Did Prince Have New Music Coming Out?

The prolific and legendary singer, songwriter, and producer Prince died Thursday at his home in Paisley Park, Minnesota. The genre-defying artist was creatively restless, always working on a new album, song, or project. Since he began his career with For You in 1978, Prince recorded 39 studio albums, the latest one being HitNRun: Phase Two, which was released in 2015. Since he never seemed to sit still, it's fair to assume that Prince might have been keeping some future projects under wraps between then and now. But, did Prince have any new music coming out?

Born Prince Rogers Nelson, the artist practically erupted with musical ingenuity. He was a master of lyrical inventiveness (see: "Act your age and not your shoe size" from 1986's massively influential "Kiss"), a one-man band that had the presence of a full ensemble, and a genius at escaping the boundaries of musical genres. His career commenced in the late '70s, and quickly catapulted to that of a funk, R&P, pop icon. He was a sex symbol, a force of nature — and his musical canon is composed of too many hits to count on both hands. And it didn't look like he was slowing down anytime soon. Both HitNRun: Phase One and HitNRun: Phase Two were generally regarded in a positive light. They were an amalgamation of Prince's honed craft, and yet somehow in true to Prince form, novel. But as far as a Phase Three album in the works, or other music for that matter, it's unclear if the artist was planning anything.

Instead, Prince had been creating a different kind of project, something slightly adjacent to his musical endeavors — an autobiography. According to Rolling Stone, Prince's T he Beautiful Ones would have been "an unconventional and poetic journey through his life and creative work." Hopefully, Prince got far enough along in the writing process and some form of the project will be available to the public. Though he wasn't able to finish it, just having his artistic touch on the book will be reason enough to read. It was scheduled for release in the fall of 2017.

Though Prince has been known to move in ways that neither his fans — nor the music industry — anticipated, it wouldn't surprise anyone to learn that the artist had been writing or creating music since the release of HitNRun: Phase Two. If that's not true — or if it is, and we never get to hear the work — one thing stays constant. Prince's current contributions to the world will always be cherished and invaluable — just like him.

Images: Giphy