry ? Do you live there now ?

Maybe it's the one city left with the true Prince fans of old....

I will be living in Coventry for another 10 days or so... then I'm off to New Zealand!

I'm from Wales, originally, only lived in Cov for a couple of years.

BoySimon said:

Cool, hope your move goes well.

Thanks. I hope so too!

Where abouts are you then?