What If Prince Cover Square
Put on a pot of coffe, y'all, becuase the almighty Purple One has gone and dropped a surprise post-sunset track. Ahead of his four-show, two night completely sold out weekend of Hit & Run shows in Louisville, Kentucky, Prince debuted "What If," a brand new cover recorded with his femme fatale 3rdEyeGirl band.
Opening with a blitz of clean slapback guitar, the track is one of the hardest-rocking cuts we've heard from Prince in the last 12 months and fits in snugly with the riff-heavy material we heard on PLECTRUMELECTRUM. Loaded with a sky-high chorus befitting of all the 80s power ballads you love to belt out along with the bar jukebox, "What If" is an anthemic series of rhetorical questions, delivered by both Prince and drummer Hannah Welton, who herself hails from Louisville. As Billboard notes, the song is in fact a cover of a tune by Christian singer-songwriter Nichole Nordeman. Nordeman's original song directs its questions at a would-be believer; it's a song about faith and the doubts that always come with.
A twist on the old "don't know what you got, until it's gone," the song in Prince's hands becomes a plea for a leaving lover to reconsider and give it all another try. It all culminates (or should we say, climaxes?) in a bevy of guitar licks from Prince, who seems intent on making this one an cathedral-size event.
"What If" premiered on Louisville radio station WPFK, but you can stream it in full below.
