An album that Prince made after scrapping the Black Album, Lovesexy is his most unguarded and spiritually radiant statement. It’s a funk gospel for the body and soul, all joy and no irony. If you only know the hits, this is the deep cut that reveals the man behind the myth.
The story goes that Prince was driving through London when he saw a billboard advertising something called “Love Sexy.” He liked the way the two words ran together. That single moment of linguistic observation became the title track, which opens the album: nine minutes of freeform praise, a one-word chant that builds into something like a sermon on the mount.
Lovesexy arrived in the spring of 1988, just months after Prince had infamously scrapped the entire Black Album — a darker, more abrasive record that had already been pressed and shipped. He pulled it from release, reportedly because of a spiritual crisis. What replaced it was its opposite: an album in love with love itself, with life, with the idea that God and sex aren’t enemies.
Prince played nearly everything himself. He tracked most of it at Paisley Park, his brand-new studio complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota — a purpose-built cathedral of sound that he designed down to the carpet fibers. Sheila E. added drums on “Alphabet St.” and “Glam Slam,” giving those tracks a snap that Prince’s own LinnDrum loops couldn’t replicate. But the rest is him: bass, guitar, keys, synth bass, and that voice, which here sounds less like a weapon and more like an invitation.
The album flows as a side-long suite, no gaps between tracks. It was originally sequenced on vinyl as one continuous piece — side one and side two both running together. Prince wanted you to hear it from front to back, no interruptions. The CD kept that continuity, but the cassette broke it. He hated cassettes. Can’t blame him.
“Alphabet St.” is the moment where the album tilts from prayer into party. That descending bassline, the chanted “Aaah”s, the way Prince throws in a rapid-fire “You want a piece of me?” — it’s pure adolescent confidence, but delivered with the chops of a man who has nothing left to prove. The video was even stranger: Prince in blackface makeup, dancing with a cane. The 80s were a weird time.
Then there’s “Anna Stesia.” If you want to hear Prince at his most vulnerable, it’s here. The lyrics trace a late-night encounter that turns into a confession of faith. By the end, he’s singing “Love is God, God is love, girls and boys love God above” over a piano that sounds like it’s being played in an empty church at 3 AM. It’s the album’s thesis statement, and it lands harder than any guitar solo could.
Critics didn’t know what to do with it. Rolling Stone called it “a weird, wonderful, and as always, infuriating record.” The commercial response was muted — it barely went platinum, a disappointment after Purple Rain and Sign o’ the Times. But Lovesexy has aged better than almost anything in Prince’s catalog. It doesn’t chase trends. It doesn’t apologize. It just is.
The cover was Prince in the nude, hands behind his head, looking directly at the camera. The record company fought him on it — some retailers refused to stock it. He didn’t care. That photo is the album in microcosm: total vulnerability, total confidence, no armor.
Put this on late at night. Let it play through without skipping. The last track, “Positivity,” ends with the sound of a door closing and a child laughing. It’s the sound of an artist who, for one brief moment, was perfectly at peace.
🎵 Key Takeaways
- Title came from a London billboard reading 'Love Sexy.'
- Album replaced scrapped Black Album after spiritual crisis.
- Prince played almost everything except Sheila E on two tracks.
- Album flows as continuous side-long suite with no gaps.
- 'Alphabet St.' tilts from prayer into party with descending bassline.
- Prince hated cassettes for breaking the album's continuity.
Was Lovesexy a commercial failure?
It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum, but compared to Purple Rain and Sign o' the Times, it underperformed. Prince's label was reportedly disappointed, but he defended the album fiercely.
Why did Prince scrap the Black Album before Lovesexy?
Prince halted the release just weeks before its planned drop, saying the album was 'too dark' and that it didn't align with his spiritual beliefs at the time. Some bootlegs survived, and it was eventually released officially in 1994.
What is the meaning of the song 'Anna Stesia'?
Prince told interviewers it's about a woman who turns out to be a symbol of divine love. The lyrics intertwine sexual desire and religious ecstasy, ending with the line 'Love is God, God is love' — the album's central theme.
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