Difference between revisions of "Video: 7"

3 Chains O’ Gold home video

7 is a Prince and the New Power Generation video released for broadcast and to promote the single.

It features Prince and Mayte as well as twelve boys and twelve girls dressed as them. Footage of Prince in the glass cylinder and Mayte’s sword dancing was filmed at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, while the footage with the children was filmed on a soundstage in Los Angeles, possibly in May 1992 (see trivia).

The video follows the initial storyline of the album with Mayte telling Prince that she is the sole heir to a $10 million estate that her father left her when he was killed by the seven men who are her bodyguards. She states "They must never find them. They must never find us. If anything should happen to you..." before the song begins. This introduction was planned to be included in the album as a segue between The Flow and 7 but was removed from the final tracklisting.

7 was included on the Act I TV-special, The Hits Collection and the 3 Chains O’ Gold home video.

On a personal level, the video marked a turning point between Prince and Mayte as their relationship developed after the shooting. In a letter sent to the Controversy Magazine (Prince’s official fan club at that time) and published on 1 june 1993, Mayte wrote: "Ever since Prince and I walked thru the doors at the end of the 7 video — he has changed. Maybe it was the wonderful effect the children had on all of us, maybe it was the fact that he killed off several images of himself during the video (an act he has yet 2 explain 2 anyone" (this message was also recited by Mayte on The Call). The name change was announced soon after. Symbolically, in killing off the seven murderers of Mayte’s father in the video, Prince simultaneously kills off (six) images of himself, the different personas corresponding to his appearances in the videos for the tracks from the album (including Sexy M.F. and The Continental and some that were shot later like My Name Is Prince and The Morning Papers). Flanked by children dressed like he and Mayte, Prince is proclaiming a new future, where "the young are so educated they never grow old." There is an implication that "Prince" is just the beginning of a long and fruitful career, reaching a new musical maturity in .

soundstage, Los Angeles, CA, USA

• Prince
• Mayte
• 24 uncredited children (12 boys, & 12 girls)
• 7 uncredited men, including Duane Nelson, Joey Guzman & Robbie Paster - goons
• Larry Roupe - 'Princess Mayte’s father'

• Sotera Tschetter - director
• More information needed

• 7
• 7 (single)

• 
• The Hits Collection
• 3 Chains O’ Gold Home video

• The video was nominated for Best R&B Video at 1993 MTV Video Music Awards.
• In her 2017 biography "The Most Beautiful", Mayte writes that the shooting of the video occured in January 1993, but this is incorrect since the 7 was shown in the Act I TV-special in December 1992, and the album cover of the album released in October 1992 is a still photography of that video.
• Furthermore, a short excerpt of an alternate edit of the video was included in a 3-minute video to promote the upcoming album that was shown before the Australian and European Diamonds And Pearls Tour concerts in Spring 1992. That advertisement was also included in the Sexy M.F. Home video released in 1992.
• Sotera Tschetter has directed the following videos for Prince: Willing And Able, Sexy M.F., 7, The Continental, Sweet Baby and a version of Money Don’t Matter 2 Night.
• Footage of 7 was later included in the 2 Whom It May Concern, Nothing Compares 2 U, Pink Cashmere and Purple Medley videos.

• The Vault: The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince (2004)
• Awards: 1993 MTV Video Music Awards