プリンスの公式チャンネルに”Crimson and Clover”と”Chocolate Box”が公開

今週もプリンスのプリンスの公式チャンネルに”Crimson and Clover”と”Chocolate Box”が公開されました😄

Crimson and Clover

’09年リリースの「Lotusflow3r」から唯一制作されたMVでカヴァー曲。
オリジナルはトミー・ジェイムス&ザ・ションデルズ('68)[加えてThe Wild Onesの"Wild Thing"を内包]。

↓オリジナル

MVには当時まだ知名度の低かったバレリーナのミスティ・コープランド(Misty Copeland)とモデルでダンサーのララ・エスカーゼガー（Lala Escarzega）を起用。

ミスティに魅了されたプリンスは自身が出演する『Lopez Tonight』や”Welcome 2 America”のポスター等に積極的に参加させます。

ミスティは’15年にアメリカン・バレエ・シアター (American Ballet Theater) のプリンシパル（首席）ダンサーに昇格、今年公開の映画『くるみ割り人形と秘密の王国』では女優としても出演しています。

全ては彼女の努力の賜物ですが、プリンスが起用した事で知名度は確実に上がったと思います。

今年配信されたアルバムも３曲めにこの曲が収録されてますが、CDが発売される５日前の３月２４日、プリンスの公式サイト”lotusflow3r.com”で先行ダウンロード出来たバージョンにはプリンス・オリジナルでキャッチーなサウンドとサイケっぽいキーボードで魅力的な“The Morning After”が収録されていました。

結果的にこの曲はその後配信されなかったので会員だけが手にした”幻の１曲”となってます。

Chocolate Box

こちらは「LOTUSFLOW3R」と同梱でリリースされた「MPLSOUND」に収録された１曲で、こちらもアルバムからはこれ１曲だけがMVで発表されました。

”The Greatest Romance Ever Sold”のリミックス以来となる”ア・トライブ・コールド・クエスト(A Tribe Called Quest)のQ-Tipを再び迎えMVまで出演してます😄

Q-TIPが注目されるけど、MVには再びLala Escarzegaが参加。
日本でも知名度が高い方ではないかもだけどアウディのCMとかにも出演してます。

プリンスとの絡みは公式ではこれ１曲だけですが、実は’15年の「HITnRUN Phase Two」収録の”Extraloveable”のリミックスのMVも制作していた事をSNSで丁寧に語ってます。

 

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The last video we shot together. He never released this and the day I arrived at Paisley, I had no idea I was shooting it. I've actually never even seen the video myself. This was the first time I got him to dance with me. It was all my choreography. -He believed in me more than I believed in myself. There was a moment during shooting where I was on stage dancing. It was just him, me and the camera man. P could tell I was a bit nervous because I felt unprepared. But that was the thing with him, u never knew when he was going to want to perform or shoot a video and not tell you. U always had to be prepared with him. He stood off stage just to my left. I glanced over at him... He said, "Dance from here" *points to his heart*, "Not here" *points to his head*. He had a gentle way with me when he critiqued me and he could always sense exactly what I was thinking or feeling without me saying anything. #telepathy

E S C Λ R Z E G Λ ❩さん(@lalaescarzega)がシェアした投稿 - 2016年 4月月22日午後7時38分PDT

 

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This is a silhouette of Prince and I, from the video Xtralovable, which I used to tease Prince that it was spelled wrong. I miss him so deeply. Posting this is bittersweet. If you know me, you know that I don't care for fame or hype. It means nothing to me without him here. I see many using his name now for the wrong reasons. But this video, I learned, was important to him. He was my friend first, & an icon 2nd in my world. I used to tell him, "I think I forget who you are sometimes". And he would give me big eyes and a funny face and say, "uh, yeah!" Lol! That is one thing I know he appreciated about me. Prince just wanted to be normal around his inner circle. That is why he stayed in Minneapolis. Because people treated him normal. We would go to the movies (albeit, he'd still shut down the theatre), the store, coffee shops & drive around MN and he could do so because he knew he was "safe" there. Sometimes when we'd drive around, Prince would do this hilarious thing where he'd say "watch this" and then he'd find some random stranger walking down the street and very animatedly stick out his hand and wave "hi" to them. Most people would casually wave back. I thought it was so funny. And he'd do it all the time because he knew it made me laugh. We had so much fun together. But we also argued, as those who are close, inevitably do. During December of 2015, we hadn't spoke in a few weeks. We were distant. I got very very sick in January of this year and when he found out I was in the hospital, he reached out to me immediately. That was Prince's way of demonstrating his love for me. No matter the distance between us. Which for Prince, if you know him... He can ignore you for a long time if he wants to. And he had... Up until when he found out I was sick. It makes me sad, that I could not do more to save him. It breaks me inside & makes me angry. I had just spoken to him a few days before he transcended, (after his plane scare), and told him how much I missed him & how badly it had scared me when I heard of an emergency landing. He told me he was ok & with a smile. He told me not to worry. We both talked about meeting soon. (Cont. below)

E S C Λ R Z E G Λ ❩さん(@lalaescarzega)がシェアした投稿 - 2016年 5月月13日午後12時41分PDT

このシルエット風のMVは”Big City”でも作ろうとしてましたね...
完成してたら良かったのに...