While Prince was having one of the most successful and prolific runs of his musical career during the mid-’80s, he was also heavily experimenting. Prince had been exploring his sexuality on wax, with songs like “Head” and “Darling Nikki” pushing the envelope for what was commercially acceptable in terms of explicit musical content. Prince’s writing on relationships was not confined to discussing sex, however, and he had begun experimenting with different perspectives on the emotional side of love.In 1986, he began writing and recording songs from the perspective of a woman, a character he named Camille.

These recording sessions would eventually produce a full album, appropriately titledCamille. A male artist writing songs from the perspective of a woman was not necessarily revolutionary at the time, but Prince decided to actuallyperformas a woman on these songs using studio tricks to make himself sound more feminine. This project was completely unique in his repertoire, taking the thread of androgyny that ran through his musical output to a new height. It was set to be an innovative step in music and break boundaries for male artists and how they expressed themselves. So why haven’t we heard this album?

The answer to that is one of the modern music industry’s great mysteries, which involves a long and convoluted struggle for the rights to the album. Although the public got a taste of this new sound Prince had been developing on 1987’s classicSign of the Times, the actualCamilleproject never saw the light of day. To this day, Prince fans are calling for the album to finally be released, with some speculating it may have been one of Prince’s best works.

Camille’s Recording

Prince’s Experiment In Funky Sound

In 1986,Prince was experimenting with a technology called varispeed. Varispeed is a function on many professional tape machines and reel-reel recorders. Tape was the main method of recording music up until the late 1980s and varispeed knobs sped up the tape’s rotation, pitching up the sound of the recording as well as speeding it up tempo-wise. This was typically used simply to speed up or slow down the recording of a song by a few BPM (beats per minute), and was not thought of as a useable audio effect. Few examples from this time exist of artists actually using it on vocals, with one being Paul McCartney’s “Coming Up”.

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“Rebirth of the Flesh”

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“Rockhard in a Funky Place”

Working with engineer Susan Rogers, Prince had written a batch of songs written from the perspective of a woman and was experimenting with attempts to make his voice sound more feminine. Eventually,varispeed was the natural solution as it enabled him to pitch his voice up artificially into a woman’s register. Prince was one of very few artists that used varispeed in a way that served a musical narrative and enhanced their art, rather than as a simple studio utility.

Prince’s public image had long been androgynous, with him often wearing women’s clothes and makeup. Prince was known to work with women, having an all-female band and hiring mostly female audio engineers for his studio sessions. He was completely unafraid of embracing the feminine qualities so many men at the time were actively suppressing, and completely unafraid of displaying his love for women.Camilleand Prince’s sonic adoption of a female alter-ego, therefore, was an extension of his entire musical ethos.

Why Camille Was Scrapped

Camille’s songs were finished at some point between 1986 and 1987, without a concrete plan for what would become of them. A few vinyl pressings were created in a test run, but somehow the album never made it to a full release. It’s known thatPrince wanted to release the album anonymously, allowing his creation, Camille herself, to take the spotlight and the credit.Most Prince fans assume this was the central reason for the album’s scrapping; it seems hard to believe that Prince’s label at the time, Warner Records, would have been keen on releasing an album without his name attached.

2020’s super deluxe edition ofSign o' the Timesfeatures outtakes from theDream Factory/Camille/Crystal Ballsessions.

The album’s release plan fizzled out and most of the songs ended up in Prince’s legendary vault (said to contain over 8000 songs). A few, however, made their way onto 1987’sSign of the Times: “If I Was Your Girlfriend”, “Housequake” and “Strange Relationship”. “If I Was Your Girlfriend”, in particular, is an interesting track because it seems like Prince was early on in experimenting with a female perspective;this song is still from the perspective of a man, but includes the pitched up vocals to enhance his sonic vulnerability. The song deals with the blurring of gender binaries as a man wishes he were close to his girlfriend in the way her female friends are close to her.

Will Prince’s Lost Album Ever Get Released?

Jack White Hinted At Plans In 2022

Since the ’80s,the music industry has seen several attempts made to pullCamillefrom the scrap heap. Notably, in 2016 and 2017, a few of those test vinyl pressings surfaced and were auctioned, with one coming from Prince’s old assistant. In 2016, one such pressing ofCamillesold for $58,787.

In 2022, rumors began circulating that Jack White (of The White Stripes fame) had bought the rights to release Camille and would do so under his company Third Man Records. White is a known Prince superfan and has vocally credited Prince as one of his main inspirations to become a musician over the years, so this made sense.

White even discussed plans forCamille’s release on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show in 2022, and is an owner of one of theCamilletest pressings. To this day, however, there have been no further updates on a release date for streaming, vinyl or otherwise.Third Man Records has gone radio silent on the album since White’s original announcement that it would be released, and there is speculation among the Prince community that the estate has halted the process and canceled the release. It seems like fans will have to make do with the tracks already released onSign of the Timesand otherwise, floating around online.

For now, it looks like Prince’s lost albumCamilleis staying in the vault.