Emancipation (1996)
The first song written for Emancipation, setting the mood for much that follows. It’s not the volcanic emission of creativity we were led to expect but it has a titanium synth-line which gallantly does most of the heavy lifting on the (non)chorus, leaving Prince space to dispatch the title to the heavens with varying levels of compulsion. Right Back Here in my Arms has its flaws – namely that triangle sound which also plagues Dreamin’ About U and In This Bed I Scream – but it’s solidly constructed with enough minor-key grit to make it onto my single-disc album edit. The boyband-esque rap and Poet99 samples from the Prince-produced (obvs) Three Shots are par for the course, but what really knocks it out of the regular New Jack Swing orbit is the stellar pull of those synths. Slingshotting the brooding message into the laps of the Moirae, goddesses of fate.