“The Ways He Could Live Different Lives”

Abstract

This chapter details the development of Prince's music-making process in the 1980s. It considers how technological autonomy led to the creation of performative characters and alter egos in seeming interaction. Prince used recording techniques such as pitch-shifting vocals to explore identity play while challenging identity and genre taxonomy. The chapter then analyzes the recordings on which Prince performed nearly every instrumental and vocal part, including “Let's Work” (recorded 1981), “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” “Bob George,” and “Adore” (all recorded 1986), and studies their production histories. It shows how Prince developed an industry based on solo recording by transforming the collective practices of R&B, while challenging racial, gender, and genre norms in a segregated music industry.