The One -Video,Character & Discussion

[Christina_Denied_Tx1885]

On the 13th April 1998 Prince /New Power Generation released a promotional single titled 'The One'.

Prince - The One​

It is a video with a heart warming story. It was then commercially released later in June. BET premiered the video on the 30th June 1998.

Some more about it here in PrinceVault.

The One - Prince Vault

princevault.com

What appeals to me especially, is the short silent film that goes with the track itself. L'd like to elaborate on the interesting character Prince plays here in a while but first, the project.
Prince created & wrote the piece & Mayte fully choreographed it & as it is noted in various places, Mayte provided the direction & drive for this particular piece.

It is set in 1920s. 1921 to be exact.

It starts as black & white then goes into full colour. It is a really captivating piece of art. Well. It is April & 'The One' is now 27 years old.
You all know it, so I thought we could share the beauty & enchanting vibes it gives again to the soul. It really is a stunningly beautiful piece of creativity & direction.

From the PrinceVault.

The One video is made of two parts and begins with a short black and white Charlie Chaplin-like silent film set in 1921 starring Prince, Mayte and Rita Moreno with dialogue intertitles. Prince plays a hobo, reminiscent of the 1921 film The Kid, who stops outside a shack and, running out of water,




looks out through the window....


and sees Mayte in an argument with her [very unreasonable!] mother,
who is portrayed by Moreno,

about the cleanliness of their house. ...

Mayte is also told that "real love only happens in storybooks". When Mayte is alone in her room, she opens a book that her mother left purposely for her to read from the start. When one of her tears drops on the first page titled 'The Beginning', she is transported into the colorful story of the book


and starts the second part of the storyline which is a performance of the song by Prince with Mayte and ten dancers.

The performance follows the narrative of the song with Prince rejecting 10 dancers who try to seduce him before ending up in Mayte’s arms. This dance performance takes place in an Arab-style setting with belly dancers, which is not too different from the imagery of the album era, which was also inspired by Mayte.

Towards the end, the 'hobo', Prince, knocks on Mayte’s door to meet her and it is made clear that Prince is 'the one' for her. Mayte’s mother acknowledges that and the video ends with an intertitle, with 'The Beginning' being written on it instead of 'The End'.

https://princevault.com/index.php?title=Video:_The_One

Prince - The One (Official Music Video)​

[When searching please look for the YT Channel : The Artist Formerly Known As Prince @theartistformerlyknownaspr9749 since this is the 'clearest' version. ]​

 

[Christina_Denied_Tx1885]

So wouldn't it be cool to like further discuss the development for Prince's character here! ?! The ... hobo/vagabond/person of no fixed abode/drifter/rollingstone/nomad/wanderer/wayfaring stranger/wayfarer. Do delete as needed. I just thought this was such a cool persona here.
Some more pictures for you.




So, whilst this character is beautiful nameless, of no fixed address ... We also see Prince play around with another persona of no fixed address, this time an older gentleman & he is portrayed in another video, called 'Come On'.with scenes filmed at Hyde Park, London, Maybe we could call him The Hyde Park Hobo.
Does that work?
Here he is.

From PrinceVault.
Come On is the eighth track on the New Power Generation’s third and final ’solo' album Newpower Soul, and, three and a half months after the album’s release, Come On was released as the album’s first and only commercially-released single (The One was previously available as a promotional single), containing several remixes of the track.

Here is more about this experimental to the public/ quirky video in particular:

The video mixes a concert footage of the show at Café de Paris in London, England on 28 August 1998 (a.m.) interspersed with scenes filmed at Hyde Park, London, England on the same day and sequences with Prince singing the track to Marva King. The audio is the "album edit" version of the song.

Scenes shot at Hype Park shows Prince as an old musician annoying [!!!!!! ] passers-by (actually his band and entourage). He is approched by Larry & Tina Graham, who show him the Bible and give him a brochure of Jehovah’s Witnesses ("Life in a Peaceful New World") which he accepts happily.

The video ends with Prince in his old man outfit trying to seduce Manuela Testolini (who makes her only appearance in a Prince-related video).

Throughout the video, messages are embedded in the border of the video but they are difficult to read (written in dark gray on black and scrolling quickly). Among them are the following :

• We R in an universal rescue mission,
• New power generation feeling can be very contagious,
• Come on share the feeling with others,
• If we nurture fearless state of mind we are in love.

Prince - Come On (Official Music Video)​

Again . When searching the video do use the channel :The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. As this is most likely the best upload.

@theartistformerlyknownaspr9749​

 

[Christina_Denied_Tx1885]

And so , to add to this further a few more pics here from The older gentleman with no fixed address~, who makes an appearance at the GQ Man of The Year Awards 1998.

In this setting he looks more of an educated professor. Wouldn't you agree?






It was a huge , glittering event. You know something?..........
............. & I could be very wrong here,.. but this song here from Crystal Ball reminds me of this persona..
The OGs will know for sure!.
Thoughts?

Edit- i think there is another track too.... but i'm pretty confused at the moment!haha