Free [Acoustic Version] Prince single

NPG Records

single

The vault has been freed. #FREE

When Prince’s probate was settled on 29 July 2022 following six years of legal wrangling, control of The Prince Estate was passed to his heirs. Its pre 2022 administration signed a deal with Netflix to produce a six-hour documentary chronicling the music icon’s life. Ava DuVernay, creator of the movie Selma, was the initial director hired in 2018 to produce the documentary but she quit soon after over creative differences.

The project then passed to renowned documentary director Ezra Edelman – best known for his Oscar-winning 2016 miniseries ‘O.J.: Made in America’ – and spent the following four years piecing together a definitive history of Prince. When documentary Edelman delivered his nine-hour cut of his Prince documentary in 2023, titled ‘The Book of Prince’, the Estate’s new management argued the extended runtime breached the original agreement and that parts of its content was factually inaccurate. The documentary dwelt on the salacious aspects and less so on Prince’s music.

As part of the original contract, Edelman was granted unfettered access to the Paisley Park vault, including rare rehearsal tapes and concert footage previously unreleased to the public. While Netflix retain rights to the final cut, it could not release the documentary without approval by the Estate. Edelman conducted approximately seventy interviews with Prince’s former bandmates and acquaintances and mapped out nearly every day of the icon’s life in the attempt to create an exhaustive portrait. However some participants later voiced concerns about how their interviews were edited. Among the most contentious inclusions was police footage showing Prince’s lifeless body – one of several points of objection raised by the Estate.

Complicating matters further, the contract with Netflix tied future Prince-related releases to the completion of the documentary, creating a bottleneck in his posthumous catalogue. The ensuing dispute led to a prolonged period with no releases – proving particularly conspicuous during the much hyped 40th anniversary of Purple Rain in 2024 and caused considerable frustration among fans that this had not been properly celebrated. Breakthrough finally came on 6 February 2025 when Netflix and The Prince Estate reached settlement, which included producing a replacement documentary earmarked for release in 2027. In their announcement of this settlement, the Estate proclaimed on Twitter that the vault was ‘#Free’.

On 5 June 2025, the opening day of its annual Celebration event at Paisley Park, Free [Acoustic Version], a version Prince recorded in 2008 and featuring slightly amended lyrics, was released on popular streaming platforms as a digital single. Although new releases were not immediately forthcoming.

Cover story

Although the artwork used an image of Prince dating from 1982 when the original version of Free was released on his breakthrough LP 1999, the acoustic version released in 2025 is a rerecording captured during 2008. The artwork titles the track FR33 for no discernable reason.

Performers

Guitar / vocals

Prince

Data

Producer

Prince

Label

NPG Records

Distribution

NPG Records

Cover/Design

Allen Beaulieu

Released

1 year ago on 6 June 2025

Running Time

4:09

US Chart Peak

Did not chart

UK Chart Peak

Did not chart

Orig. Format

Tracklist

1. Free [Acoustic Version] (4:09)

Free [Acoustic Version] single review

This is a significant release – a hopeful gateway to larger releases and reissues to come. Free [Acoustic Version] is brings Prince Estate’s first newly unvaulted material since the 2024’s triple reissue of Musicology‘s, B-sides we’ve owned already twenty years. Despite marking the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain, 2024 passed with frustratingly little fanfare, sparking concerns for 2025. Chosen, purely it seems, to highlight the resolution of a legal dispute, out pops this reimagined acoustic version of Free, originally featured on Prince’s 1982 album 1999. This is a stripped-down version recorded in 2008, rearranged and with slightly revised lyrics, a bold departure from the live version put on One Nite Alone Live in 2002. While Free was never among the standout tracks of 1999, this version carries a quiet intensity.

Free [Acoustic Version] is rated 3 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.

Related release

1999

Warner Bros. Records • 1982

About this release and review