It seems that the 'general public' seem to realisize that Prince really is a talent, and not some big has been.

I visit a lot of different forumsites on the internet which have nothing to do with music, and i was gladly surprised by the praise Prince received on those forums for his performance during the halftime of the Superbowl.

When i visited Youtube today i did notice that the video's of Prince posted there (even the more obscure ones) have attracted a lot more visitors since the superbowl performance. A lot op people who aren't really Prince 'fams' are posting positive reactions on that site in the last days.

Alltough some people seem to whine (Prince is a has been, he hasnt scored a hit since 1984... forgetting he scored a number of top 10-hits with Diamonds and Pearls in the US, while The most beautifull girl in the world was his biggest hit to date in many european countries) or act ridicolous (he looks 'gay', so he is shit!), the positive reactions are in the majority. Some people seem even surprised that Prince can 'rock' and 'torture his guitar'.

Next to the big increase in sales on the charts of his best-of collections, these kind of reactions seem to express that A LOT more people have respect for Prince as a musician, then the relatively small incrowd on sites like Prince.org. It seems Prince finally is getting the respect he deserves, and thats a very good thing i think.

When i was him, i would immediately release a new album around this time, to take advantage of this positive momentum.