Publication: El Pais [Spa]
Date: December 15, 1997
Section:
Page Number(s):
Length:
Title: "An Interview With "
Interviewed By: Bruno Galindo

[Translated by Raul Gonzalez] : When I am on stage I realize that this is why I write music. The most important thing a musician can experience is to be able to share that magic, to exchange that energy. Look at Warner: I gave them my music for years and they gave me a lot of golden albums. Look what I do with them: I just hang them in a wall. They don't make me happy. We, as musicians, need love: That's the only thing that makes us happy. I don't regret my relationship with them; in any case, they helped me build this place where I have been doing music for 15 years. But contracts don't interest me anymore, I just care about my family, my friends and music.

B.G.: Do you think someday the artists will be able to split up with their record companies and freely distribute their creations to the public ?

: It would be fantastic. But that is a very delicate question, because many artists are too weak and frightened to just go outside. The most important thing for us is to follow spiritual impulses.

B.G.: Now that you are, at last, free from any contracts, why don't you go back to the name your parents gave you ?

: I didn't change my name to escape from my Warners contract. That can not be done: it is illegal. I did it because my spirit told me so. At that moment I stopped being the person I was to become someone more complete. But, anyway, right at that moment they stopped wanting Prince's albums. Interesting, isn't it ?

B.G.: It seems that, while you are one of the biggest names in pop music, you are one of the most misunderstood as well. You don't do too much to clarify your situation. Doesn't it bother you?

: Of course it bothers me. The name change liberated me, it allowed me to become the person I wanted to be, and leave behind the one I had become. In front of you you have a person who is searching for peace and who is much more focused than before. The time of truth has come, this must be known at last, and I would like you to tell people. However, I believe a lot of people realized this change when they heard "The most beautiful girl in the world".

B.G.: Do you believe in any particular religion?

: I only believe in looking inside yourself. You always need to do that in order to realize that there are two different beings inside you: The one who thinks and the one who talks. When you can see this... (while saying this looks down in his very own, well-known fashion) ... that's when you've reached your personal Dawn.

B.G.: What exactly does "the Dawn" represent to you? There are references to it in many of your songs, even your Internet site bears this name.

: The Dawn means looking inside yourself. Everybody is capable of visualizing Love inside of themselves. I had ever thought it was difficult to love someone that hurts you. Until one day when I began to see that the one that hates you the most and the one that loves you the most are the same person.

B.G.: What? Can you explain this?

: When someone hates you, what they really want is to be you, and that's a sign of love. Anybody who can see the Dawn will be able to see it for the next 3000 years.

B.G.: All that spirituality, isn't it shocking with the ostentation of this place? I hope I am not offending you, but you seem to be Captain Nemo onboard the Nautilus. What would you save from this place if it was destroyed by, for example, fire?

: This will never happen (says with an angry voice, but he quickly regains control of himself). If you leave a piece of bread on a table, someday it will become moss, and this will become medicine. Tupac Shakur isn't here anymore, but this loss has mitigated the aggressiveness of lots of people. In the same way, Paisley Park will never be destroyed, it will just become something else.

B.G.: Excuse me if I insist, but it's hard to believe, when one sees you living in this palace, that you have no interest in material things....

: I'm not scared of poverty. I grew up being poor. Between 17 and 19 years, I didn't have a dollar in my pocket. But money finally comes, and friends help. And these times are positive, because they force you to decide if you're interested in living on this planet or not. I'm not here for money, because that doesn't make me happy. Musicians don't reach the top for money, and if they do, they have chosen the wrong way. Money is the source of every bad thing, and I have never let it destroy me. I am not even used to having it in my pockets. What I do is change it for positive energy. Everyone and everything is nothing but energy. And we need positive electricity to convert that energy into something good.

B.G.: Your new work, Emancipation, seems to be inspired by the pyramids of Egypt: they are three discs of the same duration. What keeps you fascinated with the subject?

: The way Egyptians were helped by the stars, their faith and mental power when they built the pyramids. To move these stones they had to make a tremendous collective mental effort. Nowadays we wouldn't be able to do it. We are too divided to be able to concentrate on that kind of concern. Very often I wonder about the human nature: Were we, at the beginning, more intelligent and are now becoming idiots, or is it the opposite? I prefer to think that every time we are becoming a little bit more brilliant. We have to create something together.

B.G.: Recommend me a book.

: "Embraced by the Light", by Betty Eadie. It is about experiences after physical death.

B.G.: Have you experienced something like that ?

: No.

B.G.: Do you believe in life after death ?

: Believing in it gives faith to a human being and makes him or her lead a better life. When I meet someone who doesn't believe in God, what he or she says acquires the cadence of a preacher. I wonder how can he or she live without wondering about the subject. That attitude terrifies me, because I think that if you don't believe, after life you won't go anywhere. I'm not scared by death; I know there is something after. I am more scared about life (joking). You have to choose between positive and negative. Faith is positive because it fights the fear.

B.G.: Do you have dreams?

: Many of them. Yesterday I dreamt about Mayte. She was running. She was chasing me. Then the game changed and she made me chase her.

B.G.: What is your worst nightmare ?

: I do not remember... ( pauses and thinks for a while.) Now that you mention it, I realize that in fact I have stopped having nightmares. I haven't had a nightmare since I decided to get married. That's extraordinary!

B.G.: When did you make that decision?

: Six months before the wedding.

B.G.: Is true Mayte and you met the first time in Spain?

: Yes... ( pauses...) No! The first time she saw me was at a concert in Madrid, but our fist encounter was in Francfort. On another occasion we went together to Barcelona.

B.G.: What do you remember of Spain?

: Spain! You Spanish people love life, man ! You don't know how lucky you are living here. I remember some incredible concerts and never-ending parties.

B.G.: Tell me about one.

: I can't, I am a married man ( says with a smile while playing with his neck tie).

B.G.: Twelve years ago a first version of your name-logo appeared on "Purple Rain". This fact makes me think you have been thinking about your name change for a while.

: All my life is included on my albums.

B.G.: As you made it known, this is the first time that you have been editing an album without being preparing another at the same time. Are you afraid of losing your interest in music someday?

: No, sir. As long as my spirit is alive my music will be too. Let me tell you something. The other day I was on a TV show with Mayte when, suddenly, in the middle of the interview, she said something that made me all emotional: "We are returning together". In that moment I knew that words came straight from her spirit and I felt her love. When you hear true words, soon you know it's the spirit of the person which pronounces them because they are not adulterated. My spirit expresses itself in other ways: through music. When I write a song it's my spirit that talks. If I weren't here talking with you I would run to write a song for her right now.

B.G.: Where could you take Mayte?

: Far away from this planet.

B.G.: Are you afraid of getting older?

: I love getting older. That means more music, more children, more experiences... more everything! I want to live so many, many years......

B.G.: Don't tell me: Three thousand years.

: Exactly! You have hit the nail, man!

B.G.: Do you sign autographs?

: No. I can't sign anymore. I signed the last one when I was still Prince.

B.G.: You've denied him, but you're still playing his songs...

: I am not the owner of the masters, but I know how to play them.

(The secretary opens the door and says that the interview is over. I am just about to say goodbye to when he says:)

: Wait a minute ! Aren't you going to ask anything about the business?

I almost forgot: has decided to do interviews because he has an album to sell.

: This is the most important time of my life. At last I am going to be the owner of my own career. And I have created a foundation, Love For One Another, that is going to help children and whoever needs medical care.

: I have lived in many places in my life, but I always return here. The grass and lakes calm me down. This is the place where I want to die.