In the no good, very bad year of 2016, we lost Prince. The beloved pop star passed away in April of that year at the age of 57, but his legacy lives on through his music and the memory of his nonconformist, spirited approach to life. And now, there’s another way to conjure the vibes of the prolific songwriter: “the Purple One” is getting his own signature color.
On Monday, the Pantone Color Institute and the Prince Estate announced the “Love Symbol #2,” a custom shade of purple to honor and remember him by.
Since his 1984 film “Purple Rain,” the singer has been associated with all things purple and even gained the nickname “the Purple One.” The seven-time Grammy-winner was known for wearing lavish all-purple suits, playing a purple guitar — and of course there’s the song “Purple Rain,” which helmed the film’s soundtrack and won Prince an Oscar for Best Original Song score. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
The brand has named the custom color after the symbol Prince changed his name to in 1993 after a dispute with Warner Brothers. The unpronounceable glyph was eventually copyrighted as “Love Symbol # 2”; after his contract with the company ended, he changed his name back. Pantone drew inspiration for the hue from the star’s signature purple Yamaha piano, which he had planned to take on tour before his death, according to the Prince Estate.
“The color purple was synonymous with who Prince was and will always be. This is an incredible way for his legacy to live on forever,” Troy Carter, entertainment adviser to Prince’s Estate, said in a statement.
If you’re feeling blue, why not turn your walls Prince purple, put on some hits and dance it out? We need all the good vibes we can get.
