Brittany Howard once saw Prince disappear.

It's true!

The Grammy-nominated songstress released her latest album, What Now, in February 2024 and dove into the inspiration behind the project on the November 21st episode of iHeartRadio's The Daily Show: Ears Edition, zooming in on what it was like to perform with the "Little Red Corvette" icon.

The record was penned during the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and was inspired by Howard simply questioning the person she was by visualizing the person she wanted to be. The genre-blending album pays homage to some of the star's favorite artists and is a reflection of the emotional connection that music creates.

As for meeting Prince, the rock band Howard founded and played bass for, Alabama Shakes, had a show in Minneapolis and a few of Prince's people stopped by to check it out.

"So what happened was we played Minneapolis and some of Prince's band was there, and they went back and they were like, 'Yo, this band's great,' and so Prince calls my management, not him personally, you know, but somebody Prince adjacent calls my manager and was like, 'hey, can they show up tomorrow to play Paisley Park?' And I remember my manager's face when they came in and they were like, 'do you think you could do a little detour on your tour and go to Paisley Park and play with Prince?' I was like, 'uh duh, yeah...' So yeah, we show up and Prince is there and he's welcoming us into the studio. He's like super funny, super cool. He really does have a very low voice, and he was like, oh, I like this song, you got... I want to hop up there and play with you. And I'm like what..."

The standout continues, confirming that she saw Prince appear and disappear in the matter of seconds.

"And we're playing the song right. And everybody always has a story about how Prince can like levitate, or Prince can disappear, Prince can you know, you know, all kinds of crazy stuff, like he's a ghost apparition, and I found it to be true. What happened was I'm up there playing the solo and I'm like 'this is about time where Prince is gonna come out right?' And so he's not showing up, and we're just like playing the same things over and over again, and I'm hoping he's gonna show up. And then out of nowhere, he just pops on stage and I'm like, 'okay, maybe I didn't see him get up here.' You know, he shreds the solo so sick... I'm just like, 'I can't believe it.' You know, this is the greatest story of my life. And we finished playing a song and he kisses me on the cheek and then he just jumps in the air and vanishes. Gone."

For the full scoop on Howard's What Now, listen to the Capitol Chaos, Turkey Conspiracies, and Brittany Howard’s Soundtrack for Life episode on The Daily Show: Ears Edition via iHeartRadio.

Mike Jones