Blurred Lines: Elusive Messages of Religiosity and Blackness in the Music of Prince

Abstract

In this article, the goal is to use the theoretical framework of intersectionality as the lens through which to better understand the musical genius Prince, his Royal Badness. The collection of articles in this special issue are a great gift for scholars and others who have been enthralled by this acclaimed artist. While other authors are taking a more in-depth look at other facets of Prince, I will be focusing specifically on how he used his music to blur the lines between the religious and the secular and to affirm and complicate understandings of Blackness and, by extension, Black masculinity. Prince’s own sexuality was questioned throughout his career; however, this article will be best served by directing attention to his iteration of Black masculinity that many seemed to accept, embrace even. Prince craftily blurred the lines between his various identities, which functioned to not only allow him to be his authentic self, but challenged his fans and society writ large to engage more critically with societal structures designed to define who and what we are as people and a society.

Keywords:

• Prince
• religious identity
• blackness
• intersectionality

Note

Notes

1 The terms “African American” and “Black” will be used interchangeably throughout this document to emphasize particular nuances of the point being made and to reflect the fluidity of racial/ethnic labels that the author personally navigates between as a race scholar in other works.