The album was originally recorded in 1986 under the pseudonym Camille, a feminine alter ego portrayed by Prince via pitch-shifting his vocals up to an androgynous register.

In March 2022, Third Man Records announced that they had received the rights to release the album, with Ben Blackwell (co-founder of the label) saying "Prince’s people agreed – almost too easy."

[9] After abandoning his Dream Factory LP and breaking up his backing band The Revolution in mid-1986, Prince entered the studio with engineer Susan Rogers in late October to begin a new project.

[10][11] The sessions commenced with the recording of the dance track "Housequake"[10] and within ten days he had completed enough material for an album,[10] which he planned to release pseudonymously under Camille's name as a self-titled debut.

[10] It has been suggested that the name was inspired by the 19th century French intersex person Herculine Barbin, who also used the alias Camille and was the subject of the 1985 film Mystère Alexina.

Another song was recorded using Camille vocals called "Cosmic Day", it was released alongside "Rebirth of the Flesh" on the super deluxe edition of Sign o' the Times.

[15] Prince later invoked Camille as the guiding force responsible for his next project, The Black Album (which contained "Rockhard in a Funky Place", again as the final track).