I used to prefer non-sexy music over sexy music, but honestly, some of his best work ever came out of being inspired by spirituality and sexuality, and sometimes intertwined. Temptation is a great example, and so relatable. There's nothing wrong with slipping it in time to time and being clever with it, that's what being an artist is about.

alphastreet said:

hollywooddove said:

Does prince have to be dirty in order to write good music?

He fought so hard for freedom, and now he seems to censor himself. This binding of expression seems to have bled into the music itself. What do y'all think?

I don't think P has to write down right sexually explicit lyrics to showcase 'good music' or lyrics. The music is always good and the lyrics should be thought provoking and something you can discuss with like-minded fam / fans / enthusiast. I like suggestively sexual lyrics

I think he just grew up and life experiences changed his views and what he wanted to write about.

PurpleLove7 said:

AnaisKarim said:

alphastreet said:

Music or lyrics?

No, but he does if he wants to be popular. He's not the first celebrity to get born again and fall off.

Graycap23 said:

hollywooddove said:

He fought so hard for freedom, and now he seems to censor himself. This binding of expression seems to have bled into the music itself. What do y'all think?

No, I don't think he has to be dirty at all. Although, I do believe he has to stop censoring himself and stop with all the religious undertones. It gets stale rather quickly.

hollywooddove said:

HonestMan13 said:

I wonder sometimes if people have to have Prince be dirty for them to dig the music. I dig both styles and music from across his entire career. Sometimes it'd be cool to hear a dirty track again but it's not really a deal breaker. I still think he writes dirty but it's not so overt as it was in his youth(Elixer comes to mind). Good music is still good music regardless of the topic being sung about.

That's well said, that maybe a perception of the music from the listener is less liked simply because he isn't using dirty words. Is that sort of what you are driving at? It's an interesting concept if it us.

I see it when I'm at the live shows. If he's a little provocative then everyone goes crazy! When he performed 'Gingerbread Man' at MSG the crowd couldn't get enough. The innuendo was what they wanted.

Emancipation89 said:

No one's claiming he's not inspired by anything sexual or he's not singing about that anymore. What I'm saying is I believe it was bigger influence on him back in the day than now. Songs like Lolita, Chocolate Box, Sticky like Glue, Incense and Candles etc. from recent albums aren't as wild as Darling Nikki, Scandalous, Come, Head, Gett Off, P control, Face Down...etc. You can't possibly say he's censoring nasty women's moaning or intentionally changing lyrics from girl who's masturbating to praying. I mean can you imagine him doing another track like Orgasm lol?

I think you're proving my point. He's singing about the exact same things today. He isn't as *wild* with it, but it's the exact same topic. So, how is it less of an influence?

If he were singing about other topics to a greater degree or at a more mature level, you might have something - but he's not.

jtfolden said:

Emancipation89 said:

No one's claiming he's not inspired by anything sexual or he's not singing about that anymore. What I'm saying is I believe it was bigger influence on him back in the day than now. Songs like Lolita, Chocolate Box, Sticky like Glue, Incense and Candles etc. from recent albums aren't as wild as Darling Nikki, Scandalous, Come, Head, Gett Off, P control, Face Down...etc. You can't possibly say he's censoring nasty women's moaning or intentionally changing lyrics from girl who's masturbating to praying. I mean can you imagine him doing another track like Orgasm lol?

I think you're proving my point. He's singing about the exact same things today. He isn't as *wild* with it, but it's the exact same topic. So, how is it less of an influence?

If he were singing about other topics to a greater degree or at a more mature level, you might have something - but he's not.

Well, to me at least, the fact that he isn't exactly wild with it, tells me that he's not as passionate as he used to be with the subject. The songs I mentioned from recent years are more like "let's have fun" silly songs that all the other singers do. It's not very easy to explain but I feel as if we don't get songs like Scandalous Come Power Fantastic Darling Nikki - those very sensual, wild, controversial, let-it-all-happen-songs that can only be made and sung by Prince anymore.

[Edited 11/13/11 21:45pm]

Graycap23 said:

Music or lyrics?

This is a duplicate do to software issues!!!!!!

[Edited 11/13/11 23:13pm]

Graycap23 said:

Music or lyrics?

I like his music dirty his lyrics can go either way. Although sometimes I think sensuality and spirituality are his best muse.

hollywooddove said:

He fought so hard for freedom, and now he seems to censor himself. This binding of expression seems to have bled into the music itself. What do y'all think?

No.....just free of religious SHACKLES.

Graycap23 said:

hollywooddove said:

He fought so hard for freedom, and now he seems to censor himself. This binding of expression seems to have bled into the music itself. What do y'all think?

No.....just free of religious SHACKLES.

or, embrace a religious dogma which promotes the concept of sacred sex. tantric buddhism, for example.

Emancipation89 said:

Well, to me at least, the fact that he isn't exactly wild with it, tells me that he's not as passionate as he used to be with the subject. The songs I mentioned from recent years are more like "let's have fun" silly songs that all the other singers do.

The majority of Prince's music is of the "let's have fun" variety. That's more or less all that anyone remembers him for at this point (1999, Delerious, Let's Go Crazy, etc...). One could argue that his "filthiest" album, Dirty Mind, is also a "Let's have fun" record. Heck, "Jack U Off" encompasses silly, sexy and a "let's have fun" attitude all in a single song.

The fact that he's less explicit doesn't mean he's less passionate - it only means he's less explicit.... and it is Prince himself who has made it clear that he's intentionally chosen to refrain from saying or singing certain things.

He's stil the same person, he's just not letting it flow as freely as he used to do.

It's not very easy to explain but I feel as if we don't get songs like Scandalous Come Power Fantastic Darling Nikki - those very sensual, wild, controversial, let-it-all-happen-songs that can only be made and sung by Prince anymore.

[Edited 11/13/11 21:45pm]

That seems like a mixed bag of songs. I feel like we've gotten almost nothing but variations of Scandalous for the last 20 years... Even his, supposedly, most religious album (TRC) couldn't refrain from talking about things like female masturbation:

"anything to get you wet...

Can I sing 2 u while u bring urself 2 joy?
I'll go slow at first, while u quench ur thirst
Wet circles round the toy

While u bring urself 2 joy"

It may not be as explicit but it's just as filthy as ever...

I have read many of the post that affirm that Prince has a certain muse in sexuality. I think this is stating the obvious that we all know already, as we are all Prince followers. And I think that most of the post agree that Prince is well capable of good music, no matter his inspiration. I feel that some of the post do tend to sway that Prince, even though he is still writing about sexual encounters and desires, has certainly watered down his expression of those ideas through a new found system of values and beliefs that restrict the freedom of those expressions, or maybe have freed them in a new direction.

I think one has noted that the removal of the dirty words in these expressions may have altered our perception of the music as a whole.

For your consideration, Tiger Woods. Since his sex scandal, and since he has cleaned up his act afterwards, his games have been terrible. Does anyone here think that this sort of applies to Prince too?

In others words, when you start placing restrictions on a man's muse, even when the man does it himself, has he lost his swing? Prince's swing, being his music, of course.

Aphrodite/Venus was always a good muse, she co-wrote with him some of his best 80s/early 90s songs

it's so sad he betrayed her in 2001...

and the music suffered, at least until 3121, where he partially worked with Aphrodite again (Black Sweat, I&C, Satisfied)

He built his career off dirty innuendo, why stop now?

alphastreet said:

I used to prefer non-sexy music over sexy music, but honestly, some of his best work ever came out of being inspired by spirituality and sexuality, and sometimes intertwined. Temptation is a great example, and so relatable. There's nothing wrong with slipping it in time to time and being clever with it, that's what being an artist is about.

His spiritual lyrics interest me more than his sexual ones. However, as alphastreet has said, spirituality and sexuality go frequently together in his lyrics.

It saddens me that many people, even critics, consider Prince only as a sex-obsessed musician. His lyrics are richer than that.

bobbyperu said:

Dirty Mind wasn't just about sex, it was about freedom.

Nah, it was just about sex. The freedom etc. vibe is just a myth.

rdhull said:

bobbyperu said:

Dirty Mind wasn't just about sex, it was about freedom.

Nah, it was just about sex. The freedom etc. vibe is just a myth.

Uptown/Partup

Vict0r said:

rdhull said:

Nah, it was just about sex. The freedom etc. vibe is just a myth.

Uptown/Partup

a lie

rdhull said:

bobbyperu said:

Dirty Mind wasn't just about sex, it was about freedom.

Nah, it was just about sex. The freedom etc. vibe is just a myth.

I always thought When You Were mine was about having a sleepover and no clean linens for your guests!

I don't think so.

Some of his best song writing did have 'dirty' subjects. But then again, some of his 90s songs (e.g. Hot Wit U ) are terrible, and they sound terrible too.

I just feel that his earlier song writing had more passion in it than it does now, there are exceptions, but I feel that now, he's just writing for the sake of writing a song, and before, he wrote because he had that urge, the drive, to write. You could say that he expressed himself through his lyrics.

Just my opinion.