The Beautiful Experience

Bellmark Records

On record, Slave.

The Beautiful Experience EP was Prince‘s second release under the name of The Artist Formally Known As Prince (Prince love symbol). The Beautiful Experience comprised of alternate versions and mixes to the hit single The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (his first release both under NPG Records and as The Artist Formally Known As Prince) in celebration of the track becoming Prince’s first and only single to chart number 1 in the UK.

The releases came at a point in Prince’s career when his relationship with Warner Brothers was at its lowest ebb. Prince had formed NPG Records in 1993 because Warner wanted to exercise greater say in the running of Paisley Park Records. Prince used his new label to distribute the original single The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, in a distribution partnership with small independent outfit Bellmark Records, since Warner refused to do so themselves – allowing him the release but limited to one song only.

Because that single had reached number 1 in the UK – a milestone not even reached during his entire tenure with Warner Brothers, but being restricted to release just one song, Prince circumvented that by issuing an EP filled with tracks of different versions of the same song. The resulting The Beautiful Experience EP also sold surprisingly well despite being a low-key release (reaching number 18 in the UK singles chart). This provided Prince the impetus to pursue his post-Warner career as an independent artist. Prince performed the song at the World Music Awards on 4 May 1994 and on the 26th of that month the single received Gold certification by RIAA for selling half a million units.

The album for which The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was written was eventually released in September 1995 as The Gold Experience. The Beautiful Experience is highly unusual therefore, in that whilst it is itself a maxi-single, it too produced two further sub-singles from that release.