As Prince Sang, ‘Sometimes It Snows in April’—but We’ll Recover
As Prince Sang, ‘Sometimes It Snows in April’—but We’ll Recover
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When I first heard the news of Prince‘s death last week, I couldn’t help but think of a certain song. Being a DJ and a lifelong Prince fan, I enjoy hundreds of his songs. But this one just wouldn’t leave my mind:
Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending
And all good things, they say, never last
I actually had thought about that song multiple times this month, when I saw snow at home in Virginia and on a trip to Colorado. Even London saw a bit of the white stuff this week, which some are saying was a cosmic tribute. There’s a social media campaign afoot to get “Sometimes It Snows in April” to No. 1 on the charts.
But this song strikes a chord right now for another reason: The mood of the country suffered through one last bite of winter this month, too. While I doubt there is a solid correlation between The Artist’s passing and the average consumer’s spirits, it is true that consumer confidence fell in April as consumers become increasingly pessimistic about the future.
Does this mean the recovery is over and winter will spread again over the land before the summer even begins (or is that just “Game of Thrones”)?
Actually, the pall that’s fallen over the nation is pretty typical of a presidential election year—it’s not symptomatic of an economic relapse. If you hadn’t noticed, politicians like to focus on the negative, especially when they’re trying to prove that they will come in and fix everything that is lousy (which is, in fact, everything). In other highly contentious election years, a positive vision eventually emerged. In other words, when the elevator tries to bring us down, we tend to go crazy (and punch a higher floor) as November draws nigh.
The difference this year is that consumer attitudes may get worse as we get closer to Election Day. We’ll probably see even more extreme rhetoric and polarizing differences from the candidates until a clear, optimistic vision emerges.
At least one party’s convention may be contested, but we’ll live through it. After all, Prince told us that parties weren’t meant to last.
The sour mood about the future does not seem to be translating into softness in housing demand. Traffic to realtor.com® is up, and visitors are expressing very strong intentions to buy. Meanwhile, homes are selling quickly. And that makes sense—people buy homes for their family needs, and that has nothing to do with who moves into the White House for the next four years.
This election will be behind us soon enough. Likewise, my purple-shaded melancholy will pass. I can even look forward to the future, as I expect to hear new songs from Prince’s vault for decades to come.
My playlist already shows me that for every melancholy “April,” there’s an exuberant “Raspberry Beret,” “Alphabet Street,” and “Starfish and Coffee.” You can’t appreciate the ups without experiencing the downs, but as far as this recovery goes, the data point to more growth before we see any lasting decline.
In tribute to Prince Rogers Nelson, remember that before Paisley Park became his home in Minneapolis, Prince told us that Paisley Park was in our hearts.
That sounds like home.
May he rest in peace.
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