Art Official Age Prince album

Warner Bros. Records

Prince’s genius remains intact.

Art Official Age heralded Prince’s first release with Warner Bros Records since the acrimonious breakdown of their relationship in the mid-1990s over the much-publicised contractual dispute that ensued.

The single, coincidentally named The Breakdown, was released on the day of the 18 April 2014 press announcement of Prince’s reconciliation with his former record label and the agreement brokered with their CEO Cameron Strang to give Prince ownership of the rights to his music recorded during his tenure with the company between 1978 and 1996. This agreement crucially transferred the master recordings of his previous albums back to Prince. It was a breakthrough moment, and in return Prince released two new studio albums with Warner – confirmed with an announcement made on Good Morning America on 25 August 2014. Technically speaking, the two singles later attributed to the album were issued in support of Art Official Age at the time of their individual releases. In the album tracklisting The Breakdown was retitled simply Breakdown.

Art Official Age – Prince’s play on the word ‘artificial’ – is remarkably his first solo album since 2010, for someone who habitually outputted albums on an annual basis a four year wait was unfamiliar territory for fans. Art Official Age was released on the same day as 3rdEyeGirl’s Plectrumelectrum (Prince working on both albums at the same time) also distributed by Warner. In answer to why four years had passed since the release of his previous solo project 20TEN was that the creative process took Prince longer nowadays. In reality, Prince had spent 2011 and 2012 in a lucrative and lengthy Welcome 2 America Tour, a self imposed break from the studio which he referred to as “recording rehab”. Prince recorded Art Official Age throughout 2013 and into early 2014, laying it down at Paisley Park Studios in collaboration with Joshua Welton.

Joshua Welton, an aspiring producer aged just 23 at the time, was introduced to Prince via his wife Hannah (nee Ford) who had been recruited to 3rdEyeGirl in 2012 to become the band’s drummer. Joshua too became a member in the live band as their percussionist. Over the space of nine months, Prince and Joshua developed a friendship and, having attained trust, Prince gave Joshua the reins to create his next record. Art Official Age is thereby an anomaly that it is Prince’s first album to share production credit since Tommy Vicari as executive producer of For You in 1978. After Prince’s four year hiatus releasing music, bearing in mind since 1978 his prolific output demanded one album per year, 30 September 2014 was a welcomed surprise to fans having two Prince albums drop the same day. Prince tasked Joshua to create a very digital, electro funk sounding album, compared to the grassroots rock style record he was working on in tandem with his new, all-female backing band 3rdEyeGirl. This was presumably to showcase the breadth of Prince’s scope with this double release and connect with new audiences. ‘Artificial Age’ thereby makes a thinly veiled jibe at the fickle nature of contemporary music trends.

Following the vein of the ‘golden ticket’ hidden within seven copies of his 2006 album 3121, US fans pre-ordering Art Official Age were entered into the Paisley Park Flyaway competition. The lucky winner (named Dorothy) was indeed flown to Minneapolis to watch Prince and 3rdEyeGirl perform a private hour-long concert on 18 October 2014 at his Chanhassen studio complex.

Art Official Age features Lianne La Havas (concealed in the liner credits as Charlotte Ann Telepathy) whose segues incorporate ‘affirmations’ which induce Prince, as Mr Nelson to reawaken from his ‘former life’ which kept him in a supposed meditation for 45 years – cleansing him of his previous career. The affirmations create a narrative to link Clouds and Way Back Home. This introspection became poignant in 2016, given that Prince died within two years after releasing Art Official Age. Prince reached out La Havas, the UK 2012 Mercury Music Price winner, with the notion of giving a press conference in her living room in London on 3 February 2014 to announce his tour of short notice hit n’ run shows at a series of venues across the city. La Havas subsequently guested with Prince at some of these shows and he became her friend and music mentor. Expressing his desire to record with her, her parts were subsequently to Art Official Age in the spring of 2014. Affirmation III also includes backing vocals from Delilah, an artist Prince discovered online in 2012 and had her join the band on his Welcome 2 Australia tour. Marissa Jack, stage named The Golden Hippie and accompanied Prince and 3rdEyeGirl on their Hit And Run Part II Tour, gives supporting vocals on the track Art Official Cage. The sample used in the track U Know is from Mila J’s single Blinded – who in 1991 was an extra in the promo video for Diamonds And Pearls. Prince’s then protegee Andy Allo also appears throughout Art Official Age. They met in 2011 and she joined Prince on his European tour as backing vocalist and guitarist. Allo duets with Prince on Time, arguably the album’s best track, her vocals were recorded via the studio’s telephone to achieve that unique sound which complement the song flawlessly.

Owing to the death of his long-time string arranger Clare Fischer in 2012, Prince turned to renowned Israeli pianist and composer Adi Yeshaya. Living in Minneapolis since 1988, Yeshaya’s recording credits included orchestral arrangements for Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. He and cellist Rebecca Arons founded the production company STRINGenius in 2011. Yeshaya collaborates with Prince in 2014 to create the musical arrangement for Way Back Home, which inspired Prince to repurpose it for the accompaniment to Affirmation III instead.

Due to its freshness, Art Official Age enjoyed both critical and commercial success, selling 51,000 units in its first week it charted in the US Billboard 200 at number 5. Both Art Official Age and Plectrumelectrum was additionally available in limited vinyl format for pre-orders placed through Warner’s website. In the UK Art Official Age too entered the top ten, at number 8. Showcasing Prince’s pan-genre genius, Art Official Age is broadly considered a highlight in his late career.

Cover story

The cover is a shot by Maya Washington, otherwise known as Shameless Maya. She is a friend of DJ duo Coco and Breezy and introduced them to Prince in July 2014, learning they were also eyewear designers he commissioned them to produce his “3rd eye” sunglasses which he wears in the photo. Prince’s original request for the cover backdrop was to be stood in front of a bank of speakers, but looking for something brighter, she instead put him in front his Diamond record plaque – awarded by RIAA on 22 February 1989 on certification of 10 million album sales of Purple Rain. The finished image also gives visual cues to his previous LP covers; the head shot is a nod to Controversy; and finally, the afro harks back to For You.

Performers

Vocals / all Instr

Prince

Programming

Joshua Welton

Drums

Hannah Ford Welton ^{Breakdown and Funknroll}

Guitar

Donna Grantis ^Funknroll

Bass Guitar

Ida Nielsen ^{Breakdown and Funknroll}

Saxophone

Marcus Anderson ^{The Gold Standard}

Adrian Crutchfield ^{The Gold Standard}

Trumpet

Lynn Grissett ^{The Gold Standard}

Orchestration

Adi Yeshaya (STRINGenius) ^{Art Official Cage, Breakdown, Way Back Home, Affirmation I&II, Affirmation III}

Data

Producers

Prince and Joshua Welton

Label

NPG Records

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

Cover/Design

Maya Washington

Released

12 years ago on 30 September 2014

Running Time

53:17

US Chart Peak

5

US R&B Peak

1

UK Chart Peak

8

Prince Album

#37

Orig. Formats

Singles from Art Official Age

Breakfast Can Wait

NPG Records

Released

3 September 2013

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Format

1. Breakfast Can Wait (3:55)

The Breakdown

NPG Records

Released

18 April 2014

Distribution

Warner Bros. Records

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Cover/Art

Madison Dube

Format

1. The Breakdown (4:04)