Category: 1999, 1982
-
Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)
If “Something in the Water”’s music wasn’t so beautiful, the self-pity and solipsism of its lyrics would begin to feel ugly: an adolescent projection of self-loathing into a spitefully generic female tormenter.
-
D.M.S.R.
“D.M.S.R.” was Prince’s calling card–a four-word (four-letter!) summation of everything he and his music were about.
-
Let’s Pretend We’re Married
Against the mechanized backdrop of “Let’s Pretend We’re Married,” Prince delivers a vocal performance that is pure flesh, utilizing every gasp, pant, slurp, and scream in his ever-expanding repertoire.
-
International Lover
Prince’s wheedling, ebb-and-flow delivery is a master class in the art of the tease; drawing out every word with delicious anticipation, only removing his tongue from his own cheek for long enough to slip it in someone else’s.