just heard the whole song. My initially lukewarm opinion of it is rapidly cooling...

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if i do end up seeing prince on this tour, i think i'm just going to be waiting for this track to come and go as quickly as possible.

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i might take the advice of some of the devoted fans here and just skip prince this time around. I'm not a fan of this band at all.

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... well, maybe i'll wait for setlists to emerge from these kentucky shows...

During the verse Prince sings, he makes changes Nichole Nordman's lyric-"they say the cross will only make a fool of you" and sings "they say the truth will only make a fool of you". Not as bad as Prince changing "The Cross" to "The Christ", but he couldn't let it slide.

lust said:

Wow. A song promoting Pascal's wager. What next? "It's just a theory" or "if we came from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys"?

BobGeorge909 said:

what if prince wrote a great song again?

artist76 said:

lust said:

Wow. A song promoting Pascal's wager. What next? "It's just a theory" or "if we came from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys"?

Yay! Someone knows this is basically the argument of Pascal's Wager! Now more reason to love Lust, besides those clever jewish Prince song titles. Pascal's wager is not a threat - it's a rational argument that, given the choice between God or No God, there's not much to lose and everything to gain for God, and not much to gain and everything to lose to get there's NO God. So a rational person should endeavor to believe in God. But this song is WAY simplistic, definitely Christian and not philosophical, and about Jesus, not necessary the existence of God/Creator/Supreme Being. I'm confused about Prince's JW-ness nowadays - the mention of "the cross" and Jesus in this song point to conventional Christian - I thought he was still JW ("stauros" nonsense, and that Jesus is not Lord/God, but a creation like the Angels).

Pascal's wager is a pathetic, hucksterist argument that was even dismissed by those living at the time (at least a couple of centuries ago).

Who did you think God would supoose is more moral, and deserving of getting into heaven? The good person who told him he could not, in all honesty,find it in heart to believe? Or the cheat who would tell him a bold face lie to get in?

Prince is a douch; and you're wrong.

[Edited 3/12/15 22:09pm]

artist76 said:

I'm confused about Prince's JW-ness nowadays - the mention of "the cross" and Jesus in this song point to conventional Christian - I thought he was still JW ("stauros" nonsense, and that Jesus is not Lord/God, but a creation like the Angels).

Based on the type of things she posts on social media I believe this track was something Hannah brought to the table as opposed to it being some Prince discovered on his own. It just seems completely her type of vibe, message and musician and that's why he chose to debut it for her homecoming shows.

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Im not christian but i dont mind the lyrics at all on this. And upon listenin to it a few times I love the full sound of the song. I hope the next 3EG album is more fuller and studio sounding like this.

An ok at best cover of an average at best song sung by Prince and a WAY below average singer. One question: Why? Why cover such a weak song? Why does he let these women bring down the quality of his music? The songs that they sing on PE are some of the worst songs that he has ever released. Ida can play but the other two just seem like a bad gimmick. I just saw D'angelo last night in NYC. His band absolutely blows away 3rdEye Girl. It's not even close. No gimmicks, just incredible soul, RnB, rock & funk playing. I'm still a fan and will always go see Prince if he's in town but his creativity and objectivity seems to have dried up over the years. The guy who jokes about other artists lip synching plays what is basically a karaoke machine at his shows. It kind of makes you wonder....

Why are people surprised Prince is still playing with 3RDEYEGIRL? smh

Y-A-W-N.

Outdated run of the mill production and Prince needs to get rid of the Autotune.

purplethunder3121 said:

artist76 said:

beatz01 said:

PurpleSkipper58 said:

beatz01 said:

Y-A-W-N.

Outdated run of the mill production and Prince needs to get rid of the Autotune.

He doesn't need auto tune, why is he using it? Doesn't make sense

Listened to it a few hours ago, a nice rock ballad and I got the Christian message part immediately, but I don't think its heavy-handed. I'm not a Christian by the way; but I appreciate a good spiritual song outside of the "praise group/rock" genre. U2 does a lot of spiritual stuff and even inspired a praise band that sounds alot like them ("Delirious" from the UK who have disbanded but I saw them live and was very impressed). Lenny Kravitz "Circus" had a strong spiritual message and it happens to be my favorite Lenny joint as the songs rock. Funkadelic's "Cosmic Slop" is a prayer to God from a troubled woman forced into prostitution for family support. Christian, Muslim, Jewish (Matisyahu) doesn't have to be about jackhammer conversion "our faith is best" lyrics....it can be about more broadly communicate human values. I think Prince has done this pretty well from time to time (The Cross, The Ladder, etc.). He has stuff that is over preachy, but I think he's moved beyond that.

But you know the lyrics to "What If" could as easily be interepretted as a don't "overlook or undersell" anyone because you never know how special they are; strong secular message about humanity and openess. This song's message seems particularly relevant for posters in here whose first reaction about any NEW Prince music is always negative. Maybe a little openess to new things as in NEW Prince vs. vintage Prince would cause some happiness to creep in.....maybe even joyful acceptance that our man has changed and is still making new kinds of outstanding music.

This song is where he is now and a representation of his changing ideas about art and his spiritual beliefs....he's beyond hammering a point relentlessly and has moved towards subtlely and layered meaning. I like it....love the guitars....Donna's vocals are fine especially intertwined with Prince. Good song, hope it gets attention focused on 3RDEYEGIRL and PlecElect.

[Edited 3/13/15 0:42am]

aiden said:

What are you lot listening to???

That intro is amazing - I want sure it was a Prince track untill he started singing!

Making me smile ALOT!

Superconductor said:

lust said:

Wow. A song promoting Pascal's wager. What next? "It's just a theory" or "if we came from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys"?

New Tracklist!
1. What If?
2. It's Just A Theory
3. If U Came From A Monkey, How Come There Are Still Monkeyz?
4. Look at the Trees
5. Walk in Sand (And Found a Watch) (Remix)
6. Argument from the Funky Design
7. Evilution
8. The Good Book: God Said It, Eye Believe It, That Settles It
9. Simple-Minded Banished Ones
10. Painting Painter, Creation Creator
11. Hillsong

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[Edited 3/13/15 2:28am]

lust said:

Wow. A song promoting Pascal's wager. What next? "It's just a theory" or "if we came from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys"?

SuperSoulFighter said:

Superconductor said:

It's a cover, it's a Christian Rock song, and Hannah Ford singing. 3x thumbs down from me. Oh and it's really not that interesting musically.

[Edited 3/12/15 19:07pm]

So 4 x thumbs down actually. Yeah, it's in one ear out the other from a fantastic musician who has no original ideas anymore.

According to the song lyrics Hannah will probably call you one of the simple minded people for this opinion. You just don't get it...you probably don't dig deep enough!

PurpleSkipper58 said:

I quite like the song after a few listens. It starts very well, great vocal from Prince, love the guitar parts, well produced, a lot of nice textures etc. What lets it down a little in my opinion is the chorus, it makes the song become 'just another song song', pedestrian-like, and though Hannah's vocal are ok and actaully suit this kind of song, ie christian rock, when compared to Prince's delivery and where the song could go it sort takes the oomph out it.

Still, it is a very good song and I will be palying it some more.

jjazznola said:

An ok at best cover of an average at best song sung by Prince and a WAY below average singer. One question: Why? Why cover such a weak song? Why does he let these women bring down the quality of his music? The songs that they sing on PE are some of the worst songs that he has ever released. Ida can play but the other two just seem like a bad gimmick. I just saw D'angelo last night in NYC. His band absolutely blows away 3rdEye Girl. It's not even close. No gimmicks, just incredible soul, RnB, rock & funk playing. I'm still a fan and will always go see Prince if he's in town but his creativity and objectivity seems to have dried up over the years. The guy who jokes about other artists lip synching plays what is basically a karaoke machine at his shows. It kind of makes you wonder....

Completely agree. I saw D'Angelo in London a few weeks back and there was so much energy in the performance. And the album is awesome.

In contrast, this latest 3EG effort is so stale and devoid of ideas. A cover of a tedious Christian rock song? Pah-lease.

toejam said:

7. Evilution

Why all the hate and bitterness? Why is there no appreciation?

If you don't like it, OK. As a Christian, I'm not crazy about the song, but I like the questions that it raises. Does the world really need another variation of DMSR? Do we really need more crude / dirty lyrics?

Let's just please stop trying to put people (Prince included) into a box.

As a side note: I'm more concerned with the lyric that was changed and the reasons for it. Changing "cross", the central message of Christianity, to generic "truth" is a bad decision. BAD decision.