The Faith According to The Artist: 2000

The artist formerly known as Prince bends over slightly, wipes his blow-dried hair out of his face and answers in a determined voice: "I'm here to bring pleasure, to provide music for the party (read: life)." Then he gets up, walks towards the bedroom, returns, shakes hands and says: "That's enough, there are other journalists who want to talk to me. Thank you and goodbye." And he is gone. The Artist, in his red glittery hip pants with matching shirt and heelboots. A dazed Journalist is left with only one thought: 'What an ego. That man can only listen to himself.' Then such a thought says something about the journalist. The person in question can live with that!

What preceded it:

His Royal Badness, TAFKAP, Prince, The Artist, The Symbol, the musical genius behind Sheila E., Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, The Time and The New Power Generation had decided it was time for some press promotion again. And so the man went to the Netherlands with his entire band, ex-wife/now life partner Mayte and supporters for a few interviews. Sunday evening the TV-Show at Ivo Niehe and Monday the written press. What happened at the TV-Show was not seen and heard by the viewers who turned on their TV later that week, because Prince Roger Nelson found the quality of the performance and the subsequent interview far below par. All that remained was an angry Ivo and a tape confiscated by Prince.

That tape is demonstratively in the trash of the hotel room where The Artist is just hanging up the phone. He turns around, smiles and walks towards the chair. A short description: he is not small, he is mini. His black hair has been freed from the red headscarf with which he entered the hotel earlier this evening. It stands straight up, in all directions (the hair, not the cloth!). Around his neck a gigantic gold necklace with an even larger golden 'Symbol' in it, around his neck another necklace with 'The Symbol'.

The Artist is not a handsome man, but he is fascinating. (Or is it secretly just the hype that the media created around this man that makes you intimidated?) The Artist belongs in the list of top stars, which also includes Madonna and Michael Jackson. "But I don't live like a star," he says. "People make me a star, an idol. I just live the way I do. A famous American rapper, whose name I won't mention, once said to me: 'I'm not commercial, people make me commercial'. That's how I see it too. I am not a product, I am a creation of God. Do you know the word 'recreation'? Write it down." The Artist takes a pen and puts a line between 're' and 'create'. "Now read it again; it says re-shovel. What something like that means when God wants us to help him; He wants us to create with him."

True Prince fans know that the man is quite in the Lord. It is not for nothing that he divorced his wife Mayte on the day they got married, and then entered into a spiritual commitment. The Artist believes in equality between men and women. I'm not here to question my private life, but what I do want to say is that I've seen the truth and therefore know how to live. As long as you follow the "truth, you don't do wrong things. The law states that the woman is less than the man. Mayte and I disagree, we are both children of God and therefore equal.

Anyone who starts talking about faith and God strikes a sensitive chord with the musician. The Artist is firmly convinced that he has seen 'The Truth' and therefore knows better than anyone how life works. I'm not 41 years old, I'm only 1 year old, because I've only had one birthday and that was when I was born. Who counts his birthdays, counts down to death and I am immortal S" Right, what can you say against that? Not much, because to every argument you put forward, he answers with the clincher I have seen the light and you have not, because if you had seen the light, you would have agreed with me!'.

He continues: "Many people think that music occupies the biggest place in my life, but nothing could be further from the truth. My fulfillment in life is learning the truth. Music is only a side issue. I hear it 24 hours a day, that's true... How can I explain it? I will give an example; Tonight's TV show, for example. I do not approve of those (audio tapes, because they do not reflect reality. (Later, to everyone's surprise, Prince announced that he would remix the soundtrack at his Paisley Studio. December 21st his performance could be seen on Ivo Niehe's show.) The reality was that I played damn well. The truth, however, was that the sound engineer does not understand his work and has therefore screwed things up. Hey, I'm 'just another brother' trying to show someone (in this case the sound engineer) that he has the wrong job. That is the truth. I take no credit for that. Write that down!" The Artist. . bent over' from his chair, the right index finger piercing forcefully towards noteblock. "But put it in your own words". I want people to take responsibility for their actions, which is why I never have my interviews recorded. And if something is not right, then it is their fault, not mine! I've also written bad things about people in songs, but in the end that says more about me than about them."

Veronica (Gids)

January 7, 2000

The Faith According to The Artist