Prince [ tickets ] reportedly plans to release three albums this year, including "Lotus Flower," the album he previewed recently on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles.

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Prince said he is not working with a major record label. "The gatekeepers have to change," he said. Instead, he is in final negotiations with a major retailer to distribute the music in physical form. The new releases also are expected to be available on a unnamed "highly interactive website."

For the second of the three forthcoming albums, tentatively titled "MPLSOUND," Prince experimented with Pro Tools and "new ways of recording," trippy, experimental pop songs harking back to the sound of "When Doves Cry," according to the interview.

He also is ready to "revive the Quiet Storm," by introducing Valente's new album, "Elixir." The explicitly sexual music, which melds Valente's voice with beats by Morris Hayes and guitar lines by Prince, is "nasty, but it's not dirty," Prince said. "She's singing about her lover, who could be her partner for life."

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