New Stevie Nicks Album is an Ode to Prince
Fleetwood Mac’s ethereal frontwoman Stevie Nicks is gearing up for two tours and a new album inspired by the legendary “Purple Rain” crooner, among others. The spontaneously composed solo album came about after the devastating California fires.
The “Gold Dust Woman” writer and performer teased the solo record at the Pollstar Awards this past weekend, at which she was inducted into the Hall of Fame. She commented, “I have seven songs, and they are autobiographical, real stories where I’m not pulling any punches, for probably the first time in my life.”
She continued, “They are not airy, fairy songs that you are wondering who they’re about, but you don’t really get it. They’re real stories of memories of mine of fantastic men.”
NEW STEVIE NICKS FOOTAGE, OUTFIT AND ALBUM TECHNICALLY ANNOUNCED EVERYONE CHEERED pic.twitter.com/35EbedPDCd
— lucy (@hadedeverything) April 17, 2025
One of these memories of fantastic men? None other than Nicks’ friend, Prince. At the award show, she recalled the moment she attended the premiere of Purple Rain, which she didn’t complete. What made her walk out was the moment in the movie Prince hits Apollonia.
The “When Doves Cry” hitmaker asked Nicks for her opinion on the film, to which she admitted she hadn’t finished it.
To make him feel less offended, Nicks continued, “I said, ‘But I brought you a gift. It’s a really beautiful 24-carat necklace with little gold hearts on it, and here.’ And he goes, ‘I don’t want your necklace.’ And then he said — and this is in the song, this is where this record began — ‘You always bring me a gift. You never bring me you.'”
It was this particular memory that Nicks commented inspired at least one of the album’s seven tracks. The upcoming body of work will be her first new solo album of original material since In Your Dreams in 2011.
Prince, whose 1983 track “Little Red Corvette” inspired Nicks’ hit “Stand Back” later that year, played synthesizers on the song. In what some might think is a strange move, Nicks and Prince split royalties on the track, and he appears uncredited in the instrumental. The iconic musician also offered Nicks the opportunity to write lyrics for what may be considered his signature track, “Purple Rain,” but she declined.
When Little Red Corvette was released, Stevie Nicks heard and loved it so much, she ended up writing Stand Back.
— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) February 10, 2022
On 2/8/83, Prince laid down the the synthesizer he and Stevie agreed to split the publishing 50-50.
It has been part of every Fleetwood Mac tour w/SN since 1987. https://t.co/8xGKwgdBba pic.twitter.com/kavio0j1of
Their friendship continued over the years, and Nicks admitted that her song “Edge of Seventeen” inspired Prince. She commented in an interview, “He was inspired by ‘Edge of Seventeen’ to write ‘When Doves Cry.’ That’s really when he and I started to sort of be friends. From that moment onward, at the very end of ‘Edge of Seventeen,’ I go, ‘I know what it sounds like, I know what it sounds like, I know what it sounds like when doves cry. It sounds like you.'”
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was also quoted in the speech referring to the album as a “ghost record.” For Nicks, who lost her home in the fires, she stayed in a hotel for over three months. She stressed, “I was sitting in a hotel for 92 days, and at some point during that last part of the 92 days, I said, ‘You know what? I feel like I’m on the road, but there’s no shows.”
Nicks added, “I’m just sitting here by myself because everybody else is at the house, doing all the remediations and everything, and it’s just me, sitting here.’ And I thought, ‘You need to go back to work.’ And I did.”
While we must wait and see what the “Rhiannon” singer has cooked up and hidden under her witchy sleeves, all her music is available on streaming services. This summer, she will be on tour with Billy Joel, as well as in select cities solo, tickets for which can be bought here.
