Prince’s unreleased album is finally out this week

The archives of Prince still conceal mysteries: amid audio and video recordings, archival films and other pieces of sound wreckage, a treasure was hidden: Welcome 2 America, a 12-song album completed in 2010. It has been kept for unknown reasons in the singer’s famous vault in Paisley Park, near Minneapolis.

The heirs of Prince are preparing to release this new posthumous album from the singer and flagship musician of the end of the 20th century. This first unreleased record since his death proves prophetic on the tensions of the United States today sweeping the themes of racism, political divisions, technology and disinformation.

The deluxe boxed version will include the album and an unreleased full concert by Prince, accompanied by his famous band, New Power Generation, performed at the Forum in Los Angeles on April 28, 2011.

Between seriousness and lightness

In this album, Prince ” directly attacks America’s condition Says Morris Hayes, who has long been his keyboardist and musical director. ” What’s going on with social media, injustices and social awareness… It’s a concerted effort to really talk about these issues Adds Hayes, who co-produced the album.

If the album deals with resolutely serious subjects, such as racism in Running Game (Son of a Slave Master) or religious conflicts in Same Page, Different Book, it also includes lighter and dancing songs, such as Hot summer or Dirty Mind. .

A first track released in April

In April, a title track was broadcast as a scout on streaming platforms. We can hear Prince declaiming, in spoken and sung, that America is ” a land of freedom (but also) a home for the slave ».

Countless numbers of songs – over 8,000, according to legend – would sleep in the Paisley Park vault, even though some of the content was moved to a better air-conditioned storage facility in Los Angeles.

The fate of the immense amount of music left by Prince is a sensitive subject, so much he controlled his work, his image and his enigmatic personality. So far, his estate – run by his sister and five half-siblings – has reissued enriched versions of these landmark albums, as well as song demos.

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