Finally, finally, finally. My day has come. Ladies and gentlemen, Prince’s entire catalog is now available to stream for the first time ever and in celebration–and remembrance–I’m going to ask that you take a walk with me.

I remember the day Prince passed away, April 21, and every emotion I experienced that day.

I worked a brutal morning shift at Spring Park Coffee from 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hungry, tired and ready to leave, my coworker (and friend) decided to go to the only place that could cure the triple threat I just described: Five Guys. We texted our other coworker (and also friend) to meet us there and because it’s near impossible to turn down the world’s greatest burgers, he promptly responded with “will do.”

You won’t believe what I’m about to tell you but I promise it’s true. Right before arriving to Five Guys, I played “Kiss” by Prince. The windows went down immediately, my volume went up and I began to make my friend, who was riding shotgun, terribly uncomfortable by belting out the song, from start to finish–I even had the guitar solo covered. As we pulled into Five Guys, the guy that was meeting us there was leaning on the outside of his car, noticeably distraught. We approached and he asked, “did you guys hear what happened?”

“No,” I responded.

“Prince died,” he said.

Two things occurred to me: I had just experienced one of those strange, hard-to-explain moments in life that make you question everything you know. Why did I play Prince right before finding out Prince died?

The second thing that occurred to me was that I cared about Prince way more than I thought.

Before this instance, Prince to me was a musician my dad loved and one of the best guest appearances on New Girl. I knew the world adored Prince’s ability to cross the lines of sexual deviancy and sexuality in general, while also maintaining a strict regimen of his own stylized mix of rock, funk and ballad. I didn’t know that I would care about Prince’s passing as much as I did.  

When I learned that Prince died, I was weirdly depressed. The guy riding shotgun remained quiet while the friend that met us there and I discussed the episode of New Girl featuring Prince (Season 3, Episode 14).

After gushing about how incredible that episode is–which it is–we ordered our Five Guys and continued discussing Prince’s music (which I knew a lot more about than I thought), his movie (which I liked a lot more than thought) and how out-of-nowhere his death seemed to be (which I still feel today).

Alas, almost a year since his death, I can now stream Prince to my heart’s content. I could have bought his music but like you, I’m a college kid on a budget and let’s be real: who buys music anymore?

Since its release on Spotify, I’ve been bumping Prince’s 18 albums, and you should do the same.

If you haven’t yet discovered the musical delicacy that is Prince’s discography, I recommend doing so right now.

Start with these five songs: Kiss, Stare, Purple Rain, When Doves Cry and Little Red Corvette.

You can thank me later.

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