Prince as producer and creator of worlds: Absent narratives in Prince’s Purple Rain, 1999 and Sign o’ the Times deluxe box sets

Abstract

Prince was constantly shifting and evolving. Always the driving agent of perpetual change, he rechristened himself, sonically and stylistically, with every album. At the beginning of his career, ‘Produced, Arranged, Composed and Performed by Prince’ was fundamental to the story of Prince as boy wonder and musical genius. However, by his third album Dirty Mind, Prince began to deliberately craft an expansive tale of alter egos and fictitious characters, beginning with Jamie Starr. Eventually, he would create an arsenal of artists, commencing with The Time and Vanity 6, soon thereafter. However, this prevailing narrative of autonomy, change and world-building shifted with the releases of Prince’s Purple Rain, 1999 and Sign o’ the Times deluxe editions in 2017, 2019 and 2020, respectively. This article will deconstruct how Prince’s agency as a self-sufficient creator and mastermind behind his own musical realm is being stripped and his narrative arc reshaped.