Prince onstage at the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.
In a recent sit-down with V Magazine, an interviewer asks the musical icon formerly known as Love Symbol whether he has an iPhone. “Are you serious?” says Prince. “Hell no.”
So when the famously offline artist suddenly popped up on Twitter last night, heads turned:
[tweet https://twitter.com/3rdeyegirl/status/367447432033869824%5D
Notice the Twitter handle — not something obvious like “Prince.” Why 3rdeyegirl? That, with spaces between those words, is the name of a rock band Prince recently hand-assembled. “I’m trying to get these women’s careers started, because they’re all so talented,” he told V. “It’s not even about me anymore.”
But when it comes to Twitter, it’s apparently enough about him to conjure this food-related tweet:
[tweet https://twitter.com/3rdeyegirl/status/367449878374268928%5D
A throwback ruffles-and-roses snap:
And a kind of subversive selfie:
It really is Prince, too, says Twitter music-marketer Tatiana Grace. (The account has been active since January, but Prince only started sending out his own tweets from it last night.)
Prince is known for his cantankerous relationship with the Internet, routinely releasing his lawyers to hound video services like YouTube and remove clips of his music or live performances. As Rolling Stone notes, Prince went after video service Vine earlier this year to nix what his lawyers described as “unauthorized recordings” and “unauthorized synchronizations.”
That didn’t stop His Royal Badness from surprise-teasing Twitter followers with a YouTube video dubbed “Let’s Go Crazy Reloaded.” “CATCH THIS NOW B4 MY LAWYERS DEW,” wrote Prince, noticed by Billboard, though sure enough, the video has since been made private and the tweet removed.
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