Prince walked onto the 2015 Grammys stage with more purpose and swagger than any contemporary pop princess or rap genius sitting in the front rows of the Staples Center last night, Feb. 8. The "Purple Rain" singer was there to present the award for Album of the Year and stole the show with his orange jumpsuit and superb smirk. Prince was able to sum up the category and, for that matter, the current state of music while dropping an educational, political and cultural bomb in the process.
"Albums, remember those?" he joked. "Albums still matter. Albums, like books and black lives, still matter."
The crowd erupted with cheers after hearing the shoutout to Black Lives Matter, a social movement that started in 2012 after the death of Trayvon Martin. The rallying cry was resurrected after recent decisions to not indict police officers who killed African-American citizens Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Beck ended up winning Album of the Year for his Morning Phase LP, and the singer was stunned to be on the same stage as the funky R&B star.
Albums certainly still matter to Prince, who released two full-length efforts -- Plectrumelectrum and Art Official Age -- in September. The latter proved to be more successful in reviews and on the charts, making it to No. 5 on the Billboard 200 -- Plectrumelectrum hit No. 8. Rolling Stone gave Art Official Age 3 1/2 stars while only shelling out two for the other album.
"Art Official Age is an attempt to get back to the violet-tinted pop mastery of the Purple Rain era. Plectrumelectrum is a set of exploratory funk-rock jams written with his new all-female band, 3rdEyeGirl. Guess which one you'll probably like best," RS wrote.
