The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince

Lori Elle and Robia LaMorte,

Amir was everything. Every. Thing. The name itself means “Prince.”

It had never occurred to me that each shoe and rock and handwritten letter is an opportunity to express yourself—or it’s just one more of a million little things that don’t. It’s up to you. But why would you choose to create a life from a pile of little things that don’t actively matter to you?

“You can’t look at yourself through other people’s eyes. When you’re working at a certain level, you find that people live through you, and if you don’t act like they expect you to, then you’re the bad one.”

like a frustrating unfinished octave,

. I was brought up in a black and white world, and—yes, black and white, night and day, rich and poor. Black and white. And I listened to all kinds of music when I was young. And when I was younger, I always said that one day I was gonna play all kinds of music and not be judged for the color of my skin, but the quality of my work. And hopefully th

Jennifer Beals had to have three body doubles—one of them a sixteen-year-old dude—in order to get through that number,

I think back on that moment in Purple Rain, when The Kid’s father turns to his mother with reproachful tears in his eyes and says, “I would die for you.” He thinks it’s the ultimate sacrifice, but in truth, it’s living for someone that presents the far greater challenge.

We shared a common belief that whatever you’re passionate about, you should learn about it, work on it, do it—just let it go and let it be.