Prince's pop life, song by song, in chronological order.
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The Belle of St. Mark
While “Glamorous” sounded tailor-made for Sheila’s particular talents (even if it wasn’t), “Belle” is well-crafted but faceless, embodying the essentialist cynicism of the publishing imprint Prince used for his female side projects: “Girlsongs.”
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Baby
Prince’s silky falsetto vocals and baroque musical accompaniment sound straight out of the Philadelphia-based “smooth soul” playbook–with the obvious caveat that, while Philly soul employed teams of session musicians, vocalists, producers, and arrangers, the vast majority of “Baby” was recorded by Prince himself.