Songfacts®:

• Composed by Prince in 1981, this upbeat song is about rising pop stardom:
  
  You might not know it now, baby
  But I are - I'm a star
  I don't wanna stop 'til I reach the top
  
  The song's lyrical content reflected Prince's own status in 1981; he'd made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live and released his fourth album, Controversy. The following year Prince dropped 1999, which was the record that elevated him to the first division.
• Prince recorded the song with his band The Revolution during a live performance on August 3, 1983 at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis (the same concert where "I Would Die 4 U" was laid down). The show featured the first appearance of guitarist Wendy Melvoin in The Revolution. Prince later reworked the live recording in the studio, adding overdubs and other edits, and included it on his 1984 album Purple Rain. It wasn't released as a single but became a fan favorite and one of his concert staples.
• In the Purple Rain movie, Prince's character, The Kid, plays "Baby I'm A Star" during the final concert blowout. The song coincides with the film's star-making narrative.
• Session Novi Novag played electric viola on the track. She recalled to Uncut how Prince used her first take: "I was just learning the song. I said, 'Oh, let me do that part again.' He said, 'No, no, I like that feel.' He loved first takes."
• Prince performed at the Grammy Awards just twice, but he played "Baby I'm A Star" both times. The first was in 1985, when he did a six-minute version of the song with Sheila E and his band The Revolution. Few artists could get six minutes of airtime at the ceremony to play an album cut, but Prince was a very big deal (he lost the major awards though; Purple Rain was bested for Album Of The Year by Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down).
  
  The second performance came in 2005 when he was joined by Beyoncé to open the show. This time it was tucked into a medley of hits.