Mitski and Flea preview new music as Prince's 'Purple Rain' re-enters Hot 100

Mitski and Flea previewed new music this week, and Prince's "Purple Rain" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 after a prominent placement in the Netflix series "Stranger Things."

Mitski unveiled a new single, "Where's My Phone?", the first taste of an upcoming album called "Nothing's About to Happen to Me." The song, described as thundering and theatrical, finds her yearning for detachment — including the line about being "like a bug floating in the melted amber" — and is accompanied by an outré video that leans into a zany recluse persona.

Flea released the first single from his forthcoming solo jazz record, reuniting with Thom Yorke on the track "Traffic Lights." The song pairs meandering guitar riffs with Afro-Brazilian rhythms; Flea contributes bass and trumpet, an instrument he studied as a child and said he resumed under the tutelage of Rickey Washington.

Both artists' full albums are described as forthcoming but no release dates are given in the report. Prince's "Purple Rain" sits at No. 27 on the Hot 100 this week, a rise the story attributes to its use in the "Stranger Things" finale; the piece notes the song previously peaked at No. 2 more than 40 years ago and has rarely been cleared for use outside its original context.

Key Topics

Culture, Mitski, Flea, Prince, Purple Rain, Stranger Things