Prince

In music, there are stars, and then there are the chosen few who go beyond stardom — who stay true to inner ideals that, because they defy all other trends and definitions, become their own measure of success. Prince is one such artist, a stand-alone sonic and spiritual seeker with mad musical skills, a love-sexy guru whose 30-plus years at the top of the game has resulted in everything from soaring, smash-hit arm-wavers (“Purple Rain”) to love-u-up hip-swivelers (“U Got the Look”), to lights-out, end-of-the-century anthems (“1999”).

We’re just getting started — more Prince perfection can be found in Next Steps.

When an artist can claim a color all for himself, you know something out of the ordinary is going on. The Purple One’s reign has lasted for more than three decades not because he’s been able to repeatedly harness the sound of the moment, but because he’s created one utterly unique masterpiece after another — whether it’s a personal manifesto in the form of a take-no-prisoners dance track (“D.M.S.R.”), a reinvention of funk-style bump-and-grind (“Black Sweat”), or a brazenly sexy love quiz set to an oh-so-innocent inquiry (“If I Was Your Girlfriend”).

It just goes on and on — hear for yourself in Deep Cuts.

Only someone so supremely sure of his gift could write one of the all-time freakiest odes to the decadent pleasures of a naughty girl (“Darling Nikki”), then turn around and compose a beautifully simple song of faith that would sound right at home at a Sunday morning folk mass (“The Cross”). But that is the genius of Prince, a confidence that leads him to look no further than inside to find inspiration. So while his songs have their way with style and approach — compare the ’80s dance command “Partyup” to the jazz-flavored testimony of 1999’s “Old Friends 4 Sale” — they remain immediately recognizable as springing from one superlative source.

Even in his early days, Prince proved he was no ordinary pop star-in-the-making — for starters, not too many up-and-comers pose for album covers in skimpy black skivvies and a bandana. But while tip-of-the-iceberg tunes like 1979’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and 1981’s “Controversy” introduced a new talent with a fresh sound, few could’ve known how the decades ahead would reveal the man formerly known as Prince Rogers Nelson to be an artist of rare daring and uncompromising individuality. Narrowing more than three decades’ worth of Prince’s mind-boggling catalog into one definitive Essentials playlist is a massive undertaking, but we like to think the results are worth it, with debut dance tracks (“I Feel for You”), superstar smashes (“When Doves Cry”), and 21st-century slow jams (“Future Baby Mama”) from a Minneapolis boy made good.