When I first heard this song I dismissed it as Kenng G-style smooth jazz. But after hearing it a bunch of times when I played the album through, it got stuck in my head. Now I absolutely love it.

All of the lyrics are good, but there's something about the way he sings the opening to the second verse that I find irresistable. I could listen to that part on an endless loop:

"How can U not know, Standing over there like a Nefertiti, or the queen, Dido"

There's an old thread on this song from way back with HNR 2 was released. It was short, but all of the reviews were very positive. What do people think of it now, after having heard if for a number of years? Has it held up?

great track. the stevie wonder line is dumb but the rest is gold.

it shows Prince as an adult real growth...u cant be singing "Partyup" at 60 makes no since when 90% of your fan AARP members. on a scale of 1-10 I give it a solid 8.

A great song on a really special album IMO. Would have love to see him play this and Revelations in concert.

JoeyCococo said:

God knows what happened in the last year of his life....a sudden solo piano sho, an uncharacteristic openess (The Breakdown, his commentary about personal matters during some shoes) ...like those things, I don't doubt he wanted to do something great before the end.... phase 2 was just that. It is GREAT album...like SOTT, it was a collection of songs from the last year's. Supreme...and so poetic in it being his last. "that's it?"

It was probably recorded in 2012 (first played publicly in Jan 2013).

funkman88 said:

funkman88 said:

it shows Prince as an adult real growth...u cant be singing "Partyup" at 60 makes no since when 90% of your fan AARP members. on a scale of 1-10 I give it a solid 8.

One being a member of AARP doesn't mean one still can't partyup! 60 is the new 40!!

kingricefan said:

funkman88 said:

it shows Prince as an adult real growth...u cant be singing "Partyup" at 60 makes no since when 90% of your fan AARP members. on a scale of 1-10 I give it a solid 8.

One being a member of AARP doesn't mean one still can't partyup! 60 is the new 40!!

believe that hear!

lustmealways said:

great track. the stevie wonder line is dumb but the rest is gold.

ooh can we start that debate back up in here?

Middling.

RODSERLING said:

I don't ever remember that song I always skipped the first four songs of HNR2 that were terrible, especially for a beginning of an album. It must be there.

Say whaaaaaat?

The ONLY track I don't like on HitNRun 2 is Screwdriver. The track itself is okay, very throwaway, but it is TOTALLY out of place on HNR2.... 2 Y 2 D is in those first four tracks.... and it's the weakest, but still a fun track to me.... but Baltimore, Rocknroll Love Affair, Look At Me, Look At You, Stare, Xtralovable, Groovy Potential, Black Muse, Revelation, Big City.... these are all fantastic tracks to me.

When She Comes is good, second tier, but a decent track.... it all adds up to one of my favourite latter Prince albums... some of the musicianship on these tracks is just fantastic, and they all have a great, warm, organic sound.... just a shame Screwdriver lumps its way into the middle.

Rimshottbob said:

RODSERLING said:

I don't ever remember that song I always skipped the first four songs of HNR2 that were terrible, especially for a beginning of an album. It must be there.

Say whaaaaaat?

The ONLY track I don't like on HitNRun 2 is Screwdriver. The track itself is okay, very throwaway, but it is TOTALLY out of place on HNR2.... 2 Y 2 D is in those first four tracks.... and it's the weakest, but still a fun track to me.... but Baltimore, Rocknroll Love Affair, Look At Me, Look At You, Stare, Xtralovable, Groovy Potential, Black Muse, Revelation, Big City.... these are all fantastic tracks to me.

When She Comes is good, second tier, but a decent track.... it all adds up to one of my favourite latter Prince albums... some of the musicianship on these tracks is just fantastic, and they all have a great, warm, organic sound.... just a shame Screwdriver lumps its way into the middle.

I totally agree. 2Y2D is the weakest song in the first half of the album, and Screwdriver is the weakest song in the second half. Screwdriver isn't bad -- it's just derivative.

This is definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite, of his later ablumbs. People complain that it's just a collection of songs from the vault, rather than a unified project. I get that, but the same could be said about Sign O' The Times. Also, despite the fact that he didn't consciously create these songs to go together, he picked songs that do fit together. All of the songs on HNR2 have that same organic sound and feel (whereas all the songs on HNR1 have a more electronic sound).

RODSERLING said:

Screwdriver is great. Ludicrous it wasn't on Plectrum...since it was by far the best track of that (sad) era.

And for me, it's one of the worst tracks he ever released, and I thought it was a sign of quality control that it wasn't included on Plectrumelectrum.

leecaldon said:

RODSERLING said:

leecaldon said:

And for me, it's one of the worst tracks he ever released, and I thought it was a sign of quality control that it wasn't included on Plectrumelectrum.

Sure, that s why masterpiece like Boy Trouble are in it, for quality control. Of course.

I'll take it any day of the week over Screwdriver though.

JoeyCococo said:

God knows what happened in the last year of his life....a sudden solo piano sho, an uncharacteristic openess (The Breakdown, his commentary about personal matters during some shoes) ...like those things, I don't doubt he wanted to do something great before the end.... phase 2 was just that. It is GREAT album...like SOTT, it was a collection of songs from the last year's. Supreme...and so poetic in it being his last. "that's it?"

You really think HNRP2 is great? I mean, for real?

Screwdriver was recorded before 3rd Eye Girl - I think the video is just them 'playing along' - Prince still needed to rehearse/record with them. It was just a song Prince could have out there and say it was a 3rd Eye Girl song to get the ball rolling... (although there are live/rehearsal versions with the girls) - that's why it was on a Prince album I guess.

[Edited 3/10/21 5:48am]

MattyJam said:

You really think HNRP2 is great? I mean, for real?

it is

there are a few clunkers like Screwdriver but you have some absolute great cuts like Black Muse, Revelation, When She Comes... which are some of the best tracks he had done in yearsssssssss at that point, imo.

lustmealways said:

lustmealways said:

MattyJam said:

You really think HNRP2 is great? I mean, for real?

it is

there are a few clunkers like Screwdriver but you have some absolute great cuts like Black Muse, Revelation, When She Comes... which are some of the best tracks he had done in yearsssssssss at that point, imo.

Different strokes, I guess. Screwdriver is the best track on the album for me.

MattyJam said:

lustmealways said:

it is

there are a few clunkers like Screwdriver but you have some absolute great cuts like Black Muse, Revelation, When She Comes... which are some of the best tracks he had done in yearsssssssss at that point, imo.

Different strokes, I guess. Screwdriver is the best track on the album for me.

Really love the album as a whole though Screwdriver is the weak link. Don't mind the song live, but the lyrics are cringe worthy. The fantastic brass arrangements on the album were the best in his career, and it was wonderful that he was involved in the collaboration of writing them.

nope. he did better 'adult' sounding songs than this one.

i like the music on this, but the lyrics on this are just vapid.

Favorite track on the album by far. I have adored this song from the initial listen.

Really great song from a fantastic album. HitNRun 2 is in my top 10 of Prince albums.

The777Man

I enjoy 'Look At Me, Look At U' as well, and feel overall HNR 2 is a pretty good album...I think 'Groovy Potential' and 'Revelation' are diamond quality tracks, and are some of my favorite Prince songs of all time.