Maps of Music

Welcome 2 America (2021)

Where the lyrics of Welcome 2 America take you, and where it was really made.

Recorded in 2010, this album sat on the shelf for eleven years before its posthumous release in 2021.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (2010)

Recording site Paisley Park Studios — In March 2010, Tal Wilkenfeld travelled to Paisley Park and began improvising on Prince's instructions. The album's instrumental tracks were recorded there live in the studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Welcome 2 America: fortieth studio album by American musician Prince
• Released posthumously on NPG Records on 30 July 2021
• Recorded in March 2010, before the Welcome 2 America Tour
• First full previously unreleased studio album of Prince material released posthumously
• Followed by Timeless, the 41st album and second posthumous album

Background

• 2008: 21-year-old Tal Wilkenfeld received a phone call from Prince, who said he had been watching her YouTube videos on repeat
• Prince brought her to parties at his Los Angeles home, where she was sometimes the lone audience member
• Prince and Wilkenfeld spent a few days jamming in a local studio and drove around together in a limo listening to music
• 2009: Prince called from Minneapolis and proposed a trio with her, asking her to find a drummer
• Drummer Chris Coleman was chosen; Prince flew both musicians to Paisley Park for the first time in late 2009
• Prince said he was feeling inspired by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
• The album was shelved for 11 years; even its makers still do not fully understand why
• Morris Hayes guessed Prince may have shelved it because not all collaborators, Wilkenfeld included, could join him on the road

Recording

• March 2010: Wilkenfeld travelled to Paisley Park and improvised, playing chords on Prince's instruction
• Prince recorded instrumental tracks live in the studio with Wilkenfeld and Coleman
• Prince then recorded New Power Generation singers Liv Warfield, Shelby Johnson and Elisa Fiorillo, sharing leads and harmonies with them
• Morris Hayes added keyboards and simulated string and horn arrangements
• Hayes earned co-producer credit on six of the album's 12 songs
• Wilkenfeld said the album was essentially recorded as a trio, which gives it a raw feel

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Prince Rogers Nelson, born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; died April 21, 2016 at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
• Signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1977 at age 18; first album For You released April 7, 1978.
• Career spanned funk, rock, R&B and pop, with estimated sales over 100 million records.

Career

• Breakthrough with Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and 1999 (1982).
• Purple Rain (1984) made him the first singer to hold the number-one film, album and single in the US at the same time.
• Sign o' the Times (1987) is widely considered his greatest work.
• Changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, becoming known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince; reverted to Prince in 2000.
• Won seven Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critics gave the album generally positive reviews
• Metacritic, which normalizes mainstream reviews to 100 points, gave it an average of 76 from 16 reviews, indicating generally favourable reviews
• Noel Murray of The A.V. Club called the album fantastic and an incredibly entertaining and vital set of music
• Andrew Trendell of NME wrote that the album speaks to today's problems and demands to be heard
• Kory Grow of Rolling Stone wrote that it contains stronger songs and sharper messages than much of the music Prince released during his final years
• Grow said the grooves are funkier, the sex jams are sexier and the Curtis Mayfield homages are superflyier
• Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the songs take on racism, exploitation, disinformation, celebrity, faith and capitalism
• Pareles noted that Prince does not sound pessimistic, just matter-of-fact, eleven years after the recording

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The lead single Hot Summer was premiered on the website of Minnesota public radio station 89.3 The Current on June 7, 2010, Prince's 52nd birthday, before the album's intended release.
• Same Page, Different Book was streamed as audio only over a static video on 3rdeyegirl's YouTube channel in January 2013.
• 1000 Light Years from Here was released in an alternative version with new lyrics and arrangements in 2015 on Hit n Run Phase Two, as a 3:05 coda to Black Muse.
• Stand Up and B Strong is a cover of a Soul Asylum song originally released on their 2006 album The Silver Lining.
• Morris Hayes earned co-producer credit on six of the 12 songs.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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