Slowly but surely, new generations are falling in love with Prince. Naturally, they’ve started with the greatest song of his, “Purple Rain”. Viral memes and edits see fans clip the stunning, heartbreaking bridge to really capture the peak emotional moments in life. It also certainly helped that Stranger Things gave it a significant boost to unsuspecting fans during its finale. Now, a new legion of Prince fans were born.
However, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of albums he released in his lifetime. It’s even wilder when you consider that Prince’s prime lasted for years. Where does one even start? Noisey has picked four songs from the Purple One for anyone who fell in love with “Purple Rain” and wants more.
But we’re not here to regurgitate easy singles fans could find and fall in love with. Instead, we want to branch out a little further to grab a full scope of his illustrious career.
Four Prince Songs to Play if You Absolutely Loved ‘Purple Rain’
“Somebody’s Somebody”
All Prince wanted to do was release music all the time. It’s why he frequently got into beef with his record label; they wanted to milk his music a little more, while he was already over it and onto the next idea. It’s why, the moment he had the opportunity, he released a staggering triple album with a runtime of over three hours. Mind you, he had already released an album and a soundtrack earlier that year in 1996.
While many artists would seemingly run out of great ideas, Prince still had some of his best work that year. Take “Somebody’s Somebody”, where loneliness eats away at him, and he sings like he’s bound to burst out of his skin if someone doesn’t hold him. “This big old world can be so empty, living in it all alone/I realize, in its best disguise, a pretty house don’t make a home,” he croons.
“17 Days”
Purple Rain as an album was as close to perfect as an album could truly get. It’s so good that even a record like “17 Days”, one of Prince’s best songs, could be left off the album as a B-side to “When Doves Cry“.
It’s one of his loneliest records, where every day feels like an eternity, and the other woman in his life has probably already moved on. When she doesn’t answer his calls, he laments that it’s probably because there’s another man taking his place. It’s this kind of loneliness that keyboardist Lisa Coleman of The Revolution said Prince felt quite frequently the more he became successful.
“He was like a deer in headlights, a very vulnerable person. Those big brown eyes would kill you. But he struggled with his success,” Coleman told The Guardian. “One of the reasons he stayed in Minnesota all his life is that it allowed him a little bit of freedom. It was hard after Purple Rain, because it was limos and planes and thousands of people, all the time. I think it was hard for him to decide when he could just be Prince, the guy, and when he had to become Prince the superstar. He gave himself so thoroughly to it.”
“Strollin’”
“Strollin’” is the kind of song you’d imagine in a montage for what a perfect date looks like. Rather than lean into the massive pomp and circumstances of his sexier songs, Prince plays the dynamic out like a schoolyard crush. He suggests they could take a beautiful daytime drive, rent roller skates, and eat ice cream while they gawk at dirty magazines. After all, there’s one life to live. Why not thrive in it with the person you love most?
“Somewhere Here On Earth”
It’s a shame that even some Prince fans tend to dismiss his work once he heads into the 2000s. Sure, culture had shifted significantly. Hip-hop’s dominance was fully underway, and his brand of maximalism took a slight back seat to the excess of the Bush administration. But he was still a master craftsman first and foremost.
Those skills are especially present on the tender ballad “Somewhere Here On Earth”, where Prince struggles with long distance, even in a time when that idea was easier than ever. “In this digital age, you could just page me/I know it’s the rage, but it just don’t engage me/Like the face-to-face,” he swoons.
Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
The post 4 Prince Songs That Aren’t ‘Purple Rain’ That You Should Absolutely Add to Your Playlist appeared first on VICE.
