I just heard the Bria Valente tune on the new site. Nice, but, I really don't get what he hears in her voice. This is what he compares to Sade? He's straight trippin'. I mean, she can sing better than your average Paisley Park regular, but, her voice is not on par with Sade, as he kind of stated in the interview.

This is a rhetorical question, but why does he choose female singers with sub-par skills? Tamar, thus far, has probably been the most talented, vocally.

I have started listening to Tricky's old stuff recently, and I think that Prince would sound great doing something with Martina Topley-Bird. I think these run-of-the-mill singers just makes it seem like your looks are more important than your vocal skills.

Just a thought.

It is definitely strange. Maybe he just likes girls who will acquiesce to his every suggestion, and they just happen to sometimes not have the best voices because he values the former quality higher than the latter.

Bria's song is BORING. It's the same formulaic seduction song we've heard from any random adult contemporary singer. This is the kind of song a middle aged person takes a bath to.
[Edited 1/11/09 14:01pm]

BlackandRising said:

x 1000


BandR I honestly believed that after Tamar and the success of 3121 concerts Prince might want to make a few dollars outside of Prince world and he would release a Marva or ShelbyJ album.... im dissapointed but not at all surprised that Bria gets an album and they dont.

At least Bria can sing although both ShelbJ & Marva contain more of Sade's husky vocal quality than Bria

PurpleKnight said:

BINGO!

BlackandRising said:

I felt the same way when I read that comparison. Nothing about her voice is comparable to Sade's, unless he was only referring to the instrumentation and arrangement of his background vocals on the album, which are similar to some of Sade's tracks I guess.

And I agree, Tamar was a much better artist and overall investment.

In the songs I've heard so far, Bria's voice kind of annoys me honestly, as it reminds me of Paris Hilton singing. They're not awful, but they have musical albums 'cause they can, not 'cause they deserve it....http://www.youtube.com/wa...re=related. Prince makes nepotism look fair and acceptable, LOL. If Bria was his sister, at least I'd be able to say, "Well, she's in his family. " LOL.

WaterInYourBath said:

I just watched that video, and is that my hottie boyfriend Adam Beach at 47 second mark??

WaterInYourBath said:

Omg, ur right. They both have a very similar sound. Though to give b some cred she is a bit better. She sounds like Paris Hilton if Paris Hilton could actually sing, which still isn't saying very much.
[Edited 1/11/09 16:16pm]

BlackandRising said:

I don't think he was comparing her to Sade, just saying that he wanted to produce something slow and relaxing a melodic like Sade's music.

PurpleKnight said:

There's nothing strange about it. Many of his proteges he doesn't meet as "singers". He meets them as regular people first and tries to bring out their voices if they have one. His meeting Bria isn't like his grooming of Tamar or any of the other proteges that were singers before meeting him.

JOYJOY said:

I'm pretty sure from all the random things P said during the concerts with Shelby like "yall wanna hear a Shelby album right?" and stuff like that that he is working with her.

And Marva just dropped her last album last year, she knows how to produce. It'd be great to hear P input on her next album but honestly, he's given her more by teaching her how to become self-sufficient in this industry than he would by producing an album for her once and letting her go. I have a feeling this is also what he's pushing for in Shelby. Teaching her the ropes, and letting her develop a sustainable successful career in a rough industry that pays more attention to American Idol than talented innovating grassroot musicians and artists.

Bria is a Prince-girl and that's why she doesn't have to have the greatest voice or talent.
It looks to me like she is being molded into a future Prince wife. She became a Jehovah's Witness after she started hanging out with Prince, she wears flats when she's with him in public and they wear color coordinated clothes when they go to a game together. According to the recent interview Bria also lives down the street from Prince's place. How convenient!
Prince seems to be the only man at her side whenever she is seen anywhere in public.
If she would be just a friend or business partner she wouldn't go through all the trouble. I read somewhere here on the org that she hasn't had sex in 3 years. Looks to me like somebody wants to purify herself for Prince. (Obviously it isn't good enough anymore for a girl to jump into Lake Minnetonka to be purified enough for Prince)
Looks to me like Prince is at it again and dominating the relationship as usual. Hopefully with better luck this time and the girl doesn't get tired of his shenanigans.

And where is 'Love' in all this?... It all seems so calculated...

GiGi319 said:

Martina topley-Bord's last album was produced by dangermouse and was pretty damn good. But as already mentioned, I get the impression that she is someone to opinionated and independent to allow herself to have her every move sculpted and molded by Prince.

Beverley Knight would probably agree though...

It seems like he did accustomed to a certain female vocal style he used as an element of his own songs during the early years of his career - either as backing vocals or as sung by rather "suggestive" vocalists as Vanity and such. And to this day it seems to work a little bit better in the context of his own songwriting style .It was great to hear the Wendy & Lisa vocals on "Planet Earth". They augment his music better than what you would usually hear coming out of the lungs of Rosie, Bonnie or even Chaka - both styles can work of course if the song is good. Prince's own voice just usually gets drowned out very effectively in the mix if the backing vocals are more melismatic / powerful than his.

Bria can sing from what we've heard so far - it's just closer to the way his 80s protegées sounded than, well, Chaka. I don't know why to some people the "female" -part of the concept of "female vocalist" essentially would have to denote an unnatural, overtly-dramatic style of delivery when males are allowed far much more slack in the sense of restraint. Technically speaking, Bria is a more "skilled" singer than Prince himself is, really.

Martina could work in the context of his music, but just like the question is rhetorical the chances of these two individual crossing their paths in the "real world" in the sense a collaboration would be possible are also rather slim.

....
[Edited 1/12/09 10:57am]

lezama said:

That's the part I've never understood. Why do that? Why present a conflict of interest to the public, meaning why make albums for women he is interested in for reasons besides musical talent, and yet create problems/challenges for the ones who are actual legitimate skilled artists? Hypothetically speaking, why attempt to "bring out" the voice in a random woman he likes to look at that has never sung before, when he has another woman (or man) desiring his help that's been singing or playing well for years?

lezama said:

Maybe Price does get deaf instead of blind when falling in love with a woman...

Vanity45 said:

phunkymunky said:

I was listening to some of Tricky's old stuff, and came to the conclusion that Martina was a very important factor in his success. His first two efforts just wouldn't have been the same without her vocals. So I decided to see if she came out with anything else, and lo and behold, I found "The Blue God", and you're right, it's pretty damn good!! Then I started thinking how artistically outstanding it would be to hear someone like her do something with Prince, instead of these love interests that are doomed to fail, as they connect with no one but him. I wouldn't want to see her produced by him, but more of a collaborative effort that highlighted both of them, so to speak.

BlackandRising said:

I think you're right - it would have to be more of a partnership than having Prince write all the songs and dictate how they should be sung etc.