| "This Could B Us" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Prince | ||||
| from the album Hit n Run Phase One | ||||
| Released | August 28, 2015 | |||
| Recorded | Spring 20141 | |||
| Genre | Electro-funk2 | |||
| Length | 4:11 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter | Prince | |||
| Producers |
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| Prince singles chronology | ||||
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"This Could B Us" is a song by American musician Prince, released on August 28, 2015, as the third single from his 38th album Hit n Run Phase One. The album was released two weeks later.
The single version of the song was the same as that first streamed on Tidal three days earlier; a remix (with additional recording) of the original track, which was released the previous year on Art Official Age.3
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). 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.45 On June 26, 2014, a 35-second snippet of "This Could Be Us" was made available on 3rdEyeGirl Twitter account via a dropbox link.6
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, 2015.7 A remix of the track (titled "This Could B Us") is the fifth track on Prince's 38th album Hit n Run Phase One, and "This Could B Us" was released as the album's third single ten days before the album's release.
Critical reception
In artist/writer Tora Borealis's 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."8
References
References
- "This Could Be Us". Princevault.com.
- Wood, Mikael (April 21, 2021). "All 85 Prince singles, ranked 4 u from worst 2 best". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- "Single: This Could B Us – Prince Vault". princevault.com.
- Dewey, Caitlin (2021-10-26). "A complete history of "This Could Be Us But You Playin", the meme that inspired an unlikely Prince song". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
- McCormick, Rich (June 24, 2014). "Prince exploits meme with announcement of new solo album". The Verge.
- "This Could Be Us - Prince Vault". princevault.com.
- "Prince | Biography, Music & News". Billboard.
- Borealis, Tora (October 28, 2017). "228: This Could B(e) Us".