Camille

In a matter of ten days, there was already enough material for an album. Among the pieces created was Housequake, a track that encapsulated this new direction. The project was so advanced that by November 5th, it had already reached the mastering stage, and some copies were even pressed. However, weeks before its planned release in January 1987, Prince decided to halt its publication. The exact reasons are not entirely clear, but it is speculated that Warner Bros.' reluctance to release a work that did not bear his name may have influenced this. After discarding Camille, Prince gathered these songs, along with other unreleased recordings, to form the ambitious triple album Crystal Ball. Finally, under pressure from the label, he had to reduce it to a double LP that would become Sign o' the Times (1987), including tracks such as Housequake, If I Was Your Girlfriend, and Strange Relationship.

Over time, the songs that were part of Camille began to see the light in various ways. Rebirth of the Flesh appeared in its original form on the Super Deluxe edition of Sign o' the Times in 2020. Feel U Up was released as the B-side of Partyman in 1989. Shockadelica, which Prince had originally composed for Jesse Johnson's self-titled album in 1986, ended up being the B-side of If I Was Your Girlfriend. Meanwhile, Good Love was part of the soundtrack for the film Bright Lights, Big City in 1988. In 2022, Third Man Records announced that it had obtained the rights to finally release the album Camille, although the date and format of its release have not yet been defined.