Dear Michael: Bad

Chapter 4

I really want to hear what Prince sent me. While his track has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm trying to do, I'll listen to it anyway. I unlocked the door to the house, "hey, baby!" I called.

"Hey, Michael! Me and Bubbles are in here!" Shayla called from the living room. I went in there to find Bubbles sitting on Shayla's lap as they watched a movie.

I kissed her cheek, "I don't have much time. Prince sent me a track to listen to. Hey, Bubbles," I rubbed his head.

"Have you talked to him about 'I'm Bad' yet?"

"Q did. Prince sent me this track in response, but I don't even know why. I'm going to listen to it anyway and tell him what I think. Maybe he wants us to do a duet too or something," I shrugged. "Anyway, I'll be out in the studio listening to this. See you in a few. Be good for Shayla, Bubbles!" I made my way to the studio and hurried to put the tape in the cassette player. Once I got it in, I hit play. Prince played the guitar and crooned some lyrics for four minutes... I don't understand why he sent me this. Does he expect a duet or something? This song is too slow in comparison to what I have for "I'm Bad." I picked up the phone and dialed Prince's number.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Prince, it's Michael."

"Hey, Michael. Did you get the track I sent to Quincy?" He asked.

"Yeah, I just listened to it."

"And...?" He pressed.

"I like it, but why did you send it to me?"

"You said you want a duet. I sent you a song for a duet."

"Q didn't tell you I already had a song?"

"He told me you wanted a duet, so I sent you one. What song did you have?"

I rolled my eyes. Prince can be so rude sometimes, "It's this song I've been writing for quite some time. It's called, 'I'm Bad'"

"What?" Prince laughed out loud. I rolled my eyes. "Michael, you ain't bad!" He laughed again. "Whatchu writing a song like that for?"

"That's just it, Prince. New year, new album, new persona."

"I get that, but I don't know where you got this idea that you're bad from. Far from it," he laughed.

I scoffed, "look, do you want to be on the song or not?"

"That depends," he laughed. "Now, Michael, I'm bad. What do I look like being on a song with you and it's clear that between the two of us I'm the one that's actually bad?"

"That's the point I'm trying to bring to you. It'll be a faceoff for who's more bad, between the two biggest stars of the decade. This will give the fans a chance to really decide who's bad." Clearly, he was not taking me seriously.

He laughed, "I'm not interested."

I was kind of taken aback, "any reason why?"

"I'm just not interested. It's a joke."

"But it's not. Here's how we'll do the promo for it. I'll have my manager, Frank, plant some stories in the tabloids and both of our camps criticize the other. Frank will tell Rolling Stone how I'm confused about all of this because I consider you and me to be friends. Epic will release the song and the video, and both of our fans will finally be able to see us duel it out and both settle to see who is really 'bad.'" I laid it out for him.

His end was silent for a moment, "I'll consider it. Send me the demo and I'll let you know."

Yes! "Alright, I'll have Q send you a copy. How soon will you be able to get back with me on it?"