I have no doubt that there is an abundance of great new music out this week but there is truly only one album released this week that matters. Whether you call him His Royal Badness, the Purple Yoda from Minnesota, Jamie Starr, or even the Artist Formally Known as Prince, Prince has returned to deliver an album that 2021 so desperately needs.
Prince Welcome 2 America
The spring of 2010 in no way, shape, or form resembles the summer of 2021. Yes, a lot of the same struggles and issues that people were dealing with 11 years ago still exist today, but they have been magnified at least ten times in that time. Commercial greed, systemic racism, and police brutality were all social issues we dealt with in 2010, but many of us were oblivious to the degree of their importance not becoming woke for a few more years to come.
One artist that had his pulse on the state of the country was Prince, who in early 2010 recorded an album that for some reason or another was stashed away in his overflowing vault. That album, Welcome 2 America, is finally seeing the light of day and the themes and message of the record is completely relevant in today’s world. The album kicks off with the title track and keeping in line with other politically themed Prince songs like “Sign o’ the Times” and “Baltimore”, “Welcome 2 America” addresses today’s world by calling out tech-addicts, wannabe celebrities and the so-called music makers of today.
It is not all doom and gloom on the new album. What could surely be in R&B and Top 40 radio station rotation is the fun “Hot Summer.” “Hot Summer” is very reminiscent of the fun deep cuts from Diamonds and Pearls like “Strollin’” and “Willing and Able.” A surprising highlight of the album is the cover of fellow Minneapolitan Soul Asylum’s “Stand Up and B Strong” where Prince shares the microphone with the trio of singers Liv Warfield, Shelby J, and Elisa Fiorillo, and the four of them take the listener to church.
It may never be known why Prince decided to scrap the release of Welcome 2 America, maybe he knew the timing was not right and that people weren’t ready the records message. It has been eleven years since it was recorded and the world has changed and people are aware of what is going around them more than ever so it seems like the perfect time for an important album. Prince completed 2010 by going on an extremely successful tour by the same name as the album. I caught the tour in Chicago and New York City and it seemed that Prince was at his best on this tour. This tours incarnation of the New Power Generation and the NPG Hornz was arguably his best backing band since the Revolution. The stage setup was the iconic ‘symbol stage’ that became famous through due to his legendary Super Bowl performance.
The last 20 years of his life found Prince recording and releasing music at a frantic pace and Welcome 2 America is maybe the best album of that period. 2004’s Musicology and 3121 are the two other albums from that period that measures up to the new album. Welcome 2 America is the first complete album to be released from ‘the vault’ and hopefully not the last. It has been 5 years since Prince passed and today, he releases the most important album of the year. @prince
Steven McCash is the Music Columnist for SoBros Network, and host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast. He is the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music, in addition to the occasional live show review. Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
Check out the SoBros Shop. Become a Patron. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Watch on YouTube.
