Prince’s Love/Hate Relationship With The Internet Continues

The love/hate relationship between the internet and American singer-songwriter Prince has become even more complicated. The Little Red Corvette singer has been accused of pulling out of Glastonbury Festival negotiations after rumours of his appearance hit social media. Despite that, it appears that a song on Prince’s next album will be about an internet meme.

Speaking to The Guardian, the founder of Glastonbury Festival, Michael Eavis, has said that Prince became “really upset” during discussions with festival organisers after what he said were “social media rumours” that he would headline the event’s Saturday slot. Prince reportedly felt that the festival was using his name in order to market itself.

“We wanted him to play, and it got to the point where his people were talking to us about him doing it, but before he confirmed he got really upset because he thought we had advertised that he was playing,” Eavis said.

“We hadn’t, but with social media, rumours get everywhere, and one of those rumours was that Prince was coming. So he didn’t want to do it in the end.” Eavis also noted that online rumours don’t really lead to greater ticket sales. “All the social media chit-chat now about who might be playing really doesn’t help us,” he said.

“People think we’ve advertised them early, but there’d be no point to us leaking details because the tickets sell out in an hour in October, before the headline acts are announced. People come for what the event means to them, not the headline acts.”

Despite Prince’s change-of-mind, The Sun are reporting that Prince may still make an appearance at during the festival weekend. A source told the publication, “Prince wants to show up somewhere as a surprise. He has spent so much time in the UK lately, he’d love to do an impromptu set.”

NME have disputed this claim, saying that Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has told them, “Prince is not coming”. The Sun‘s unnamed source also said that rumours of Glastonbury headliners Metallica covering a Prince track were shot down by the group’s frontman.

“There was the suggestion of [Metallica] covering Prince, reminiscent of when Jay-Z came on to Wonderwall, but it got a firm ‘No’, mostly from singer James Hetfield,” said the source.

Despite his dislike for social media rumours, Prince has given a little something back to the meme-loving internet community. He has told the Star Tribune that a song on his next solo album is inspired by the infamous #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin meme which began on Twitter earlier this year.

The track, appropriately titled This Could Be Us, was inspired by the meme which involves taking a photo of two people and attaching the #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin to it, mirroring the image of Prince and Apollonia riding a motorcycle in the 1984 movie Purple Rain.

According to the Star Tribune, This Could Be Us is “a joyful ballad with some ecstatic Prince vocalizing”. Other songs on the yet-unnamed album include The Gold Standard, a remix of Funknroll, and a rap track featuring Rita Ora.

This Could Be Us is the second time in the past year that Prince has found new material in the consciousness of popular culture. Last year he released the funky single Breakfast Can Wait, which featured comedian Dave Chapelle on its cover. Chapelle recently explained just how he got “checkmated” by Prince.

Check out a number of #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin memes, below.

Watch: Prince – Breakfast Can Wait

http://youtu.be/GHbyNrGXpAA