Who thinks Prince needs to be making music in the spirit of todays artist, like ga ga and others. Hard fun dance music. Think of Beyonce and single ladies, songs like that. I think he should make his spin on these style.... maybe even collaborate with Lil Wayne? though I would be wary of that mix.

Maybe he would even have something on the radio if he did.... hmm.

hollywooddove said:

It is interesting that you think what these artists are doing is "modern". Most of them are biting the 80's (looks and sounds) so hard that their mouths taste like acid wash jeans....



There are dozens of Prince songs from 1995 onwards that could have been hit singles. "Black Sweat", for example.

Prince isn't on the radio because of the pay to get played format. Tons of people stand to make money off of Beyonce and Gaga getting airplay/exposure. Prince has set it up so only he really gets payed from his music. Thus, no more chart topping singles.
[Edited 4/28/10 8:38am]

Prince should never lose sight of what makes him Prince and completely turn over to any given style. If he were to dip his toes into some modern styles he'd be better off doing so under someone else's direction (at least partially) and we know that will never happen. It is his inability to co-create IMO that has kept him from being considered "current" a lot of times. Or why some of his attempts have fallen flat and not fully crossed over into the genre he might have been trying out (RAP ).

Also his choice of release material. For me, most recently he came VERY close to being current with "$". Had he released that, with a great black and white old-style video it would've appealed to the audience that eats up acts like Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and Amy Wino.

But I repeat: Prince should never lose sight of what makes him Prince and completely turn over to any given style.

hollywooddove said:

But he already conquered dance music in his time! Plus while I do like "Single Ladies" a lot, I still haven't heard a Ga Ga song who's arrangement intrigues me. I need to check out her whole album.

hollywooddove said:

johnart said:

Turn down the video volume, turn up $...

MPLSoUND is modern and, fortunately, doesn't dumb down to the examples you're giving.

In other, already said words....It's the new MPLSoUND. Its modern PRINCE.

Taking it further, you could say he's always been modern. He's always dishing out something modern (at that moment in time) but, just not in sync with the shit you hear everywhere, brainwashing you.

So, looking at it like that, i don't get your question. What's not modern? The fact he uses real instruments? Does that make him dated....good god, i bet that's thought to be true among today's casuals.....

Genesia said:

johnart said:

He should hire us.

Genesia said:

We'd be fired within first half hour and it would have nothing to do with the quality of our work.

hollywooddove said:

Double Yikes!!
I like the idea of a man continuing to grow as an artist, but what is being described is not modern, but Prince continuing his 90's pandering to the lowest common denominator in kid friendly pop-dance music.
You are painting modern in a very tightly narrow and focused myopic view. Gaga and beyonce fit a almost retro pop dance sound that has been done to death for the last 20 years now.


If anyone looks at the recent Spin magazine best music of the last 25 years or any "Best of" list for that matter, you will notice that most of the music people consider the "best" is never the pandered overtly commercial music of Maddona/Brittney, MJ/Justin Timberlake but by artists like Prince, Radiohead, U2 when they did their own thing instead of trying to be like gaga or beyonce or whomever.

I do like gaga, I think she is doing some gutsy things. For some reason she reminds me of vodka and and cotton candy.
[Edited 4/28/10 10:45am]

hollywooddove said:

the only thing i'd be very interested in hearing prince do is
folk music. not just plucking a guitar singer/songwriter style
but folktronica. folk songs with elements of electro and glitch
all sorts of cool experimentation. but everything built around
a dozen or so songs with very strong and beautiful melodies or
songs that are so far out they rival any psychedelic shit in
his mid 80s output.



anything too modern or dancy or 'rounded/commercial' will just
be another let down.

Prince is modern.

If Prince started to copy Lady Gaga, or (god forbid) Justin Timberlake or anyone else then he should retire. And I doubt he will ever let anyone else ever produce his music.

Prince is fine the way he is.

Good music is timeless. 90% of modern music doesn't get played for more than a few years. On the radio it's always older stuff except your dance stations.

I don't consider Prince's music un-modern but I don't see 20 year olds grooving to an older artist even if they released something "modern." No matter how good the artist. Unless it was a dance track under an alias.

The youth are full of hormones and want something new something like them so there will always be these new artists on the scene. But I seriously doubt Lady Gaga is gonna be around making records in 20 years, or 10 years for that matter.

I would be happy if he realized it was 2010 and NOT 1984 and just make music he likes not try to recapture the purple rain magic.

I think he should be modern, but not modern top 40

hollywooddove said:

No way, no way...Prince chasing trends with drum
machines etc is exactly why he's gone downhill in my eyes - Lotusflower is back to proper instruments and I like it

MPLSOUND

Collaborate with Lil Wayne - WTF!? You've got to be kidding me. I'd rather listen to nails scrapping down a chalkboard than the mess that would be.

I believe that Prince should keep doing what he's doing. His chances of having a huge hit again are slim, but he's a master musician and that's all I need to get my groove on.

Lil Wayne - that's just fu*cked up.

imo "lotusflower", the title disc, sounds more fresh and modern
than most played out, worn out trend chasing songs on the radio
anyway.

i like it when he's relaxed and doing great studio work with a
good vibe.

mplsound, to me, sounds more dated than lotusflower. perhaps it
is due to the linn samples or whatnot. but it seems a bit too
much or something. lotusflower is more relaxed and flows well.

RedKite said:

Exactly. Speaking of "copy", .if anything, both Gaga and Timberlake, , copied some of his style; and forget about Lil Wayne..that's a minstrel act all by itself.
[Edited 4/28/10 13:22pm]

IstenSzek said:

like Wasted Kisses? Or Here?

imo, i think it would be the best for him to go modern. To alot of us who r big prince fans believe that mpls sound is modern. unfortunantly thats not modern. It is a return to what princes own sound but does not live up todays "modern style". However, there are songs that have drum beats that kind of pay tribute to prince and i think if prince was to collaborate with a modern artist, use a sick beat, and sum purple magic then i think he could pull it off. Im 15 and listen to alot of todays stuff, and i truly think that a good way to make a impact on the younger aduience is to do something like that.

And i aint talkin about just a one song hit n run kinda ordeal like madonna did with justin on 4minutes. im talkin a cd or just appearing on different cds. Yeah it probably wont happen..but its just one step closer to getting his purple shit together.

Hell, sellout songs like "Mr. Goodnight", "Incense and Candles", and damn near the entire "MPLShit" album are very close to what you are considering "modern" music and are the very reason why for the first time, the next Prince album that is released, I will not be buying it until I hear song samples first. I despise what's considered "modern" music these days and don't support anyone that sells out to it, and that includes Prince also.

hollywooddove said:

Sounds horrific.

Maybe I'm retarded, but I thought Prince was modern. He has kept up with the times, keeps putting out music and SOMEONE is buying it.

purpledoveuk said:

EH? He started with drum machines and most of the tracks the many people round here and elsewhere would say are his best were also done with drum machines and supposedly "unreal" instruments!! What are these supposedly not "proper instruments" anyway? Isn't an instrument anything that is used to produce music?

johnart said:

let's not forget that Prince *has* had collaborators that amounted to "co-producers" in the past. Wendy & Lisa took his work to foreign realms for him. Levi took him more retro. Ricky Peterson gave him a glam sparkle and sheen. And Kirky J gave him a contemporary plastic r&b sound.

But they were all "in-house". I'm truly ambivalent about the prospect of hearing him collaborate, production-wise, with an outside entity. I'd be interested in hearing it. But I think a little bit of what makes Prince Prince will have died. It may the great greatest work he's done in decades, and I'm all for that, but still... something just wouldn't be the same. As much as some of the shine has come off his musical legacy in the last 15 years, I think that would be a true chink in the armor.

I think Prince should do what ever he wants musically. I think he's earned that right.