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December 20, 1999
Web posted at: 5:21 p.m. EST (2221 GMT)

From Brooke Alexander
CNN WorldBeat Correspondent

(CNN) -- He's one of the most original artists of the past few decades as well as one of the most prolific. The public first met him when he called himself Prince, then followed him through to his reincarnation as The Artist. After turning his back on major record labels his new release through Arista has attracted much excitement.

CNN WorldBeat correspondent Brooke Alexander talked with The Artist about his new album, "Rave un2 the Joy fantastic," and his party plans for December 31, 1999.

The Artist: I wrote the song "Rave un2 the Joy fantastic" in 1988, and it was just after I released "Kiss." The songs are similar, so I felt a need to put it in the vault. It was one of my favorite songs at the time, so I was going to wait until I had other songs of a joyous nature to put with it.

As time went on, I got into some disagreements with the record company (that) I was with, so I wasn't in too joyous a mood. So what you get out of that period were things like "Chaos and Disorder" (1996). If you look outside right now, with all the sirens and what have you, there's more chaos and disorder now than there's ever been. And I wanted to make a counter-record to that.

"Rave un2 the Joy fantastic" was it.

Q: You have been very active and accessible promoting this album, which is not typically your style. Why now?

The Artist: Well, it is an industry release per se in the sense that Arista is distributing it, and I wanted to do my part in helping them with their efforts. When it comes to the sales and things like that, it's up to them to handle that end of it. I've pretty much done my thing now. When I sell my own music, I do just fine.

Q: You chose to use the Internet as your promoter during that interim period when you separated from the major labels. How important is the Internet to you and to music in general today?

The Artist: What I use the Internet for is to communicate with people who dig my music and let them dictate what it is that I put in the albums. I've done albums the conventional way, "con" being the key word there. So I wanted to do something that was more interactive. Since it is going to be on your stereo, you tell me what it is that you really dig about me, and I can put that into the music. And I'm going to do it even more so with the next project that we're working on.

Q: In the long run, do you see artists regaining control over their music?

The Artist: Well, many artists are regaining control over their art. They're the creators. They should dictate who stewards that legacy throughout the universe. It's very interesting language that they (record companies) have in contracts. It says "in perpetuity in all of the universe." What do you all know that we (artists) don't? Where you all taking this music -- Jupiter? So if the record companies are going to plan for the long haul, I think the artists should, too.

Q: Did you write "1999" in anticipation of it becoming an anthem of the year?

The Artist: No. I kind of wrote it in anticipation of the chaos that we live in today. The only way to counter that is to be centered with the one that created you, know what that creator wants you to do and not respond to what somebody else wants you to do -- like go get a bunch of soup and water and pack it down in your basement because the world's going to come to an end. That's nonsense. Your world will come to an end the moment you start believing and living like that.

Q: What are you doing for New Year's Eve?

The Artist: We're going to do a concert that (the promoter) In Demand has allowed us to put on. It's going to be probably the greatest show that I've ever done because I'm given free rein, with a big budget.

There's a lot of wonderful people coming to join us. Maceo Parker, Larry Graham and the Family Stone and Lenny Kravitz are supposed to show up -- and Chris Rock. Everybody's just going to jam. I'm going to play a lot of old songs, and then we're going to do some new songs and then we're going to really delve into the philosophy behind Y2K and the media.

Q: What about plans for touring for this album? Where can people hope to see you and when?

The Artist: Oh, we're going to go around the world after the new year, and we're going to let the band rehearse because we have a lot of new members. ... It is going to be probably the greatest band I've ever had, and I want to do something very special. So we're going to take a long time to rehearse.

And get it just perfect for you.