Five years after his sudden death at the age of 57, the estate of the icon Prince is releasing brand-new music that is sure to excite his still-loyal fanbase.
The new “Welcome 2 America” album marks the first time Prince’s estate is releasing never-before-heard music from the megastar’s famous Paisley Park vault.
The 12-track disc, which was recorded in 2010 to accompany a tour of the same name but never released, is expected to debut on July 30. “Welcome 2 America is a document of Prince’s concerns, hopes and visions for a shifting society, presciently foreshadowing an era of political division, disinformation, and a renewed fight for racial justice,” Prince’s estate noted in a statement.
Never a fan of social media, Prince sings about how superficial social media could be, corporate monopolies in music, and reality television.
On the title track, Prince sings: “Welcome 2 America, the land of the free — home of the slave.”
Prince fans know that track is reminiscent of his song “America” from his 1985 album “Around the World in a Day.” On that song, the Purple One sings: “Aristocrats on a mountain climb, making money, losing time/Communism is just a word, but if the government turn over, it’ll be the only word that’s heard/America, America/God shed his grace on thee/America, America Keep the children free.”
Songs from the new album include “Running Game (Son of a Slave Master),” “Born 2 Die” and “One Day We Will All B Free.”
Prince also sings about “Distracted by the features of the iPhone/Got an application, 2 fix Ur situation.”
During the “Welcome 2 America” tour, which lasted for three years beginning in 2010, Prince performed over 80 shows. The estate doesn’t explain why he never released the accompanying album.
Prince died on April 21, 2016, of an accidental overdose of fentanyl.
Nice… looked this up because on one of my prince records signed
album Brown Mark didnt know who Brown Mark..aka Mark Brown was.