Prince would rather you listened to his new stuff, thankyouverymuch

By now, we just have to accept the fact that Prince loves fucking with us.

Over the last 20 years he's retired and come back; changed his name at least three times (Prince, Victor, and squiggle); stopped playing his hits then resurrected them; deleted and reinstated his social media accounts; and he's now a YEAR LATE with the promised Purple Rain anniversary album.

Last night, he threw a strop and pulled his music off all the major subscription streaming services (except Tidal and Deezer, as far as I can work out). But simultaneously, he uploaded a storming new single called HARDROCKLOVER which is one of the riffiest things he's done in years.

"Turn my guitar up/ So I can make this woman scream," Prince proclaims priapically. "Ain’t no rapper trying to be a singer... R&B ain't got no place / But put some hard rock on, you'd better cover your ears/ 'Cause you’re about to hear a woman just scream."

The implicit message seems to be "forget Purple Rain, I am not my past." And while this is a great late-period Prince track, I'm pretty glad he can't come round to the house and steal my 12" of Little Red Corvette.

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