K, I'm doubtful enough to want to ask it on here: do people get the punchline of Art Official Age? Hint: It's in the stadium horn that you hear at the start of the first track, and it's in full effect in songs like "This Could Be Us."

?

I'm sure you mean "Art Offical Age is an album that tries to show what his music would sound like if he was blaring and special effect-ing with zero nuance", turns out our boy ended up reconnecting with the Studio Wizard past he tried to leave behind and made his best album in a while, while his "analog" effort was the one that was less nuanced and realized.

[Edited 12/14/14 14:52pm]

K, not giving this one away outright; ya'll have to think about it. What I would suggest is to listen to Anotherlove from Plectrumelectrum and then ask yourself two questions: a) what if this isn't about any one person in particular, but about a group of people, and b) what link this has to do with the very existence of an album Art Official Age being released in the first place.

Aerogram said:

I'm sure you mean "Art Offical Age is an album to tries to show what his music would sound like if he was blaring and special effect-ing with zero nuance", turns out our boy ended up reconnecting with the Studio Wizard past he tried to leave behind and made his best album in a while, while his "analog" effort was the one that was less nuanced and realized.

Yep, your response confirms it--people don't get the album. Think about it--remember how there was once that one rumor that Prince expected his girlfriends to communicate with him telepathically? And imagine that--it appears on his album outright through the voice of Lianne LeHavas. Also, do you really think that he would say a line like "sex with me is not enough / we got to do it metaPHY-SICK-LEE" and expect people to think it was serious? I'm not saying it's not a good album, and there are personally several tracks on it that I like a lot, but I am saying that he's poking more than a little fun, and with more than just himself. Anyone who has been paying attention in the past two years knows how much 3rd Eye Girl has been his baby and how much he loves it, so you have to wonder about whether or not its more than just coincidence that the two albums got released on the same day.

TASKAE said:

Yep, your response confirms it--people don't get the album.

more like, people don't read the particular narrative you're reading. This isn't surprising.

TASKAE said:

Aerogram said:

I'm sure you mean "Art Offical Age is an album to tries to show what his music would sound like if he was blaring and special effect-ing with zero nuance", turns out our boy ended up reconnecting with the Studio Wizard past he tried to leave behind and made his best album in a while, while his "analog" effort was the one that was less nuanced and realized.

Yep, your response confirms it--people don't get the album. Think about it--remember how there was once that one rumor that Prince expected his girlfriends to communicate with him telepathically? And imagine that--it appears on his album outright through the voice of Lianne LeHavas. Also, do you really think that he would say a line like "sex with me is not enough / we got to do it metaPHY-SICK-LEE" and expect people to think it was serious? I'm not saying it's not a good album, and there are personally several tracks on it that I like a lot, but I am saying that he's poking more than a little fun, and with more than just himself. Anyone who has been paying attention in the past two years knows how much 3rd Eye Girl has been his baby and how much he loves it, so you have to wonder about whether or not its more than just coincidence that the two albums got released on the same day.

Sounds like you have a very specific idea of what he's trying to say and do. Feel free to elaborate, but I'm not personally following rumors on his love life. If there's some big punchline, I hope it's not about some obscure relationship stuff.

fusk said:

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[Edited 12/14/14 15:03pm]

SanMartin said:

fusk said:

more like, people don't read the particular narrative you're reading. This isn't surprising.

Hold up! Are you not aware that TASKAE's personal interpretation of the album is the only correct one? We should listen to what s/he has to say, regardless of how needlessly obtuse it is.

Stop putting words in my mouth. I never implied that mine was the only interpretation. And it's only obtuse to those who aren't good at looking below the surface of the music to find the politics of the album.

mikeyaddict said:

I look forward to your take on it Taskae. With the clues ur giving I guess the pop would be at fans who want him to go modern or be 'classic' Prince, his response is AOA which if your idea is right then is throwaway nonsense to prove a point? Anyway. My take is that AOA, as a concept is half baked and he's been influenced by Janelle Monae - her 'thing' is the robots and that so a Prince goes looking for what his gimmick is. Can't do robots, so why not be cryogenically frozen? Maybe he caught some reruns of red dwarf (conspicuous in their absence recently on Dave and BBC 3). . Anyway, Taskae. I am ready, gimme your version.

That's an interesting take on it, and I could probably tie it in to where my interp. is headed, in the sense of the gimmicky sound being on purpose. Part of it is also how conspicuous it is to me now that he re-signed with Warner Bros. There was all this talk in the media about how a deal was struck that made both sides optimally happy, but did it really happy as simply as that? From the first listen, I've always been struck at how stereotypically Prince-sounding the album is. Almost like he took every cliche he's known for and slapped it all on the same album. I dare say a man who writes mirror messages in his liner notes is capable of being even more clever.

There's defintely humor.

This Could Be Us was literally inspired by an internet meme.
A journalist noted Prince cracking up at the '24 karat hashtag' line in The Gold Standard during a listening party.

Art Official Cage, beyond the 90s horns and lotusflower reference, ends with a radio dial changing.

But I think it's a mistake to dismiss the whole album as a joke. There's some real moments of frustration and alienation sprinkled throughout the entire thing.

He seems to have been fully behind the Breakdown as a song, if the album was a throwaway joke why put this on it?

i can't take the breakdown seriously...

"listen to me closely as this story unfolds.
This could be the saddest story ever been told"

That's either a joke, or really, really shitty/narcissistic writing...

TASKAE said:

Stop putting words in my mouth. I never implied that mine was the only interpretation. And it's only obtuse to those who aren't good at looking below the surface of the music to find the politics of the album.

are you KCOOL? Because all your posts come with

fusk said:

i can't take the breakdown seriously...

"listen to me closely as this story unfolds.
This could be the saddest story ever been told"

That's either a joke, or really, really shitty/narcissistic writing...

First off, I really dig the Breakdown. But to your comment about it being a joke or shitty/narcissistic writing, maybe that's the point. I listen to this album and get a strong sense of deadpan, like he's playing the straight man. Also, he's had a few moments speaking in public when he has said "you don't have to do like me, you don't have to make the mistakes I made." He talks about the song like it's his favorite, nothing wrong with that, but to me there's a bit of him that's also taking a look at the song styles and methods and saying "Grrrl, really?"

Strive said:

There's defintely humor.

This Could Be Us was literally inspired by an internet meme.
A journalist noted Prince cracking up at the '24 karat hashtag' line in The Gold Standard during a listening party.

Art Official Cage, beyond the 90s horns and lotusflower reference, ends with a radio dial changing.

But I think it's a mistake to dismiss the whole album as a joke. There's some real moments of frustration and alienation sprinkled throughout the entire thing.

Yes, anyone who buys a copy of Garage Band software has access to that soundbyte. Yet another clue.