MR

Any Prince fans around to give me the back story on this? WTF is this new single? Was he on helium for this? Or did he hire Alvin & the Chipmunks to help him out? I don't get it. What a disappointment.

Haven't heard it but he does like using the falsetto a lot...

ArnelRox wrote:Was he on helium for this? Or did he hire Alvin & the Chipmunks to help him out?

I think he hired Akon (aka Mr. Lonely), who is a first cousin to Alvin's chipmunks.

I only heard the 30 second clip on iTunes, but it definitely sounds like his voice was sped-up.

jrnyman28 wrote:Haven't heard it but he does like using the falsetto a lot...

It's not just falsetto, it's literally done like a chipmunk, sped up falsetto, I guess. I like the idea of him getting back to something funky, but I wish he'd sung it normally.

ArnelRox wrote:

jrnyman28 wrote:Haven't heard it but he does like using the falsetto a lot...

It's not just falsetto, it's literally done like a chipmunk, sped up falsetto, I guess. I like the idea of him getting back to something funky, but I wish he'd sung it normally.

Seems a lot of his new releases are sung that way, and it's a shame to me. One from his last album called "Black Sweat" was done in that "Kiss" voice, too. I much preferred the voice he uses on songs like "When Doves Cry".

Prince did this a lot back in the late 80's (just before or around the time of Lovesexy), he slows the tape (yes, I said tape) down to do his vocals & when mixed, the speed is back to normal giving the effect that you hear on this new track. He created an alter ego named 'Camille' that he used to credit as lead vocals on tracks he did this to, I thought they were amongst some of his greatest tunes. I remember too emulating this idea on a track with my old band Slam where I did both, speed & slow down the tape on certain parts of the verses...it gave the 'chipmunk' effect as well as the 'quaaludes' sound on the voice, more of a production thing than something used to hit high notes....anyone who knows Prince knows he still has his upper range in full strength!

JSS wrote:Prince did this a lot back in the late 80's (just before or around the time of Lovesexy), he slows the tape (yes, I said tape) down to do his vocals & when mixed, the speed is back to normal giving the effect that you hear on this new track. He created an alter ego named 'Camille' that he used to credit as lead vocals on tracks he did this to, I thought they were amongst some of his greatest tunes. I remember too emulating this idea on a track with my old band Slam where I did both, speed & slow down the tape on certain parts of the verses...it gave the 'chipmunk' effect as well as the 'quaaludes' sound on the voice, more of a production thing than something used to hit high notes....anyone who knows Prince knows he still has his upper range in full strength!

And??

JSS wrote: He created an alter ego named 'Camille' that he used to credit as lead vocals on tracks he did this to, I thought they were amongst some of his greatest tunes.

Yeah, one of Prince's greatest songs was "If I Was Your Girlfriend," with the sped up voice, and I always loved "Bob George," with the slowed down voice. He was always very experimental with those things. Since he's getting back to that, I'd like to check out this new song.

Not a big fan of Prince, but damn...he did a rockish type song I think 1-2 years ago?? And he played tha hell out of the guitar on that one.