His Royal Badness, Prince, recently announced plans for a new album called The Hit & Run Album, or at least his current band 3rdEyeGirl did for him, and now he’s dropped a new track from the album via Spotify, despite Prince recently saying that he would be abstaining from all streaming services except for Tidal. He also once said that the “internet was dead” so it’s best to not take everything that the Purple Paisley One says literally. Last year, Prince shut down his Facebook page, Twitter account, and took down all his music from YouTube. And now he’s back on Twitter again. He’s a mercurial little elf, that one.

The new single is called “Stare”, and at the moment is only available through Spotify. (Yes, just Spotify. So much for “Tidal only.”)  Prince makes a couple of callbacks to previous hits on this song, most notably his iconic 1986 #1 hit “Kiss”, and an even older and lesser known song, “Sexy Dancer” from his 1979 self-titled album. You can listen to the new track below.

As for the new song itself, it’s OK; Prince is almost incapable of making something totally worthless (although his 1996 album Chaos & Disorder might challenge that theory). “Stare” is very much in the retro 70’s funk vein, emulating his childhood idols, Sly and the Family Stone, a kick that Prince has been on since around the time of his 2004 album Musicology. His more recently released single “HARDROCKLOVER“, which he released on SoundCloud last month, was a lot more exciting and a little more current, with digs at “rappers tryin’ to be singers.” Sorry Meek Mill, no one on Earth can throw shade like Prince can.

HT: Pitchfork