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Artificial Age: We Are One (Prince's Awakening) - A personal reading of the album and what it means
I very much doubt anyone is going to read this so i'll try to give a brief summary:
1. This album marks the most significant point in Prince's personal/spiritual evolution since Larry Graham and TRC. 2. Roughly half the tracks relate in some way to Prince's 'Awakening' i.e. realisation of various esoteric truths. These are: Art Official Cage Clouds Breakdown U Know affirmation I & II Way Back Home affirmation III The other half do not: The Gold Standard Breakfast Can Wait This Could Be Us What It Feels Like Funknroll Time 3. I have zero interest in the latter songs and wouldn't be surprised if more Awakening songs had been swapped out for various reasons. 4. Despite the Awakening songs being deeply personal and spiritual, there is not one single reference to any god or prophet or anything at all to do with any monotheistic religion Prince may or may not subscribe to. - I really don't know where to start to talk about this because some of this music and surrounding activity has appeared so synchronistically in my life. I understood straight away that 3rd Eye Girl referred to the pineal gland and if I remember correctly it was one of the girls who turned Prince on to this esoteric information. But even though I was discovering many things along these lines for myself at the same time I didn't pay much attention because Prince has alienated me so much in the last ten years with his scattergun promotional activities and total failure to touch base with his most loyal fans. None of the several singles from both new albums interested me enough to even listen to it on day one. Then the Prince Facebook page posted Way Back Home on Youtube and it took my breath away. As he says in the song he was 'born alive' and in other words has always been aware that there's something fundamentally very wrong with our human world and that there's far more to reality than we're being encouraged to know. As a result he's always gone flying in one direction or another after spiritual truths and answers, often affirming beliefs and points of view in word or song he would seemingly go back on down the road. I still have the NPGMC calendar on my wall with the faint text in the background teaching/preaching about, among other things, the supposed etymology of words like 'contract.' (Apparently the clue is in the prefix Prince made up: con-tract. I assume he didn't care that it derives from Latin and actually means 'come together' as opposed to 'a piece of paper conning you out of owning your master tapes.' But, like so many people, it seems that it's only because of the huge explosion of shared esoteric information on the internet in the past few years over social media and blogs that he's started to find real answers to the undefined questions he's probably had inside him his whole life. In response to 4,000 questions asked by fans on Facebook Prince answered only one. It was about the elite having made sure all of our recorded music would dis-harmoniously be tuned away from the optimal 432hz frequency. He posted a link to an article on Collective Evolution, one of the big Awakening sites. Between that and Way Back Home I suddenly realised he's on the same path as me at the same time. He probably bemused, confused and alienated the vast majority of the people who tuned in to his Facebook Q&A but for the first time in a decade I felt he was talking to me again and not worrying about how much money a tabloid would give him for an average album. If the NPGMC was still open right now i'd want to go and sit by the Reflection pool and catch up with an old friend. I read a couple of the major reviews before listening to the album or Way Back Home and was amazed by how they completely missed some pretty big hints (or maybe I shouldn't be surprised at all). His new band is called 3rd Eye Girl and on the cover of his new solo album he has an extra lens in his glasses indicating his 3rd Eye i.e. pineal gland is open and reflected in his glasses is The Universe. I haven't been paying attention until now but knowing Prince, i'm guessing that there will have been other clues in the previous months either in promotional material, stage banter, tweets and the like. Incredibly, some of the reviews didn't even seem to get the classic, hokey Prince word-play of Art Official Age/artificial age despite the latter being sung repeatedly. Some instead decided he was dealing with ageing and mortality despite not one lyric even alluding to an issue with his age and to the contrary he's as virile and vocally youthful on this as anything he's attempted in his post-zeitgeist era of 1995 onwards. So now, having listened to it several times, i'm partly ecstatic to feel like i'm back in touch with one of my favourite people in the world and somewhat disappointed that what might have been the most gloriously beautiful concept album about Awakening is, in part, a vehicle for some really dull middle-of-the-road, latterday forgettable Prince songs that have bugger all to do lyrically with the high concepts he frames them with. In other words, this is like The Rainbow children with 2/3 of the album replaced with stuff like Mr.Goodnight. Anyway, exactly a year ago I awoke with a jolt to restart a journey of Awakening I left behind exactly a decade ago and forgot about as I became more and more lost in a sea of addiction, depression, self-loathing and a reductionist, materialistic world view. It feels really awesome that exactly a year later this whopping great synchronistic signpost is telling me i'm on the right track and so is one of my earliest mentors. Now for the songs. Art Official Cage This is an awesome opener and a pretty explicit statement of intent if not for the album then for Prince as a person. Love the sound, love the production and I think it's 3rdEye Hannah's husband who had a hand in it as Prince allowed someone else to produce an album for him for the first time ever. Open this cage! Come on, let's go Free the people! Basically, Prince is being Neo. I woke up in the city in a bit of a rage Determined 2 free my mind from this art official cage Another play on the title: the 'official' art, the promoted art, the mainstream art, the inverted-esoteric-symbol-drenched music videos and films of the Rihannas and Jay Z's form a cage around peoples' minds from which Prince would like to free them. Got my future stock from an early age A place in heaven far off in the future Partly another way of saying 'I was born alive' (a lyric that comes later): he knew something was up when he was young. There's more to it depending on what his idea of heaven is these days. He might mean Earth in the future after mass-Awakening and spiritual evolution or he might mean wherever he's going after he dies. I sincerely hope he's no longer referring to New Translation ideas about heaven. Ghettos 2 the left of me, malls 2 the right Why's my kingdom come only in prayers at night? What should I expect if I'm not willing 2 fight? I'm glad he knows we've got a fight on our hands. I wonder if he saw Russel Brand demolishing Paxman and calling for a revolution. Startin' from the top, gettin' higher so Never goin' back underwater, no I could be completely wrong but that seems like a direct reference to Neo coming out of his pod. I'm goin' up Lady Liberty's dress and blow, blow, blow I think that's a pretty cute way of saying that the masters of the supposed land of the free need to be embarrassed and shown for who and what they really are. Clouds Love, love, love this. A perfect second track. To me this is a blueprint for what the bulk of this potential concept album could have been as opposed to the filler to come. It mixes great melodies and production and relateable, classic frisky-Prince lyrics with deeper references and a continuation of the overall arc. It's a perfect mix of the personal and political. The first verse is just Prince and his girl in the shower and it's as cool and breezy as classic Prince. He's slowing down, taking time to show his lady some imaginative attention. Next verse he qualifies this by saying: In this brand new age we do everything Quick, fast, in a hurry All of our life's a stage Everybody stars, reality so blurry If you scream out loud, loud Top of your voice be higher than the crowd (no) Tattoo-less and proud, yeah We'll get to something higher that doesn't require clouds No, we don't need no clouds, no This is great stuff; so many ideas packed into so few words. Everyone's life is a stage from the E, F, G and Z list 'celebrities' who claw to get on the most banal reality shows on channel 152 to us lowly folk who splash our whole lives across Facebook, Instagram, Twatter and Snapchat. We all star in this slurry but is any of it real? His statement that screaming louder wont make you heard over the crowd makes me think of what Bono just said about the poorly received U2-album-giveaway: "I'm sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing: [a] drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard. There's a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it." When Prince says 'we don't need clouds' I take it to literally mean that he doesn't want all of his personal data hosted on a remote server that the elite can browse at their leisure and hold against him should they ever wish to. And since he wrote those lyrics we now know that thousands of people have had their personal pictures and info hacked from Apple's Cloud, I agree, Prince: we don't need no cloud. [Edit] And now thousands of teens have had their nude photos hacked from servers through a Snapchat security issue and we also know that instead of using services like Dropbox you might as well take out the middle-man and mail your hard drive straight to the NSA. Repeat verse one, Prince is still frisky. I love it. Anyone could just groove to this, it could work on the radio: he's found the perfect balance lyrically and sonically to basically sneak his message in. I'm gonna give you something baby But I wonder does it really even matter if it ain't on a stage If it ain't on a stage I don't really think it matters in this brand new age I take this in part to mean that new/recorded music is so undervalued that he can give away his music to us in a tabloid (twice) and nobody even cares. But yet the masses will come to see him perform live. When he gave away Planet Earth in 2007 I wonder if had he played the album in full at his 21 Nights At The O2 if they would have sang along having been given the music for free. When life's a stage, in this brand new age How do we engage? Bullying just for fun No wonder there's so many guns Maybe we're better off in space Indeed, where is the real human interaction and personal growth in all of this social media and reality-obsessed 'culture'?. Someone recently said to me that when she was at school years ago she was bullied but when she went home she could forget about it and disappear into a book. But today, her daughter comes home and is tormented online. Girls have taken photos of her in the toilet and getting changed then posted them on Facebook. Mr. Nelson, Mr. Nelson, can you hear my voice? Sir, we know you're a little bit groggy And you're probably going to find it hard to speak But don't try to talk or process too much now We just want to let you know that the medication you were given Has put you in a suspended animation for quite some time Well, in fact, about 45 years But where you are now Is a place that does not require time That being said, you are completely safe And we are here to help you Personally, I think that Prince will very likely live to 100 anyway and if he does ever try suspended animation he might want to try a little further into the future because we ain't gonna be out of this clusterfuck quite so soon, I fear. I don't want to read too much into this and probably get it wrong but I wonder if the 'place in heaven far off in the future' is really only 45 years away and Prince thinks he's going to wake up into a spiritually evolved community. Breakdown This is a lovely song but I don't understand it at all: it seems to be a complete contradiction. Listen to me closely as the story unfolds This could be the saddest story even been told I'm going to try my best, sir! I used to want the house with the biggest pool I've been missing out I just feel like a fool This makes perfect sense with what has come before. Prince is waking up and throwing off the shackles of materialism and consumerism. We could even imagine he's literally waking up in 45 year's time in a new spiritual age and realising this. Keep breaking me down, down, down Initially this seems to imply that what's being broken down is all this materialism crap; the personal Matrix. The second verse seems to confirm this: I used to throw a party every New Year's Eve First one intoxicated, last one to leave Waking up in places that you would never believe Give me back the time, you can keep the memories Man, can I ever relate to that, and to waking up from doing that crap. What's interesting here is that he expressed similar sentiments in The Holy River where, at the time, he credited Mayte with being the inspiration for his salvation. On first listen I thought Breakdown was striking because this time he's not crediting a woman and potentially suggesting that this new Awakening is authentic and personal. And yet in the bridge he brings in female inspiration: Every book I've read said that I would meet somebody like you Whenever I was sorry, so sorry for the things I used to do A journal full of numbers that I used to go through (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) all behind me now, all because of you What the numbers represent will never be known to us but the important thing is we now know he's apparently met yet another muse and saviour and she is apparently as important to his current Awakening as Mayte was at the time to his salvation from being the miserable, horrible, angry, boozing, womanizing person he was in the 80s and early 90s. This is disappointing to me. And it begs the question: just what actually is this Breakdown he keeps referring to if it's not a positive breakdown of materialistic shackles? You keep breaking me, you keep breaking me down I don't wanna walk out Don't wanna go down, down, down Out of nowhere his new muse is breaking him down to the point that he wants to walk out before he goes down any further. He's not telling this story very well. See there's a door that you can walk through Where there used to be a wall I don't care, it's cool as long as you catch me baby (Catch me when I fall) If there's ever a fall Closer to the breakdown, the closer we get When he and Mayte drifted apart he said how there is this story-painting on the wall at Paisley with he and Mayte together at the end and after they split he realised that next to the end of the painting was a door. But what he means by saying those lines to his girl as he's thinking about walking out himself, I don't know. And why would she be catching him if one or both of them have walked out? Beautiful melody, beautiful music and stunning, pristine screaming falsetto but i'm marking him down for lyrics that begin strong and devolve into a clusterfuck. The Gold Standard What the crap is this doing here? Is this supposed to be a joke? The only thing worth mentioning is that when Prince posted the link to the Collective Evolution article about converting our music to 433hz the only comment he made was 'The Gold Standard.' If I ever decide to spend a year or two converting my entire iTunes library I wont waste my time converting this tripe. I mean, really?!!! If he was going to throw in a random uptempo track that lyrically and sonically has nothing to do with the previous 3 tracks and takes you completely out of the journey he's just drawn you in to then it could at least have been a decent jam. A big part of me thinks he probably did make the whole, beautiful, amazing Awakening record but decided we're not ready for half the songs (just like we're still not ready for all the vault stuff) and he swapped them out last minute for some tat he splooged out in half an hour. The lyrics are such utter gibberish that none of the main lyric sites have bothered to finish or correct them leaving in trolling entries like 'ebola' and 'dunnwoody.' U Know This is just plain odd. The first verse seems to be about some kind of love triangle with an ugly melody and a female voice repeatedly going 'uh huh' in the background. I don't like it and I don't get it. It has a feeling of deep unease and the reason why becomes clear. The second verse stealthily drops in this 411 out of left field: If you really wanna find the answer to this cancer Then we must rewind Then never mind the first opinion (You better ask somebody else) To run this game requires fame, your soul and name And nothing gained unless it's sacrificed my dear It's only plain for this dominion And any question of the deal is met with another demand To kneel and reprimand concealed allegations of your sinning, sinning (Uhh, what's that all about?) That's why I'm, I'm Feminine rising, not surprising Recognizing that the power of the breasts is just a test That you'll be winning, winning (You got this, baby) I mean, bloody hell. Ok, like many people who are waking up, Prince has found out that cancer is completely curable, even stage 4, and that over the last century anyone who has proved this has either been murdered, ostracised or deemed a 'quack'. Prince basically says 'never mind what your western medic says: ask somebody else who knows about nutrition and real health.' The next part is slightly more opaque but i'll take a stab at it. Translation: For the elite to run the world and/or for you to be allowed in the club with Jay Z and Rihanna and permitted to be fully promoted and given a world platform to stand on you're going to have to hand over your soul and name. You wont get that level of fame without making some fundamental sacrifices. It's an obvious and necessary bargain that has to be made if you want entry into this dominion, this control system. If you question the deal then you will have to kneel and acknowledge that they already have dirt on you so you better get in line. From his comment 'Uh, what's that all about?' we can assume the obvious: the door was opened to Prince and he didn't walk through and that whatever dirt they had on him was insignificant enough for him to scoff at it. The meaning of the final lines eludes me, except perhaps that the deal being offered is of a negative, male energy which is why Prince is feminine rising and as he says, not exactly news to us. If U Know what i'm talking about, then U Know. We know there are mid-level hip-hop artists who have been shown the door and refused to walk through. We know there are people who have tried to speak out and have been subsequently terrorised or conveniently committed suicide. An educated guess tells us that Prince and Michael Jackson said no and Madonna said yes. Madonna ended up on MTV giving tongue to Britney and Christina who would go on to star in countless videos drenched in satanic imagery and corrupted esoteric symbology. Michael ended up dead on the eve of a residency that would have seen him free of debt and delivering a message of love, unity, peace and '3 years to save the planet from climate chaos' on a platform arguably bigger and wider-reaching than could be achieved by any other person in the world. (Incidentally, after posting multiple drawings of various esoteric symbols, claiming to have finally figured out who 'they' are in her father's 'They Don't Care About Us,' posting about secret societies and generally rebelling against members of the controlling, money-grubbing Jackson clan, Paris Jackson was locked away in a treatment facility after a suicide attempt that the family called 'a cry for attention' and hasn't been seen on social media in the 16 months since. Her requests to leave the clan and live with her mother have been refused). And whilst Prince is quietly rattling the cage with his subversive anti-gun slogans on award shows, Awakening lyrics and symbology, he can barely sell a record and has an ageing fanbase of predominantly 35 and above. Ok, that's enough U Know. You either know or you don't. Breakfast Can Wait This has zilch to do with the aborted theme. It's about getting frisky in the morning. And it was first released A YEAR AND EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO and in my opinion has no business here. It's a cool little jam but not next to Clouds and Art Official Cage or the heaviness Prince just dropped on us. Give it away in a tabloid. This Could Be Us The tune he wrote after seeing a meme of him and Appolonia on the bike in Purple Rain. Pretty forgettable melody and lyrics. Another song about a girl that doesn't stack up against his best. Apart from references to metaphysical and mystical sex, there's nothing of interest here. What It Feels Like This is even weaker and more forgettable than the above. The Awakening songs have some of his best lyrics ever and this is just drivel. Affirmation I & II I don't think the words 'me' and 'my' were introduced to society to divide people and I don't think Prince does. It's a bit of an arse backwards way of saying We Are All One. There are all kinds of forces that have divided us and continue to divide us: enough said. As for any person or object requiring your attention....I think he's getting into Law of Attraction and synchronicity territory here. Way Back Home This song is just so beautiful and it has one of his most vulnerable and honest vocals. You can hear his voice quivering with emotion. Prince doesn't say exactly where he thinks his home might be and I don't think he knows exactly but there are clues as to where he's looking. See my beds made up at night Cuz in my dreams I roam Just trying to find, trying to find My way back, back home He's quite possible talking about lucid dreaming. I first experienced a lucid dream some way into my Awakening this year and it was incredible. I had read a lot of articles about how to make it easier but I hadn't actually tried and then one night I realised I was dreaming and took control. From the little I understand so far about consciousness, that would be a pretty good place to start looking for some answers. Once again, if U Know, U Know. So many reasons why There's so many reasons why I don't belong here But now that I am I Without fear I am Gonna conquer with no fear Until I find my way back home Until I find my way back home Find my way back home This may seem opaque but makes perfect sense if U Know. Prince knows he is The Universe experiencing itself; an infinite feedback mechanism. He knows he's a spiritual being having a physical experience. He feels he doesn't really belong here but his higher self chose this experience at this time for a reason. He understands that in order to evolve his consciousness and return home he has to do what he came here to do with love. In one sense the opposite of love is fear and in order to conquer this experience he must not fear. Most people in this world are born dead But I was born alive I was born with this dream With a dream outside my head That I could find my way back home My my way way back home The first two lines are an unfortunately arrogant-sounding way of saying that most people are born asleep and have absolutely no idea of what they really are. The Matrix analogy is helpful again: Prince was born like Neo: he just knew something was up, that reality wasn't what it seemed. I can certainly relate. I was very young when I began to think to myself that 'everything is upside down' and that most of the adults I encountered seemed more like children fumbling around in the dark, not realising the lights are off, but so sure of themselves at the same time. To be born with a dream outside of his head: a lovely way of saying that looking for consciousness inside the brain is like looking inside the radio set for the announcer. Power to the ones, power to the ones Who could raise a child like me This also sounds arrogant but it's really a huge thank you and tribute to his parents. For someone who's 'asleep' to have to raise someone who is awakening, never really understanding or knowing their child, cannot be easy. I've heard about those happy endings But it's still a mystery Lemme tell u about me I'm happiest when I can see My way back home I think this is a really huge statement. Prince once thought that he and Mayte were soul mates, that they'd known oneanother before and that in this life they were destined to be happy together for all their days and raise a family. Even after Mayte he probably still thought for a long time that he would find true happiness through a companion in this lifetime on Earth. Maybe he now realises that one of those happy endings isn't what he's here for. Now he's happiest when he can see his way back home. Funknroll What? Time Nobody has bothered putting the lyrics to this online. That may well be because it blows. I see people getting excited about the basslines and in another context I could appreciate it but not here. Affirmation III This absolutely blows me away. I was walking in the rain at night when I first heard this and it felt like such a huge rush of synchronistic energy. I really think he has a whole bunch more of this stuff, if not a whole album. He's had a habit of completely reassembling or shelving albums since The Black Album/Lovesexy/Crystal Ball/SOTT. This just doesn't belong with most of the other stuff here. Like he said about his output in the late 90s: 'there's gems buried everywhere,' and he's still burying them. I can see from flicking through the comments on the fan sites that the majority of people are getting excited about The Gold Standard and Time. So if he thinks that people aren't ready for this stuff he's probably right. It wouldn't surprise me if he's already developing a schedule of work to be released long after he's gone from here. Wherever he's woken up, he's now able to communicate telepathically. One of the major reviews referred to this as sci-fi. No, no. This is real and he's being quite sincere about it. He's already tried to tell you this is the most important thing in his life: he's at his happiest when he can see his way back to this place of enlightenment. And here comes the ultimate point of it all: the crux of the enlightenment he was seeking on Way Back Home, the end game of Awakening: You've probably felt for many years in your former life That you were separate from not only others but even yourself Now you can see that was never the case You are truly everything and anything you can think of All of it is you Remember: there is really only one destination And that place is...you All of it, everything Is You And there we have it. We are all one. The Universe is inside you. Consciousness exists outside of the brain. We are spiritual beings manifesting a temporary physical experience. Prince has discovered what all of the ancient lost cultures of Earth knew and encoded into their great monuments and writing. Things that are now being understood by more enlightened scientists who can see that quantum physics and spirituality are coming closer together with every new discovery. And perhaps the second biggest revelation here is that Prince almost entirely leaves his religion out of the story, aside from a brief reference to his kingdom only coming in his prayers at night. I think it's pretty fair to say that Prince likely cherry-picks the parts of the Bible and the Jehovah's Witnesses religion which he likes. He's even said he doesn't like to say much publicly anymore because his opinions and views are always evolving. I mean, for one thing he shouldn't be getting frisky before marriage but he seems to have found a way around that. I mean, you only have to look at the short hair, conservative suits and performances of the TRC era when he was taking The New Translation as the be-all and end-all vs the return to flamboyance and overtly sexual lyrics and dancing of more recent times. There is no way, with all of this new information coming to him, that he hasn't had to take a look at his previous beliefs and modify them. I wouldn't go as far as to assume that he's abandoning the teachings of monotheistic religion altogether but his idea of what god is may have evolved as may his ideas of who people like Jesus, Moses, Mohammed etc were. So, as for the 'kingdom' and the praying at night: i'd suggest maybe the kingdom now has an evolved meaning and maybe he's not praying to quite the same thing he was before. For the first time in a long time i'm extremely excited to see what the future holds for Prince. | |
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This is very good and interesting stuff and agree that there's a thematic link running between about half of the songs on the album, but I also love all the other songs, and I think this was a deliberate choice to avoid alienating people like he did with TRC. |
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moderatorInteresting and well thought out essay. I'm not sure I agree 100% with your theories, but its at least a 1000 times better reading than ANY of the 'professional' media reviews published so far. | |
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Good analysis. Personally, I think the concept is simpler. With AOA, I think Prince is simply making a statement that the general population has got lost in the world of tech and needs to think about getting back. He thinks we are all in an artificial cage that is leading to isolation, and in the future, it will be even worse unless we find our way back home. . |
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You're right, I didn't read all of , but it seems like your on to something. I also think the "awakening" songs are the best on the album. But before I take the time to really get into what your saying, I have a question: what is a pineal gland? | |
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Interesting review, but I'm not sure if we can say that the album or parts of it are about "Prince's Awakening" when there is not much there that hasn't already been there in previous songs or albums. Thus, I'm not sure how this "Awakening" or "realization" is much different than Lovesexy or The Rainbow Children. From day one, Prince's notions/ideas have always been rooted in Christianity even though he, like most people, used his own spin on the text or combined other aspects to Christianity. However, what most non-Christians don't seem to understand is that this is what most Christians do, knowing or unknowingly. For instance, as a Christian I always tease other Christians who give their children Easter baskets with eggs and embrace rabbits as part of their Easter celebration by saying, "Oh, so, you want your eight year old praying to the God of Fertility?" And, most of my Christian friends hate for me to come to their homes during Christmas because of how I tease them about their "Christmas Tree." Also, I'm pretty amazed that most Christians don't know that the "wedding ring" actually comes from the culture of Sun worshipers who wore rings because it symbolized their relationship with the Sun. And, of course, there are many other things/rituals in which Christians knowingly engage that are from so-called pagan religions because that is just the nature of people. The one thing that history shows us is that enough people living in proximity to each other will create cultural exchange. As such, even in the Christian Bible one of the chief writers of the New Testament, Paul, states that we shouldn't let "rituals" divide us. So the fact that Prince is finding new language to discuss old beliefs doesn't seem much like "his" Awakening, but I could be wrong. Though I do agree with the poster who stated that Prince may have realized that it would be impossible to get a full concept album like The Rainbow Children released by a major label so that also may be the reason for not all of the songs strictly adhering to the "spiritual" concept though I like the other songs as well so it doesn't bother me that they don't strictly adhere to the "spiritual" concept. * Yet, finally, as we all know, one of Prince's hallmarks or genius traits is his masterful use of ambiguity, which allows all of us, myself included, to read into the lyrics what each of us sees/interprets based on our background and understanding. So, I can't totally discount the OP's interpretation, but rather than the album being about Prince's "personal" Awakening I just see it as Prince continuing to find interesting ways to discuss his beliefs and ongoing journey. And while I tend to agree that Prince may not be strictly adhering to the Bible's text, he seems still to be rooted in its context of enlightenment through love, which allows one to transcend the physical realm into the spiritual realm. (The main point or symbolism of Jesus is that man is a spiritual being having a physical experience and that man continues to cause chaos and death because mankind has yet to fully realize and embraced itself as spiritual beings.) Yet, this concept is not exclusive to Christianity so Prince's ambiguity or ambiguous lyrics allows more room for others to feel comfortable taking this ride. Yet, again, that same Christian writer, Paul, stated that "When I am with Jews, I appear as one of them so they will listen to the Gospel and I can win them to Christ. When I am with the Gentiles who follow Jewish customs and ceremonies, I don't argue even though I don't agree because I want to help them. When with the heathens I agree with them as much as I can...and by agreeing with them I can gain their confidence and win them to Christ...Yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so he will let me tell him about Christ." So, it just seems that Prince is merely doing more of the same and has returned to being more ambiguous as a way of allowing his theme/message to be more palatable to others. But, again, I do like the manner in which the OP has taken the time to deconstruct the lyrics. Even though I may not completely agree, it is a fresh break from the usual "this album sucks" or "this album is the greatest thing ever." |
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* I like your interpretation as well if not a bit more than the OP's but would only add that there is also a "spiritual" element to this notion of humans devolving because of technology and selfishness. |
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I disagree. AOA does not represent some type of awakening. People may not like the way he expressed it but I think the dead/alive analogy is prett accurate. He really was born with a certain level of awareness/consciousness but many of the things that he intuits can be pretty difficult to effectively convey. When you can see things that others don't, more often than not you stay quiet about it, trust me. Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise. | |
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One thing I love about AOA is that you can interpret the concept of the album as you wish. To me, Lianne's (lovely) voice sounds like another "trap". She promises "we are here to help you" and that sounds quite menacing instead
But I disagree that the other songs are unrelated. Is like Prince is somehow half asleep and during the moments when he's not "connected" to Lianne, he's dreaming or having other experiences of sorts. The "Gold standard" is his past, it's really a compendium of all he's built until now, musically and lyrically (we have also quite a sexy ending... and rather ambiguous, too).
The songs with Andy sounds like the only ones that are "real", that give a touch of positive, concrete everyday reality: love, distance ("time"), and loving jokes between two people that are really "engaged", no clouds or telepathy needed.
The Breakdown makes me think of death, but I'm still trying to figure out why (must be my twisted mind).
There would be much more to discuss on this album, and I was thinking to start a thread where everyone can share his own interpretation, but I'm shy even on the virtual world, so... Thanks for giving me a chance to rant!
I love this album so much, and if we should compare it to something in the past, it reminds me of Lovesexy more than anything else. | |
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. In the end, during "affirmation III", she promises an enlightment of sorts, still we here the "until I find my way back home..."in an artificial age you can still create official art. | |
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I want to go have coffee with you 1725topp and discuss the Bible. This stuff is so interesting to me. | |
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Wow. I'm very pleasantly surprised that anyone even took the time to read what I wrote. I'm going to read the replies now but having scanned down them, thank you everyone for your sincere and thoughtful responses. I was expecting to be ignored and best and ridiculed at worst.
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YES, I was having aconversation with hubby today about the songs that dont seem to fit, but those do make sense together....and my take on it is that he's straddling two different musical demographics...<ahem> seasoned fans | |
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and younger people...both who consume music is entirely different ways...so the 'singles' are easily digested and you can tell which ones they are, they easily radio-ready, yet knowing people under 35 rarely buy albums they dont necessarily have to fit with anything else really, they will be more than likely downloaded as singles....then the album tracks that are clearly related and thematic as you suggest are for us more mature folk who listen and consume music on an album in a very different way. I think its a perfect way for him to decide where to go next...and experimenting with the format...really interesting and well written post. i agree with a lot of the theories and after hearing 'way back home' & 'affirmation III' i couldn't help but think prince watched the movie 'lucy' recently. i'm blinded by the daisies in your yard.... | |
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I read through the top post and agree with almost all of the conclusions for the most part. AOA is a really ambitious album with a very cool underlying concept but I don't think he pulled it off. For all of the esoteric talk thrown around on the album, I think taking it seriously is a mistake. I think it's just Prince's narcissicm revealing itself in another form. Several of the tracks show signs of rewrites and edits which is why no matter how you perceive them they don't make much sense. I think a lot of effort went into trimming back some of the songs, propably just to make sure they sounded good. For Fams, this album, just due to Josh upping the production ante, is acceptable and mindblowing, etc.. but everyone else is going to have a hard time with it. [Edited 10/18/14 15:10pm] | |
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Please discuss here: http://prince.org/msg/7/410767 - thanks ALT+PLS+RTN: Pure as a pane of ice. It's a gift. |
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Militant said: This is very good and interesting stuff and agree that there's a thematic link running between about half of the songs on the album, but I also love all the other songs, and I think this was a deliberate choice to avoid alienating people like he did with TRC. I would go with u never would have drank his coffe if he never served u cream. | |
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Damn, how'd I miss that one. Good shout |
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babynoz said: I disagree. AOA does not represent some type of awakening. People may not like the way he expressed it but I think the dead/alive analogy is prett accurate. He really was born with a certain level of awareness/consciousness but many of the things that he intuits can be pretty difficult to effectively convey. When you can see things that others don't, more often than not you stay quiet about it, trust me. I don't like the OP at all. Some of it was just flat out wrong. Maybe the op didn't see any mention of age and issues with it cuz they dismissed an entire song with the title time. Much of it just seemed misinformed and a lot of projection misinterpreted as some kind of fact. | |
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Militant: You and others are probably completely right about all the reasons for him not doing a whole concept record. It sucks for me because the Rainbow Children era and ONA tour was by far my favourite era that i've lived through as a fan and with the NPGMC site, which I loved, and the intimate shows, 5 of which I attended in the UK, front row with loads of eye contact and interaction with Prince as well as meeting him at a soundcheck.....i'd go insane if he did something like that again.
Although i'm not even slightly religious as far as monotheism goes, TRC is one of my favourite albums ever and I really loved the feeling of being in this exclusive Club of 'fams' whilst a lot of casual fans were leaving the back of the theatres because they weren't getting the hits.
I know I was very harsh on the standalone tracks. As far as The Gold Standard goes, it's just not my thing. There are things he does which I appreciate (and I never, ever say that something is not good just because I can't relate to it), for example: It, but I just find the music abrasive. But then I love Get Loose so go figure.
I haven't gotten around to NIN properly yet but I like Downward Spiral.
Have you heard Chinese Democracy? I'm more of an Axl fan than a Guns fan. The Chinese songs have been the soundtrack to my life for the past 13 years.
Dandroppedadime
Thank you for you kind comments
Squirrelmeat
I can't quite see where you're coming from. If the final message of the album is actually meant to be a warning then why is it accompanied by such beautiful music? I think there are warnings in U Know which is why the music there is so restless and uneasy.
Squirrelmeat?! Don't you know dead blood kills interferons :p XD
Supersoulfighter
The pineal gland is a small endocrine gland located near to the center of the brain and is often refered to as the 'third eye.' As 1725topp accurately states below you, I am a Noob when it comes to all of this so i'm not going to pretend to be a guru on here. I'd be happy to point you in the direction of some things to read via PM if you like and you can follow all sorts of rabbit holes.
But basically using the pineal gland is how we access different states/frequencies of consciousness not normally available to us in our standard, alert, problem-solving state. It can be activated in multiple ways including meditation, dancing and the use of psychidelic plants.
It is widely represented and depicted in ancient cultures, particularly Egyptian, but can be found in all kinds of places including on top of the Pope's staff and in the form of a giant pine cone in Vatican square.
It is said to be key to our spiritual evolution as a species and some believe that forces with an interest in keeping us docile and obedient have sought to undermine our use of it in various ways including adding fluoride to our water and dental products for the bogus reason of preventing toothe decay. Fluoride is actually a poison that calcifies the pineal gland, among other things. (I really don't want to go on any more on here but think about how funny it is that we're supposed to believe that western health authorities are so worried about our teeth that they're willing to subsidise the dumping of countless gallons of fluoride into our water systems yet it has never been suggested that basic nutritional supplements for the whole population should be subsidised and rolled out).
1725topp
I agree with you and thank you for your moderating thoughts. I think there's some middle ground between us where we're probably both on the right lines.
Obviously he's always been deeply spiritual and his spirituality has evolved. So I probably am overstating the idea that he's really 'awakening' now as I feel I am, as opposed to continuing a journey he's been on for a long time. But I do think there's something to what i'm saying: perhaps that this is quite a sharp step up and not so much of a gradual curve; not just new language for old beliefs.
I mean, it seems to me he's really being quite specific about a lot of things on here. Ok, so he's long spoken relatively vaguely about notions of One-ness, Love4oneanother, Welcome2TheDawn etc but don't you think that had he specifically been aware about e.g. the pineal gland and what quantum physics is now saying about consciousness and the material world etc he would have made more of a big deal about it before.
I just get the feeling that a lot of this is actually new to him and he's exploring it. But you may be right: it might just be that i'm unable to separate it from myself.
Really fantastic post, though, thank you
Babynoz
In continuation from what I said above to 1975topp I just don't quite feel that all of this is old news to Prince. I'm listening to One Song right now and yes, it's clear that he was more than aware back in 1999 that We Are All One, the universe is in me, we are all one energy etc. The whole songs is basically just a big statement of that. No doubt he's been reading all kinds of spiritual books for decades. But he's never been so specific about so many things in one place before, except for TRC. And TRC was an very literal reading of the New Testement. Yet I get the impression he's left a lot of that behind and, like you say, he was still weaving his core beliefs through it all anyway. Doesn't that suggest that some of the ideas on AOA have come to him since then in recent years?
But i'm completely open to the possibility that i'm viewing AOA through the prism of my own experience.
coffee break
Another person who thinks the beautiful female voice is a trap. Sorry, I just ain't gettin' that. And I don't see the 'standalone' songs as part of the narrative in that he's 'asleep' during them. Like others have suggested, they're probably there as the sugar to the medicine.
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Prince has said that music journalists have no business trying to tell him something about his music and in this case i'd agree.
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Thread reopened to allow OP to respond to comments. please now continue discussion further in the album discussion thread - thanks. ALT+PLS+RTN: Pure as a pane of ice. It's a gift. |
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