So I'm probably late to this realization - if so, flame on.

I was listening to Clouds yesterday -

"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 screamed out loud (loud) on top of your voice what it be higher? than the crowd? No.
Tattooless and proud, yeah
We're getting high on something that doesn't require clouds, no
We don't need no clouds, no. "

I knew the first part referred to social media / reality TV / etc. but then I thought "Clouds" refers to Amazon Cloud / Apple iCloud / IBM The Cloud / etc.

Essentilly saying we don't need super tech / connectivity / faces in phones.

I feel stupid for it taking so long..... (unless I'm wrong now, then I feel double stupid)

I thought it was a song about not giving into pressure from tattooed, weed smokin' women and sticking to a demure, submissive chick that takes showers at all hours of the day.

JKOOLMUSIC said:

I thought it was a song about not giving into pressure from tattooed, weed smokin' women and sticking to a demure, submissive chick that takes showers at all hours of the day.

I think you may be right on the larger scale, I was thinking only of the Clouds reference. As opposed to actual clouds.

If he was referring to streaming and cloud storage that'd be some ironic shit with the whole Tidal involvement.

vman4639 said:

NorthC said:

vman4639 said:

I think you may be right on the larger scale, I was thinking only of the Clouds reference. As opposed to actual clouds.

I don't think we should take an orger named Jkoolmusic too seriously.

kingsausage alter ego?

JKOOLMUSIC said:

If he was referring to streaming and cloud storage that'd be some ironic shit with the whole Tidal involvement.

Actually, that is what he's talking about (sort of), but it isn't ironic, at all - because he's talking about relationships rather than digital music.

It's just an updated take on some earlier lyrics...

In this digital age

Like the face to face

You can't kiss someone on the neck over the internet.

[Edited 9/23/15 11:04am]

Great point, Genesia!

.

It could imply that online names, faces, relationships etc. are completely unnecessary/artificial and not meant to be taken seriously. Most know that to be untrue, but its a great angle for a song thats for sure. The best take on that nameless faceless fascnation was probably Janet's "Empty", I can't recall another tune that dealt with the issue in a serious manner.

TheEnglishGent said:

KingSausage said:

I need no alter egos. There's only one King.

I've seen the top and it's just a dream...

Genesia said:

You can't kiss someone on the neck over the internet.

Not yet....

.

.

.

.

It will probably look a bit more sophisticated in 45 years time when Prince has awoken from statis.

I always took it as referring to life "online", especially with that intro that seems to be directed at social media.

You guys are makin this way harder than it needs to be

It is simple, clouds is a reference to drugs (all the smoke produced by them = clouds), he is stating they don't need drugs to get high.

[Edited 9/23/15 15:08pm]

leadline said:

I took the "clouds" to have a triple meaning of data streamed from the cloud, AND "not needing clouds" to get high= clouds of smoke from weed; AND clouds high in the sky.

Digital age: social media and music.

Life's a stage= social media, people posting mundane life for all to see

everybody stars= social media, selfies, narcisism

reality so blurry= reality TV, social media, kardashians

Whatever he means by clouds, he says we dont need 'em, so no need to worry about it.

Rebeljuice said:

Whatever he means by clouds, he says we dont need 'em, so no need to worry about it.

Rebeljuice said:

Whatever he means by clouds, he says we dont need 'em, so no need to worry about it.

But what if we have them and don't know what the heck he's talking about, so don't know we have them? How do we get rid of them if we don't even know what they are? What happens if we don't have some, get offered some and accept but we don't know we shouldn't have accepted them?

This issue needs clarification quickly or we're all in trouble.

ThomasBjj said:

I took the "clouds" to have a triple meaning of data streamed from the cloud, AND "not needing clouds" to get high= clouds of smoke from weed; AND clouds high in the sky.

Digital age: social media and music.

Life's a stage= social media, people posting mundane life for all to see

everybody stars= social media, selfies, narcisism

reality so blurry= reality TV, social media, kardashians

That's clearly the meaning IMO and it's on point.

Twitter, FB, even an old forum site like the Org can be useful or entertaining, they do enable people to connect. Some groups, like people who are deaf and blind, can be connected to the rest of world and break crippling barriers, so there's a lot of good to be said yet study after study show that the digital age of communications has many drawbacks: superficial relationships phonily elevated to a completely unreal status, ambient narcissism, neglect of people who are physicially accessible in favor of those that are far away, people not even lifting their head to look where they are going because they're so busy pretending the whole world is trying to contact them as they walk, etc.

Clouds may be one of his most socially relevant recent songs, I have trouble understanding why the slightest thing from the 80s can be considered so superior to something like Clouds.

TheEnglishGent said:

NorthC said:

TheEnglishGent said:

But what if we have them and don't know what the heck he's talking about, so don't know we have them? How do we get rid of them if we don't even know what they are? What happens if we don't have some, get offered some and accept but we don't know we shouldn't have accepted them?

This issue needs clarification quickly or we're all in trouble.

Wow, you really know how to make mud out of clear water!

Not sure how you've taken my meaning but I was just joking around. Although I'm sure I've got some of the mad fams worrying about the issue now

TheEnglishGent said:

Rebeljuice said:

Whatever he means by clouds, he says we dont need 'em, so no need to worry about it.

But what if we have them and don't know what the heck he's talking about, so don't know we have them? How do we get rid of them if we don't even know what they are? What happens if we don't have some, get offered some and accept but we don't know we shouldn't have accepted them?

This issue needs clarification quickly or we're all in trouble.

Good point. We could have them and be inadvertedly passing them on. How do clouds move from host to host? Do they waft around or use an EXE file to spread? Do we need a special antivirus or should we wear a condom? This is more serious than I thought.

TheEnglishGent said:

Double meaning folks, there is nothing mysterious about it.

Clouds = drugs

Clouds = internet aka: the cloud (all of our lives a stage - is a reference to socal media, facebook, etc, folks brodacsting every little thing they do to the world, being addicted to the technology)

Prince is getting high on something that doesn't require clouds (life, music, friendship, god, etc)

drugs produce clouds (smoke), the internet IS the cloud.......easy stuff.

[Edited 9/24/15 8:41am]

Jokey-jokes aside, Aerogram and Genesia gave the most accurate descriptions.