"This Could B Us" was a digital single released on August 28, 2015, as the third single from Prince's 38th album Hit n Run Phase One released two weeks later (although only the first single to be released since the album's announcement).^[1]

The single version of the song was the same as that first streamed on the Tidal three days earlier; a remix (with additional recording) of the original track which was released the previous year on Art Official Age.^[2]

Background

The track was first mentioned in a June 23, 2014, article by Jon Bream in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (along with The Gold Standard, a remix of Funknroll and an unnamed duet with Rita Ora, possibly Ain't About 2 Stop or The Single Most Amazing). Bream mentions that Prince explained the track was named in reference to the #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin meme. Prince explained that he was inspired by a widely retweeted image taken from his 1984 film Purple Rain, showing him and co-star Apollonia Kotero on a motorcycle, with the words "This could be us... but you playin" emblazoned above and below their faces.^[3][4] On June 26, 2014, a 35-second snippet of "This Could Be Us" was made available on 3rdEyeGirl Twitter account via a dropbox link.^[5]

The original version, "This Could Be Us", is the seventh track on Prince's 37th album Art Official Age. This version charted for 12 weeks on Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay chart, peaking at No. 19 on March 7, 2015.^[6] A remix of the track (titled "This Could B Us") is the fifth track on Prince's 38th album Hitnrun Phase One, and "This Could B Us" was released as the album’s third single (though only its first following the album’s release) ten days before the album's release.

While specific recording dates are not known, it is assumed to have been recorded in Spring 2014 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The Hitnrun Phase One remix contains additional recording believed to have taken place in early 2015 at Paisley Park Studios.

Critical reception

In artist/writer Tora Borealis review, she writes "Out of the two versions of This Could Be Us, the remix is punchier and puts some meat on the space-ballad's delicate bones. The original starts off with a Close Encounters melody, twinkles like a malfunctioning holodeck and slows to a close HAL-style. But HITnRUN's revisit takes the sci-fi effects and ramps it up into warp-drive. The second half is now basically an instrumental and all the better for it, although the song's lyrics aren't as corny as they first sound."^[7]

References