This Friday 21 April marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Prince Rogers Nelson. It would be useless here to talk about the legacy of this envelope-pushing, binary-rejecting star, considering the many column inches have been devoted to it, other than to say that recently, it feels as though that legacy has become somewhat confused.Back in February, Prince's music arrived on streaming services, despite the derision he held for them in his life – his music was pulled from all of them but TIDAL in 2015. And now it has been announced (by a marketing person au fait with the fact that clapping emojis are what you do on social media now, Christ) that an EP of six brand new unheard Prince songs will be released in the US on Friday, to commemorate the anniversary of his death. The songs are from sessions that took place between 2006 and 2008, with Ian Boxill, who worked with Prince on Planet Earth, his 32nd studio album.
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Obviously when, like me, you're a greedy, selfish fan who wants as much Prince as you can possibly cram into your stupid little ears, on first thought, a new Prince EP packed front to back with six never-before-heard songs sounds like the best news you'll hear all day (related: have you read the news recently? Between the Tories calling for a snap election in the UK and the what may be the first Dreamer deportation under Trump, things round here aren't looking too peachy). But you also have to concede that it feels kind of at odds with his wishes: you'd assume that if Prince – The Prince, who did whatever the fuck he wanted – had any desire to release this music, he'd have done it himself during his time on this mortal coil.
That's not to say that "Deliverance," the title track of the gospel-influenced EP, described on Facebook as "the spiritual voice of Prince Rogers Nelson" isn't just as wonderful, just as Prince as you'd expect. It's magnificent. It just feels a little bit like it wasn't meant for our ears. Add to that the promotional animation of a Prince-like silhouette dancing around to Prince, and there's a certain tone-deafness that's hard to escape here. Meanwhile, the complicated process of untangling the management of his estate, in the absence of a will, continues.Anyway. In the meantime, if you're so inclined, you can listen to "Deliverance" via Apple Music below:If you need Lauren she'll be in her feelings listening to Dirty Mind and not shutting up about it on Twitter. (Image via Deliverance by Prince on Facebook)