Of the four (!) Prince-helmed albums issued in the inaugural year of His Royal Badness’ Purple Reign, the self-titled LP by Apollonia 6 had the misfortune of coming last–not only in terms of release order, but also in terms of commercial success, critical reception, and by all accounts, the esteem of its ever-mercurial writer and producer. Even today, Apollonia 6 is rarely mentioned in the same breath as other, essential “Prince protégé” albums by Sheila E, the Time, Jill Jones, the Family, and Vanity 6. Yet by placing its production history in context with his other Purple Rain-era studio recordings, we can see that Apollonia 6 was in fact a critical evolutionary step in Prince’s artistic development: opening the door for the expanded sonic palette of late-album additions “Take Me with U” and “When Doves Cry,” and foreshadowing further innovations in the years to come.

Zachary Hoskins is the author of Dance / Music / Sex / Romance, a song-by-song blog examining the music of Prince in chronological order. His essay, “Rude Boy: Prince as Black New Waver,” was published in a special issue of Spectrum, A Journal on Black Men (2020), and his presentation from the Prince #1plus1plus1is3 virtual symposium (2021), “I Wish We All Were Nude: Controversy ‘Shower Poster’ as Aesthetic Linchpin and Artifact,” was published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies. He has also presented and appeared on roundtables at other @polishedsolid symposia, #TripleThreat40 (2023), #SexyMF30 (2022), and #DM40GB30 (2020), as well as the University of Minnesota’s Prince from Minneapolis symposium (2018). He holds an M.A. in Media Arts from the University of Arizona and B.A.’s in Film & Video Studies and Creative Writing & Literature from the University of Michigan.