(Credits: Far Out / Warner Bros / Daniel Hazard)
Sun 1 February 2026 20:30, UK
There are many artists who get assigned the ‘genius’ tag, and while sometimes it’s a superfluous gesture of believing that someone is destined for greatness, in the case of Prince, it’s fully warranted.
Throughout the history of pop, not many have achieved what he managed to do almost single-handedly, and the Minneapolis-based artist was celebrated for having built a reputation for himself as the sort of once-in-a-generation talent who was capable of moulding the rest of the musical landscape around him with his innovative range of styles.
Prince could easily be described as a true shapeshifter in all senses of the word, yet all of his work was still very much identifiable by some of his innate characteristics. Whether he was operating in a more pop-oriented space, creating funk-rock odysseys or contributing to the emergence of neo-soul, it’s hard to look at the work of Prince and identify it as having been out of touch; in fact, he was so frequently ahead of the curve.
Not only were his songs and stylistic innovations above the majority of his peers, but he wasn’t afraid of showing off his supreme musicality, either. On the majority of his records, he played all of the instruments himself, leaving little to no need for the assistance of others when it came to crafting his work. There aren’t too many people who can create something so divine on their own, and for him to have consistently done this throughout his career is an astonishing feat.
The fact that many of his songs were covered by other artists also goes to show just how appreciated he was by not only his peers but also by people from other musical backgrounds, and whether it’s Chaka Khan’s version of ‘I Feel For You’ or the outstanding Sinéad O’Connor rendition of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, the impact of Prince’s songwriting can be felt in all corners of the pop sphere.
There’s not much really standing in the way of him being worthy of being called a genius, but like all others of his kind, there were flaws that stood alongside his frequent strokes of excellence.
One person in particular who called out Prince for his faults was U2 singer Bono, who in the book, Bono: In Conversation, was quoted as saying that he’d much rather be known for being in a band than being a solo artist, using Prince as a scapegoat for the stereotype of the over-controlling genius.
“I think, in some ways, it’s easier to realise a vision that’s singular and in your own head, but it’s harder to keep the vision going without argument,” Bono argued. “Look at Prince. He’s one of my favorite composers of the twentieth century. I really believe in him. But he needs an editor. He needs a row. He needs somebody in the studio to tell him to fuck off. ‘And guess what? There’s six great tracks and four of them are pretty average. I’m sorry, sir. Your genius was having a bad day.’ Does he have that? No chance.”
It’s a flaw, for sure, but while he was always seen as the authority figure in the studio who had the final say on his output, it never really hindered him to such a degree that his work fell completely flat. Besides, Bono has spent the entirety of his career working with producers and editors from the outside, and not all of them have told him when it’s a good time to stop, so what difference would it make for Prince?
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